Mayhem baseball looks forward to another hit season

Local travel baseball program Merrick Mayhem recently kicked off their season with some big wins at a season opener tournament, Levittown Spring Swing. The early wins this season follow Mayhem’s success last season — the organization as a whole notched more than 100 wins and five championships across four teams.

Once a small organization, Mayhem has now expanded into a much larger program, with numerous baseball teams and one softball team. At the Levittown tournament, 7 of its teams across four age groups competed, finishing with 20 wins, 4 losses and 2 ties overall, according to one of Mayhem’s founders, Brian Mann. Mann created Mayhem in 2019 alongside Brendan Kalkau, Evan Tepper and Erik Bashian, after watching their sons play tee-ball and baseball together for years.

The tournament attracted over 70 teams from across Long Island. Mayhem’s teams competed against some smaller town teams, as well as some larger, well known travel programs.

While Mann said all of the teams entered performed extremely well, the 11-and-under team, managed by cofounder Kalkau, won their tournament in “convincing fashion” — coming out on top in all five games they played, and outscoring their opponents 62-12.

Mann’s 10-and-under team also won their tournament, with an overall record of 4 wins and one loss. A 9-and-under team, managed by Paul Principato, and an 8-and-under team, managed by John McManus, also took the top spot in their tournaments.

Mann added that each team is now looking forward to competing in league play through leagues such as East Coast Youth Baseball and Hot Stove Long Island Baseball. Mayhem teams will participate in Memorial Day tournaments, as well as summer and fall games and tournaments.

Proud to be partnered with the Merrick Bellmore Little League, Mann said all of Mayhem’s players will participate in little league games as well. “Mayhem is a sponsor of the little league, and we always promote the importance of little league play in addition to travel baseball,” he said. 

Though softball games haven’t started games yet, overall, Mann said everyone involved in Mayhem is looking forward to another great season. For more on the organization, go to merrickmayhem.com, or the Mayhem Baseball Facebook page.