Sunday, November 9, 2025
Clarke's baseball team has shown no signs of a letting down after capturing the Nassau Class A championship last spring. In fact, it may be hard to find a weakness at all.
The Rams have mowed through the competition in 2025, winning their first eight games by a combined score of 95-10 -- five of them by the run rule – and swept Conference A-1 foe Lynbrook last week without allowing a run. They enter this week’s action 1½ games ahead of Wantagh, whom they beat last May to capture their first county title since 2019.
Clarke was three outs away from a fourth Long Island baseball title last June but lost to Kings Park after a controversial balk call scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth. Rams coach Tom Abruscato dismissed the notion of there being an added incentive this season because of that loss.
“If you don’t win a state championship, I would guess we would come back and say it’s unfinished business, but we don’t talk about it,” Abruscato said. “We just talk about our expectations, and they’re the same every year.”
Junior Matthew Kurz (3-0) allowed just two hits and struck out seven in a five-inning complete game in the opener against Lynbrook on April 14 and the run he allowed against Long Island Lutheran in the season opener was the only he has yielded this season. Richard Luke (2-0) tossed a five-inning complete-game three-hitter in the middle contest and fellow junior James Beckworth (3-0) followed with five scoreless innings in his first start of the season.
“We throw a lot of strikes, which is good,” Abruscato said. “Right now, we don’t have that kind of velocity, a big time 87-88 mph No. 1, but we got a bunch of 83-84 guys, but they all throw strikes, and they throw multiple pitches for strikes.”
Senior catcher A.J. Cumbo has been setting the table atop the order with a .579 average with a home run, 12 RBIs, and a team-leading 16 runs scored. Kurz is batting .462 in the second spot with 10 RBIs and senior third baseman Dylan Vikara went 4-for-4 with five RBIs in the Lynbrook finale to raise his average to an astounding .600.
Junior center fielder and cleanup hitter Micheal Iadevaia has a home run and two four-RBI games so far.
Outfielder Luke Walker has impressed in his varsity debut by collecting at least one hit in all eight games for a .500 average to go with a team-leading 15 RBIs. He drove in eight runs during a three-game sweep against Valley Stream South and five more in the opener against Lynbrook.
“I wouldn’t say it’s been a surprise,” Abruscato said. “You never know what you’re going to get from a first-time varsity player in 10th grade and he’s done a phenomenal job.”
First baseman James Millman is riding a seven-game hitting streak, including a home run against Valley Stream South on April 8, and fellow junior Grady Rick went deep the next day.
