Mineola lefthander Fred Klauck has big moment for Team Long Island in sixth annual Mike Leiderman Cup
Long Island’s baseball talent is deeper — and gutsier — than some may realize. That was on full display in the sixth annual Mike Leiderman Cup — a high school All-Star baseball game between Long Island and New York City — on Friday night at St. John's University.
Team Long Island defeated Team New York City, 3-1, to earn its fourth consecutive victory in the series, which it leads 4-2.
The rosters of both teams featured some of the best rising seniors from each area, and Mineola lefthander Fred Klauck put on arguably the biggest show in inarguably the shortest amount of time.
Team Long Island led 3-1 with two outs in the top of the seventh inning, but Team New York City had runners on second and third with Ranney School shortstop Ricky Lopez — an LSU commit — coming to the plate.
Clarke coach Tom Abruscato, who led the Long Island All-Stars for the fourth consecutive year, turned to Klauck to get one king-sized out, and he did just that.
Klauck went right after Lopez, throwing him six straight high fastballs to start at at-bat. He fell behind 2-and-0 before getting a pair of whiffs, and after Lopez fouled off the next three pitches, Klauck struck him out with a back-door slider.
“I was just showing that no matter what school you go to, no matter who you are, you can do anything you put your mind to,” Klauck said. “I just went out there and did my best, didn’t care who was in the batter’s box and did my job. It feels great; making this team was one of my goals coming into this season, and coming in in such a meaningful spot and doing my job feels really good.”
After Klauck’s one-out hold, Riverhead's Matt Zambriski and Bellmore JFK's Derek Yormack each pitched a perfect inning to secure the win.
Klauck earned Pitcher of the Game honors. Long Island surrendered only a fourth-inning homer by St. Joseph’s Regional first baseman Justin Olivo, who went 2-for-2 with the homer and a double to earn Most Outstanding Player honors.
Team Long Islandallowed three hits, two walks and one hit batsman, striking out 13.
Zambriski and Kellenberg second baseman Andrew Noe, two St. John’s commits, had good nights on their future home field.
Noe earned Defensive Player of the Game honors, and his biggest moment came just before Klauck’s in the seventh. With runners on second and third and none out in a 3-1 game, with St. Dominic righthander Connor Ackerman pitching, Noe short-hopped a weak chopper up the middle, fooled the lead runner, got him into a rundown and threw him out at the plate to save a run.
“I pride myself on defense,” Noe said. “I didn’t hit well, but I did something in the field, and I love that it helped us beat them.”
The event is named after the late founder of the Long Island Storm — a travel baseball organization — who died of ALS in November 2019. All of the event’s proceeds went to ALS United Greater New York, a non-profit organization that helps fund research and treatment of the disease.
Leiderman’s widow, Galita, son David and daughter Erica were in attendance. David, a Hofstra baseball alumnus, got to catch the ceremonial first pitch from former Yankees catcher Jim Leyritz, who lost his brother-in-law to ALS in 2010.
“This is overwhelming, the amount of love and support we feel from everyone,” Erica said. “It’s overwhelming to see how many people are willing to take time out of their day to do something like this in his honor. He was larger than life.”
Mike Anderson is a high school sports reporter who has covered 12 sports so far at Newsday. He was the sports editor of Stony Brook University's campus newspaper for two years.
