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Timely Hitting and Babek’s Strong Outing Leads Bellmore Kennedy to First Ever Long Island Championship!

by John Sullivan

Saturday was an historic afternoon for the Bellmore Kennedy Cougars, as they competed in their first ever Long Island Championship game against the 2024 Class AA LI champs, Hauppauge Eagles. Both teams carried significant momentum into the game after Hauppuage’s epic comeback against ESM in the Suffolk County Championship and Kennedy’s gutsy 3-game series win in the Nassau County finals against Garden City. 

With plenty of options to choose from, coach Mike Gattus decided to give the ball to junior southpaw Stony Brook-commit Dylan Babek in Kennedy baseball’s biggest game ever. Babek has been dominating the Class AA hitters all year long and he continued that domination in the first. Babek started off the game with a quick 1-2-3 inning and strikeouts of Hauppuage lead off batter Tucker Brown and three hitter Roman Dixon. Kennedy rode this momentum in the bottom half of the first, when Ryan Yormack led things off with a line drive double into left field and Derek Yormack was walked by Hauppauge starter, Michael Crafa. This brought up pitcher Dylan Babek and it seemed like Crafa induced a possible double play ball against him, but first baseman Matthew Oliveto threw it away, which allowed for Ryan Yormack to score and for everyone to reach safely. A Matt Tolipano sac fly then scored another, but a caught stealing on Babek and a strikeout against Alex Demas stopped the bleeding for Crafa and the Eagles, who now faced a 2-0 deficit after just one full inning of play. 

Needing a response, Hauppauge cleanup batter Nick Lombardi delivered with a shot over the center fielder’s head for a triple to start off the second. DH Kevin Hoeler then brought Lombardi home on a sac fly to center to make it a 2-1 game, but Babek kept attacking hitters, which allowed him to get the next two outs quickly via groundouts. In the bottom half of the second, Kennedy took that run right back by taking advantage of a misjudged fly ball by Ethan Williams that allowed Jake Burlock to reach second with one out. In the next at bat, Crafa got a groundout against Ethan Mann, but even in the nine hole, Zach Adelstein would not let Hauppauge go unpunished for Williams’ error, as he smoked a line drive down the left field line for a clutch two out, RBI double. This brought Kennedy’s lead back to 2 heading into the third. 

Babek started off his third inning with two very quick outs, but a Tucker Brown single and Kyle Magill hit by pitch gave senior catcher and three batter Roman Dixon a chance with two outs and runners on. Dixon took advantage of this opportunity, as he smoked a single into left field that scored Brown and moved the tying run into scoring position. With the Hauppauge crowd now loud and ready to take a lead, Nick Lombardi stepped up and once again hit a fly ball into center, but he couldn’t beat Zach Adelstein this time and he made the catch to end the inning at 3-2.

The bottom half of the third started off with a Derek Yormack flyout and a Dylan Babek double that hopped off the centerfield fence. With a runner on second, Crafa was able to execute perfectly, and got two weak pop outs in a row from Matt Tolipano and Alex Demas. Crafa notched his first scoreless inning and Hauppuage held the momentum going into the fourth.

The fourth started off great for Hauppauge after Kevin Hoeler worked a lead off walk and Giuseppe Calabrese worked a 1 out walk. This brought up the hero from the Suffolk County Championship, Matthew Oliveto, with a chance to come up clutch for his team once again. But, with one out and first and second, coach Josh Gutes put on the bunt, and kept it on with two strikes, which proved costly after Oliveto popped a bunt into foul territory for strike number three. Ethan Williams was next up and he proceeded to line out softly to short and Babek escaped the jam, with help from Oliveto’s failed bunt attempt.

Still trailing 3-2, Crafa started his fourth inning of work with two quick outs and looked well on his way to a stress free inning until Ethan Mann ripped a single into center and took second on a wild pitch. Still, all Crafa needed to do was get out Kennedy’s nine hitter to end the inning, but Zach Adelstein once again had other plans at the plate. He jumped all over a fastball and sent it over the left fielder’s head for his second two out, RBI double of the game. This gave Kennedy an insurance run and they carried a 4-2 lead after four. 

In the fifth, Babek continued to attack hitters, which resulted in two quick groundouts from Hauppauge’s top of the lineup. Roman Dixon then hit a two-out double to give Hauppauge a scoring opportunity, but Babek was unfazed, as he induced an easy groundout back to himself to end the inning. In the bottom half, Babek helped himself at the plate with his second double of the day. After Babek advanced to third on a wild pitch and Crafa got two looking strikeouts, Alex Demas came up with two outs and a chance to make Kennedy’s lead just a little more comfortable, and he did just that by delivering a single into left that made it 5-2. This ended Michael Crafa’s outing on the mound after 4 and ⅔ innings and Nick Poulos got the final out for the Eagles. 

Now trailing by three with just six outs remaining, Hauppuage knew it was time to strike if they wanted to win. After a long huddle, they came out aggressive in the sixth, which resulted in back to back doubles from DH Kevin Hoeler and third baseman Brendan Magill. This ended Dylan Babek’s night on the mound with 5+ strong innings of 3 run ball with only one walk allowed. Typical, teams would be happy to run out a guy like this and get into a teams bullpen, but unfortunately for Hauppauge, Kennedy’s pitching staff consists of not just one or two, but three top arms in the state, and coach Gattus decided to give the ball to junior Vanderbilt-commit Ryan Yormack to get the final six outs with a 5-3 lead. Yormack’s outing started off with a sac bunt out to advance Magill to third, but a Matthew Oliveto popout and Ethan Williams groundout allowed Yormack to escape and strand Magill at third. Bellmore led 5-3 with just three outs to go. 

With Crafa now out of the game, Kennedy took complete advantage of the Hauppauge bullpen in the bottom of the sixth. Ethan Mann singled to lead off and a one out walk to Ryan Yormack brought up his twin brother, Derek, who did a beautiful job of waiting back on a breaking ball and barreling it off the top of the fence for an RBI double. Back to back walks to Babek and Matt Tolipano allowed another run to score and Alex Demas’ single brought in two more. The game was officially blown wide open and Bellmore Kennedy held a 9-3 lead heading into the final inning.

With the big lead, Ryan Yormack was able to go right after batters and he got two quick outs via the popout and groundout because of it. Just needing one more out for their first ever LIC, the Kennedy crowd rose to their feet in excitement and Yormack delivered by forcing a groundball to second baseman Frankie Stella, who made the play to capture the CLASS AA Long Island Championship for the first time in Bellmore Kennedy’s history! The Cougars’ dominant playoff run will continue in Binghamton, as Kennedy now has their sights set on a state championship.