Kennedy completes winning season

Kennedy’s 12-10 record on the baseball diamond isn’t the right indicator to look at when determining how many heads the Cougars turned this spring. Instead, it may be best to look at the team’s postseason run — they gave top-seeded MacArthur a run for its money in the quarterfinals and knocked off Mepham in the first round with a stunning comeback from a six-run deficit —largely on the back of a pair of sophomore pitchers and strong crop of seniors.

“There is a lot of excitement,” coach Eric Passman said. “When you lose it’s not [always] good, but there were a lot of positives.”

Sophomore Justin Stybel joined the rotation after No. 1 starter Justin Penchack went down for the season in the first game of 2013 and came up aces, finishing an All-County campaign (5-0, 1.08 earned run average) by throwing nine innings in Kennedy’s final game, a 3-1 loss to the Generals in the second game of the best-of-three quarterfinals on May 15.

“He kept us in the game and gave us an opportunity,” Passman said, noting his team’s final out was a booming fly ball by junior Justin Ganca that was caught at the warning track with the tying run on base in the bottom of the 10th.

Classmate Joseph Corrao took the reins in the quarterfinal opener, a 5-0 loss one day earlier, and in keeping with a youth movement that paid huge dividends, continued throwing to freshman catcher Reid Oreste, who like the sophomore pitchers, has already made a big splash. “He started every game and saved us [a ton] of runs with his blocking and throwing ability,” Passman said. “He’s an incredible defensive catcher.”

But for all of the youth that played key roles, it was a group of seniors led by shortstop Michael McCormick, Jake Schwartz and Matt Murphy that sat in the driver’s seat to success. Schwartz led the improbable comeback against the Pirates in the 11-10 first round win on May 11, crushing a grand slam in the fifth and ending the game with a two-run single in the ninth that plated McCormack and junior Justin Ganca, the latter of whom hit .390. Schwartz finished the game with three hits and seven runs batted in. “When you’re down 9-3 against an All-County pitcher [most teams] usually pack it in,” Passman said. “They didn’t pack it in and chipped away until they got the big hit.”

McCormick, a three-year starter on the varsity team, capped his final campaign as an All-County honoree and also a nominee for the Diamond Award, handed out to the best player in Nassau County every June. He led the team with a robust .567 batting average and a .783 slugging percentage, starting the season in the leadoff slot and eventually settling in as the No. 3 hitter. He even chipped in with five saves as the closer out of the bullpen. “He was not only our leader in production he was the leader of the team,” Passman said.