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St. Dominic Captures First NSCHSAA Championship Since 2009

by Trevor Dugan

The last time St. Dominic High School’s varsity baseball team won a Catholic league title in 2009, many of the players on their current roster had not even been born yet. Head coach Joe Fusco was still in middle school. 

The Bayhawks broke that 17 year drought Tuesday, defeating reigning champion Kellenberg Memorial High School, 4-1, in a winner-take-all Game 3 of the NSCHSAA championship series at Hofstra University. 

After going 9-9 in the regular season and entering the NSCHSAA tournament as a five-seed, St. Dominic eliminated top-seeded St. Anthony’s in the semifinals, then came back from the brink of elimination by winning two straight games against Kellenberg to cap off their underdog title run.  

“It’s the best feeling you could have as a coach because we work hard all year long to get these kids to where they want to be,” coach Fusco said. “They work so hard for us, it’s a give and take. We both give each other so much, to have it end in a championship is just the ultimate goal realized.” 

Hofstra-commit Connor Ackerman got the start for the Bayhawks Tuesday and pitched 6.0 innings, allowing one run on six hits while striking out five to earn the win on his future home field. The right-handed junior is one half of a dynamic one-two punch in the St. Dominic rotation, along with Ray Kim, the winning pitcher in Monday’s Game 2. 

“We knew we had our guys to pitch games two and three,” St. Dominic assistant coach Dylan Iacovone explained. “Knowing we had Ray and Ackerman lined up, with Camastro ready to close out one of the games, made us feel really good.”

St. Dominic took an early 1-0 lead on a bases loaded HBP in the top of the first. They stretched their lead to 3-0 in the top of the second, when sophomore right fielder Dylan Weinstein knocked in junior center fielder Louis Gounaris with an RBI single, then scored from first on an RBI double by the shortstop Kim.

Kim, a Rhode Island-commit, was named MVP of the NSCHSAA tournament following St. Dominic’s victory. The impressive junior batted .363 in the championship series with 5 RBI and a home run, to go along with a complete game shutout on the mound in Game 2. 

Kellenberg put their only run on the board in the bottom of the fifth, when senior SS Richie LaVacca ripped an RBI single through the left side to score junior center fielder Joe DiSanza, cutting St. Dominic’s lead to 3-1. 

The Bayhawks got that run right back in the top of the sixth however, when junior second baseman Dom Muccia lined an RBI single to right field, his second in as many days, to score junior center fielder Christos Vangelatos and extend the St. Dominic lead to 4-1. 

After pitching a scoreless bottom of the sixth, Ackerman was replaced in the seventh by sophomore RHP Tyler Camastro. Kellenberg loaded the bases in the final inning, bringing the winning run to the plate with two outs in the form of junior right fielder Nick Conway, but Camastro forced him to ground out, escaping unscathed and kicking off the Bayhawks’ championship celebration. 

“The culture here is all about winning,” St. Dominic senior pitcher Matt Defranza said. “We’ve come up just short since Fusco has been here, but I knew this year we have the closest team we’ve had, and we all really wanted this championship.” 

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Following a hard fought championship victory, Fusco reflected on the type of culture he’s built in his five years at St. Dominic. 

“When I came here, we had to change a lot; had to get a little tougher, a little bit grittier,” Fusco said. “We needed to build belief that we could win, we’ve been able to do that; these guys are so confident, they think they can beat anybody.”

Looking on as the Bayhawks won the title was St. Dominic’s Athletic Director Chris Mueller, who is retiring after three years at the helm of the school’s athletic department. Many of the school’s coaches were replaced when Mueller took over in 2023, but he decided to keep Coach Fusco around. It’s safe to say that decision paid off for both of them. 

“Before I took over, I was at the school for the two previous years; I watched how Joe coached, his relationship with the kids, and I thought he did a dynamite job,” Mueller explained. “I knew it was only a matter of time before he was going to break through, so that was a no-brainer. I did make a lot of coaching changes, but keeping him was never in doubt.” 

“I think this puts an exclamation point on my three years for sure,” Mueller added. 

With the NSCHSAA title now in hand, St. Dominic moves on to the NYSCHSAA state-wide tournament, beginning Friday, June 12, at St. John’s University. As the Bayhawks seek a state championship, Defranza and his fellow seniors will look to keep the team’s confidence levels high. 

“I’ll be telling the players that we deserve to be here, and winning this title today proves it,” Defranza said. “Going into states, we just have to stay calm, stay confident, and just play our game; when we do that, nobody is going to beat us.”