Thursday, October 1, 2026
The level of Plainedge’s dominance on the baseball diamond this spring has been nothing short of remarkable and the program’s first state championship appears well within its grasp.
The top-seeded Red Devils entered the Nassau Class A playoffs with a perfect record through 20 games and steamrolled through the bracket to capture their first county title since 2012, sweeping No. 8 Valley Stream North in the quarterfinals, No. 5 North Shore in the semis and No. 2 Wantagh in the finals — allowing five runs in the process.
“I’m so proud of these kids,” Plainedge’s 13th-year coach Colin Fratrik said after Friday’s 6-3 victory over Wantagh in Game 2 of the best-of-three championship series at Farmingdale State College. “They put the work in every day and approach every game with a positive attitude,” he added.
The Red Devils (26-0) advanced to face Kings Park or Sayville in the Long Island Class A championship game June 6 at 7 p.m. back at Farmingdale State. Wantagh finished 19-7-1 with four of its losses coming to Plainedge.
“Almost our whole team has been playing together since tee ball,” said slugging senior first baseman Bobby Westcott, who tripled and doubled and drove in a pair of runs, giving him 32 RBIs on the year. “We have great chemistry and this was a longtime goal of ours,” he added.
As they’ve done throughout the season, senior Taylor Nitsch and junior Jaxson Torres proved nearly unhittable on the mound in each of the three playoff series. Both hurled shutouts against Valley Stream North and North Shore and earned wins in the finals. They’ve combined for 21 wins, including four no-hitters, and for all 10 of the staff’s shutouts.
“It’s impossible to separate the two of them,” Fratrik said. “You’ve heard the term 1A and 1B and that’s exactly what we’ve got. The confidence they have when they take the mound and the confidence they give their teammates is incredible.”
Wantagh broke Nitsch’s 48-inning scoreless streak with a run in the bottom of the first Friday. He still has a 0.75 ERA and only 26 hits allowed in 60 innings of work with 120 strikeouts.
“We’ve got a special group,” said Nitsch, who’s 11-0. “We’ve played baseball together for as long as I can remember. We’ve been able to overcome anything that’s been in our path this year and we want to get to states.”
Torres’ numbers are just as staggering as Nitsch’s, if not more eye-popping because he threw three consecutive no-hitters including the playoff opener and was part of a fourth, going the first five innings. Torres is 10-0 with a 1.10 ERA and 110 strikeouts with a mere 14 hits allowed in 59 innings. He got the win in Game 1 as Wescott, Rob Northrup and Dom Santivasci all had two RBIs in the 13-3 romp.
Torres kicked off the playoff run with a five-inning no-no against Valley Stream North as the Red Devils cruised, 16-0. He struck out nine and got all the run support he’d need from Wescott and senior Mike Calapai, who both homered and are batting over. 400 on the year. Calapai smacked a grand slam in an 11-run first inning in Game 2 of the semifinals.
“We’re excited but still hungry,” Torres said. “I speak for everyone on this team when I say we’re not finished.”
