Sayville loses to Maine-Endwell in state Class A baseball semifinals
Sayville's Tyler Brown throws during a state Class A baseball semifinal at Mirabito Stadium in Binghamton, N.Y., on Friday. Credit: Jorge Marcano
BINGHAMTON — This year’s Sayville baseball team will be remembered as one of the program’s best after capturing Suffolk County and Long Island titles for only the second time in its history.
But Sayville’s road toward a state title came to an end on Friday morning as it suffered a 2-0 loss to reigning state champion Maine-Endwell (Section IV) in a state Class A semifinal at Mirabito Stadium.
“They’re phenomenal young men,” Sayville coach Joe Esposito said. “They’re what this game is supposed to be about, the purity of the game . . . The purity of the game is the best in high school baseball, and these guys showed what the purity of this game is all about. And they played it with heart.
“They showed a lot of class and weren’t one of those teams talking and doing bush-league [stuff]. They were a class-act team. These guys did it right all season, and I couldn’t be prouder of what they accomplished. This team will be remembered in Sayville.”
Sayville senior righthander Tyler Brown continued his excellent postseason by allowing two runs (one earned) and five hits in six innings, striking out nine and walking one.
But the Golden Flashes mustered only two hits against Maine-Endwell senior righty Sam DeLorenzo, who threw a complete game. DeLorenzo, who had faced the minimum through 5 2⁄3 innings, struck out four and walked two.
“He was working quick, getting outs, throwing strikes,” Esposito said. “We attack. We swing the bat. So he was able to get some quick outs and keep his pitch count down and be very effective.”
Andrew Law and Shane Meehan had back-to-back one-out walks in the top of the seventh for Sayville (18-8) before DeLorenzo induced consecutive groundouts to end it.
DeLorenzo, who moved from Dallas, is in his first season with Maine-Endwell (14-9), which scored its runs with two outs in the third inning. It will face Pittsford-Mendon (Section V) in the state final on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Binghamton University.
“I’ve never done this before,” DeLorenzo said. “This is really my first time ever making playoffs. I moved here. I’m new. I want to thank Maine-Endwell for being just great, great, welcoming people. I couldn’t have done this without all of them.”
Brown, who will play college baseball at Utica, shined in each of Sayville’s championship wins. He pitched a hitless seventh inning in a 5-0 win over Marlboro Central in the regional final last Saturday, three perfect innings for the save in a 1-0 win over Wantagh in the Long Island title game on June 5 and a scoreless final two innings in an 8-1 win over Bayport-Blue Point in the county title game on May 31.
“They didn’t touch [Brown],” Esposito said. “They didn’t hit him. They didn’t do anything to him. We had some unfortunate defensive plays, and sometimes that bites you.”
Maine-Endwell scored its runs with two outs in the third inning. After Brown struck out the first two batters, Joey Chesna singled and Braden Palmer bunted for a hit. Chesna moved to third on a pickoff attempt at first and Cooper Klinger drove him in with an infield single. Palmer later scored on a throwing error.
Despite the disappointing ending, Brown was proud of what his team accomplished.
“The way we played, making it this far, obviously that’s going to be [memorable],” Brown said. “But just the amount of family, brotherhood that we’ve created this year is unmatchable.”
Ben Dickson is Newsday Sports' general assignment reporter. He joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
