Bellmore JFK baseball team wins first county title, beating Garden City behind Derek Yormack's 14 strikeouts
Derek Yormack of Bellmore-JFK begins his windup during Game 3 of the Nassau Class AA baseball finals against Garden City at Farmingdale State College on Sunday. Credit: Derrick Dingle
The umpire rang up the last of the 14 strikeouts, and Derek Yormack tossed his glove in the air after throwing his big-game masterpiece. The celebration was on for the Cougars from Bellmore JFK.
“The whole team is going to go down in history now,” Yormack said. “This is what people remember.”
This baseball program hadn’t won a Nassau County championship until Sunday. After three straight trips to the title round and the fourth overall, Bellmore JFK finally was No. 1.
The third-seeded Cougars edged the top-seeded defending champion, Garden City, 4-3, in the deciding Game 3 of the Nassau Class AA finals at Farmingdale State. They did it behind a four-run first and Yormack yielding no earned runs and only two hits — none after the first.
“It means everything,” coach Mike Gattus said. “Our players, our family, our school community, our administration, our teachers, colleagues, friends, the Little League — everyone has supported us so much. So to be able to do this for them and give this back to them is a special thing.”
The Cougars (21-5) will face Hauppauge in the Long Island Class AA championship/Southeast Regional final at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Farmingdale State.
The Trojans (23-7) received an at-large ticket to a regional semifinal against Section IV winner Horseheads. They will play at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Maine-Endwell High School.
“We’ve got a lot of tough kids that are used to winning,” Garden City coach Dave Izzo said. “So I’m not worried about their mindset.”
How about a Bellmore JFK-Garden City rematch for a state title June 13 in Binghamton?
“It will be storybook if we wind up seeing them up there in the state championship,” Izzo said.
Dylan Babek singled home two runs and bases-loaded walks forced in two in the Cougars’ first-inning rally. “We got off the bus firing,” Babek said.
Caiden Lang took over with two outs and surrendered three hits in the final 6 1⁄3 innings.
The Trojans got one back in the home half and two in the third, but Yormack stranded the potential tying run at third with three straight strikeouts in the fourth. That began the Vanderbilt commit’s closing run of 12 consecutive batters retired.
“He’s a once-in-a-lifetime player,” Gattus said, “and he stepped up for his team in a major way today.”
