by Jacob Infald
Connetquot is your Class AAA Champion for the second year in a row.
Connetquot 11 – Commack 4 pic.twitter.com/jGD9Vt0gkm
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 30, 2026
For the first time in program history, Connetquot High School has won back-to-back Suffolk County Class AAA Championships. They took down Commack High School by a score of 11-4 through a balanced offensive attack and a great game on the mound by their ace, DJ Filippone.
Filippone, a Mercy University commit, fired 5.2 innings, with nine strikeouts. He left seven Commack runners stranded on base, never allowing the Cougars to get a momentum changing hit.
The Cougars were the first to strike when they were able to plate two in the top of the second inning. Commack’s 7-8-9 hitters all were able to get on base with two outs, with base hits from senior Jacob Abzug and sophomore Nick Schumacher. With the bases loaded, their star catcher, sophomore Robbie Mascia came through, hitting a rope to left field. Two runs came in and Masica had a standup double to get the scoring started.
This success was short-lived for Commack, as the T-Birds put up a five spot in the bottom half of the inning. Commack starter, junior Sam Kay was unable to get out of the inning, as an error behind him with one out opened up the floodgates for Connetquot.
After a couple soft hits in the infield allowed the T-Birds to tie the game, LIU commit Jagger Adamo put them in front for good with a line drive that dropped into left field, scoring sophomore Tyler Cope and the T-Birds led 3-2. After walking the next batter with the bases loaded, Kay was relieved by senior Dean Kirschbaum. He was able to limit the damage, only allowing a sacrifice fly off the bat of Western Connecticut State University commit Michael Mallon.
The T-Birds were able to plate three more runs the following inning after two more Commack errors. With the bases loaded, freshman Alex McQuade was able to turn on a ball on the inner half of the plate and hit a hard groundball through the right side of the infield to plate two runs. The lefty was 3-4 on the day, and had three RBIs. Adamo was able to get his second RBI of the day two batters later, with a sacrifice fly to left and the T-Birds were now out in front 8-2.
Adamo and McQuade were two of the six T-Birds who drove in runs today, as they were able to get contributions up and down the order.
“Every guy’s ready,” Connetquot head coach Rob Burger told Axcess Baseball when asked about the depth of his team. “That’s why they put the hard work in each and every day and we know what we have behind us, our dugout today was absolutely electric.”
Commack was able to show some fight in the top of the fourth, but Filippone did an excellent job limiting the damage. Junior Cole Maurer led off with a double, and a dropped third strike two batters later gave Commack a scoring threat with runners on the corners with one out. The next batter, senior Justin Gomez demonstrated an excellent piece of hitting, going the other way and getting a base hit down the left field line to score Maurer.
After seemingly pitching around Mascia, walking him on four pitches, Filippone bore down with the bases loaded, recording two huge strikeouts, getting out of trouble and giving the Connetquot faithful a reason to keep cheering.
Commack was able to plate one more run in the top of the fifth, as senior Ryan Bush led off with a walk, stole second and advanced to third on a passed ball. With two outs, Abzug recorded his second hit of the day, sending a hanging breaking ball right back up the middle to center field to make it a 8-4 game.
In the bottom of the fifth though, the T-Birds eliminated any threat of a Commack comeback thanks to junior Gavin Beisel. Beisel, a player who normally is not in the starting lineup was called upon today due to an injury, and came up big for his team,. He hit a laser over Kay’s head at shortstop, scoring Adamo and Filippone, sending the T-Bird dugout into a frenzy.
After striking out the first two batters of the sixth, Filippone was relieved and walked off the mound to a standing ovation from the Connetquot fans. St. Joseph’s University commit Jack Doucet was able to record the final four outs for the T-Birds, and with another insurance run in the bottom of the sixth driven in by Mount Saint Mary’s commit Matt Lineman, the T-Birds were ready to celebrate.
Connetquot will advance to next week’s Long Island Championship, where they will get an opportunity to avenge last season’s loss to Massapequa High School. Burger said that his team will take the next couple of days to enjoy today’s win, and continue to use the support from their community as they prepare for the LIC.
“We had a send-off this morning with the fire trucks down at our 7th Street, [and] the place was packed with a sea of red, we know our community gets behind us” Burger said. “Winning two, back-to-back, for the first time since this program’s inception, it’s absolutely amazing and I’m super proud that I could be a part of it.”