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Babylon Panthers win NY State Class B Championship
The 2007 home opener was played on March 27 on a clear cool day when Willy Rivas stepped on the mound. Willy tossed a five hitter, and struck out 10 making the final 2-0. Over the next six weeks the team played baseball to a 7-7 record and was headed to a May 11 game at John Glenn High School. A defensive lapse caused three errors in one inning ending in a11-4 loss and a record of 7-8. Head Coach Mike Vergano then made two key player moves. First he brought up Alex Rodriguez from Junior Varsity to take over at shortstop. His second move was to promote pitcher Andrew Cosby, a hard throwing freshman who maintained a record of 5-0 on JV. Coach Vergano held a team meeting with players and stated the obvious- Babylon had to win 2 of the final 3 games to qualify for postseason playoffs and the boys had to function not as individuals but as a team. On May 15, the team traveled to the Bayport High School and began one of greatest runs in Long Island high school baseball history. Bryan Schweitzer, a southpaw 10th grader pitched a complete game victory giving up only 2 runs in a 10-2 win. Seniors Rich Dell'isolla and Frank Deesing had 3 hits apiece, each with 3 RBIs, Brian Carley made several great plays at third and the team reacted to the speech given by Coach Vergano the previous day. The next home game was a tight one. The game tied at 4-4 bottom of the seventh, Rob Freyer leading off third, Mark Milano at bat, count 2-2. Milano hit a single to left, scoring Freyer for the walk-off RBI game winner, Babylon won 5-4. The next days game Andrew Cosby pitched his first varsity win 10-5 behind solid hitting. Babylon record after the 3 game Bayport sweep was 10-8 in league play, and the playoffs began. The playoff seeding was set and Babylon defeated Port Jefferson 6-3 as Willy Rivas struck out 11 and Luke Horstmann went 2-3 with a long homer and 4 RBIs. Babylon's next opponent was Mattituck in a 2 of 3 series for the Suffolk class B baseball championship. Game 1 was a 7-0 loss for Babylon and the team needed to win 2 games straight to advance. Game 2 was played at home on May 25 and starting pitcher James Panarelli allowed 2 runs in 4 and two-thirds innings and Rob Freyer had a solid stint in relief. The four-run fifth was highlighted by a Mark Milano two run single giving Babylon a 6-5 lead after being down 5-0 early. The next day was the rubber game at the Mattituck Field. Coaches Vergano and Sparacio selected Andrew Cosby to pitch the deciding game. Babylon trailed by 2 runs entering the fourth inning, Frank Deesing came to the plate with 2 men on and smashed a homer over the center field wall that Willie Mays could not have run down. The score was Babylon up 5-4 and the team added 8 more runs in the sixth inning and won the game 15-6. Willy Rivas pitched the final 3 innings to preserve the win. Babylon then defeated class D winner Mercy 6-4 and the next day Class AA winner Islip 3-2 at St. Joseph College to take the Suffolk small schools title. Babylon was victorious against next opponent Oyster Bay 16-5 at Stony Brook University. Willy Rivas got the win giving up one run in 5 innings. Willy also added a two-run triple in a seven-run second inning capturing the Long Island Class B Championship for the third straight year. The next game was at Pace University, Pleasantville against Hastings in the southeast regional. The Babylon Panthers won the game in a seesaw battle with a score of 9-8. Willy Rivas relieved starter Bryan Schweitzer and earned the win. The winning run scored in top of the seventh on a wild pitch. Babylon returned to Binghamton on June 9 to play New York State top seed Lansing at 10 a.m. The Championship game would be played at 4 p.m. at Chenango Valley High School field. Babylon came through with a 6-5 win on the strength of Rivas pitching and a full count based loaded triple to the right-center field wall by catcher Ryan Stoll that put Babylon up 5-3. Babylon returned for the championship game ready for the 4 p.m. start against the other semifinal winner Eden. Sophomore Bryan Schweitzer pitched six strong innings to give Babylon a lead of 16-4. Senior pitcher Brian May, injured back in March, returned to the active roster and came on to pitch the final inning to the delight of the Babylon crowd.
Babylon finished the season on a roll winning 12 of its final 13 games: the ultimate goal of the team and Coaches Mike Vergano, Anthony Sparacio and Vic Manzella a New York State Class B Baseball championship.
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