LI Lutheran catcher Alex Pelaez has busy summer ahead of him

Alex Pelaez will certainly earn his frequent flyer miles this summer. He’ll travel to Georgia, Florida, Texas, California and Arizona playing in tournaments while making recruiting stops all over the map in pursuit of a college baseball scholarship.

But before one of Long Island’s top catching prospects could go on the road, the Long Island Lutheran junior had business to handle at home.

Pelaez led the Crusaders to a 10-0 win over Staten Island Academy on May 27 to claim the Private Schools Athletic Association baseball championship. The 5-11, 185-pound backstop was named the PSAA MVP after a season in which he batted .436 and threw out more than 60% of the potential base stealers.

"Teams couldn’t run against us because he locks it down," said Long Island Lutheran head coach Shaun Manning. "He has an absolute cannon and a quick release. He was a field general and in complete control of our pitching staff."

Long Island Lutheran finished 11-2 this season. The Crusaders had been eliminated by St. Anne’s of Brooklyn in the quarterfinal round of the PSAA playoffs in 2019.

Senior first baseman Leone Harrison had three doubles and four RBIs to ignite the offense and sophomore righthy Michael Malherb of Floral Park pitched four shutout innings with eight strikeouts for the win.

"Mike grew exponentially over the last two years and threw so much harder," Pelaez said. "He matured and proved himself throughout the season."

Manning credited a dedicated coaching staff for the offseason grind and the team improvement in every phase of the game.

"We laid the groundwork in the offseason workouts with our staff of Jake Thomas, Casey Cunningham and Joe Romero and it paid dividends," Manning said. "It was quite the season."

Pelaez hopes the title win kicks off a successful 2021.

"I worked hard in the offseason and it showed," he said. "I’ll leave New York now and travel to play for the Vendetta National Scout team in Houston. I love Long Island Lutheran because the school pushes athletics and academics."

He’ll get to come back and try to win it again next year.

Diamond Gems

Small ball theme here as Jack Dickinson drops the successful squeeze bunt in the bottom of the seventh inning to score Kody Vela and East Hampton upsets Sayville, 2-1. The walk-off win supported an outstanding pitching performance from Colin Ruddy, who scattered five hits and struck out 10 . . . Long ball theme here as Massapequa's Vin Mallon continues to destroy Nassau pitching. After Mallon hit two home runs in a 14-6 win over Farmingdale last week — a Long-Island leading ninth and 10th of the season, he smashed No. 11 in Saturday's win over Syosset. Massapequa is 12-2 . . . Rocky Point sophomore Dom Carbone fired a no-hitter against East Hampton and then struck out nine in a 4-2 win over Hills West. He also had three hits and two RBIs against the Colts. Rocky Point is on an 11-game win streak . . . Mount Sinai has won 10 straight and a stingy pitching staff has only allowed 22 runs in a 12-1 start. That was blown away in Friday's 13-2 upset loss to previously winless Southampton . . . Luke Orbon had a home run and three intentional walks in New Hyde Park’s 14-3 win over Great Neck South. The significance; Orbon has five home runs and 12 intentional walks this season . . . Sophomore Josh Knoth struck out 13 in six innings in Patchogue-Medford’s 12-1 win over Brentwood 1 . . . Senior Rafe Schlesinger struck out 13 in seven innings in a 6-1 win over Longwood.

By Gregg Sarra

gregg.sarra@newsday.com@Gregg_Sarra

Gregg Sarra is Newsday's high school sports editor and has been on the beat since the mid-1980s.