The Trusted Home of Amateur Baseball on Long Island – From Travel through College

search icon
advertise with us

News

Pitching Leads the Way For Long Island At Sixth Annual Leiderman Cup

by Trevor Dugan

The radar guns were overwhelmed by velocity Friday as Team Long Island pitched their way to a 3-1 win over Team New York City in the sixth annual Mike Leiderman Cup, their fourth straight victory at the prestigious event.

The Leiderman Cup brings the top high school seniors from Long Island and NYC together each year to face off in a charity All-Star game, raising money for ALS research in honor of Mike Leiderman, founder of the Long Island Storm baseball organization, and The Atlantic Group, a purveyor of commercial office furniture based in New York.

Leiderman passed away in November 2018 from ALS, leaving behind a lasting legacy in both the athletic and business realms of New York. The game was attended by his wife, Galita Leiderman, and their two children, Erica and David. The event raised $2,000 to be donated to ALS United Greater New York.

St. Anthony’s coach Paul Parsolano, a member of the Team Long Island coaching staff, has been involved with the Mike Leiderman Cup since its inception. He also played for Leiderman’s LI Storm team.

“The reason I love doing this every year is I get to meet the highest end guys on the island that I’ve never met, and get to share the dugout with them for nine innings, it’s very cool,” Parsolano explained. “When you’re on the field in the spring, they’re your enemy, but in a game like this, you get to know the kids a little bit… I really enjoyed it, they’re all great kids.”

The game was scheduled to be held at Mitchel Field, as it had been the last three years, but was moved to Jack Kaiser Stadium at St. John’s University due to road closures coinciding with President Donald Trump’s arrival in Nassau County.

1996 World Series champion Jim Leyritz of the New York Yankees kicked things off with a ceremonial first pitch to David Leiderman, and spoke to both teams prior to the game.

Of the 10 pitchers who appeared for Team Long Island Friday, nine of them were committed to play Division-I baseball. In total, Team Long Island featured 19 Division I bound players. 

Plainedge sensation Jaxson Torres got the start for Team Long Island and pitched a scoreless first inning, striking out the first batter he faced in LSU-commit Ricky Lopez with a 90 MPH fastball. Torres is committed to Arizona State University. 

UCONN-commit Everett Zarzicki took the mound in the top of the second and struck out three straight batters, pushing his fastball up to 91 MPH. It was clear after two innings that nothing would be coming easy for either offense. 

Team NYC’s Justin Olivo got the scoring started in the top of the fourth with a solo home run to left, a no-doubter that gave team NYC a 1-0 lead. Despite NYC’s loss, Olivo’s moonshot earned him player of the game honors. 

Team Long Island answered in the bottom of the fifth, manufacturing three runs to take the lead and never looking back. Babylon’s Jake Ostertag took a fastball off his helmet with the bases loaded, earning him a painful RBI to bring in the tying run. Vanderbilt-commit Derek Yormack scored the go-ahead run from third base on a wild pitch one batter later, giving Team Long Island a 2-1 lead. 

Stony Brook-commit Chris Sultana drove in the third and final run of the inning on an RBI groundout, putting Team Long Island ahead 3-1. That proved to be more than enough for Long Island’s staff of aces. 

Team NYC’s final scoring threat came in the top of the seventh as two men reached scoring position. One runner was cut down at home by second baseman Andrew Noe after being caught halfway down the line on a slow-moving chopper. Noe, a St. John’s commit, was named defensive player of the game, and received a new Rawlings glove along with his trophy. 

With two outs in the seventh and the LSU-bound shortstop Lopez striding to the plate, Team Long Island brought in Fred Klauck out of the bullpen. The Mineola senior did not shy away from the vaunted prospect Lopez, giving him a healthy dose of fastballs before dropping in a breaking ball for strike three, electrifying the Team Long Island dugout and crowd. 

For his clutch strikeout, Klauck was named pitcher of the game. 

The final two innings saw two more flamethrowers enter to protect the Team Long Island lead. St. John’s commit Matt Zambriski pitched the eighth inning on his future home turf, striking out two batters for the hold. The save opportunity went to Derek Yormack, who converted it with ease, ending the game with a strikeout on his 96 MPH fastball to secure bragging rights once again for Team Long Island.

“It’s an amazing experience, especially getting to play with a bunch of your boys,” Yormack said postgame. “A lot of these kids growing up were on the same travel teams, and we play against them locally all the time, so it’s amazing to get everyone back together and play in an awesome game like this.” 

Team Long Island now leads Team NYC in the all-time series 4-2.