Calhoun's Brooks Montabalno hits a two-run homer in the fifth...

Calhoun's Brooks Montabalno hits a two-run homer in the fifth inning of Calhoun's win over Rocky Point in the Long Island Class A baseball on Saturday, June 4, 2022. Credit: Howard Simmons

Brooks Montalbano is a quick study. The Calhoun rightfielder struck out in his first at-bat in the Long Island Class A baseball championship. His takeaway was simple: that Rocky Point’s hard-throwing righty Sean Hamilton blew the pitch past him.

“I got beat in that first at-bat,” he said. “But it wasn’t happening again.”

In his second at-bat, Montalbano stroked a 1-and-0 fastball for a two-out, two-run single in the third inning to give Calhoun a one-run lead. And in his third at-bat — the one he’ll never forget — he blasted a two-run, fifth-inning home run to snap a 3-3 tie and send Calhoun to an 8-3 win over Rocky Point to capture the Long Island Class A baseball crown on Saturday afternoon at St. Joseph’s College in Patchogue.

“I hit it well, but I wasn’t sure if it was going out,” Montalbano said of his second home run this season. “It was a big one.”

Montalbano finished 2-for-3 with four RBIs and a walk. He backed the complete-game effort of Calhoun starter Brian Chin, who allowed three hits, walked three and struck out four for the win. His 111-pitch effort came with some tense moments in which he battled for key outs.

Calhoun (25-3) will move on into the state Class A semifinal round in Binghamton on Saturday. It was Calhoun’s first Long Island title game since 2012, when the Colts captured the Class AA crown.

“We hit all the way through the lineup,” Calhoun head coach Art Canestro said. “Brooks is a strong hitter and gets those big hits.”

Ryan Pucella contributed a 3-for-3 day with two runs scored and two RBIs. Pucella gave Calhoun a 1-0 first-inning lead with an RBI single.

“I thought we came through with the run support,” Pucella said. “And it was everyone. We all had each other’s back.”

Chin (7-2) struggled early and then found his groove. He walked the first two Rocky Point hitters and Hamilton drilled a two-run single to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead.

“I have that short-term memory and then I go get the next hitter,” Chin said. “I definitely get emotional, but I won’t show it on the mound.”

Trailing 3-2, Rocky Point (23-4) blew a golden opportunity in the fourth inning when the Calhoun defense collapsed. The Eagles' first three batters reached on infield errors to load the bases. Niko Sorice fouled out to first baseman Jordan Babbo, who made a nice running catch in foul territory. But the ball was hit deep enough down the line to score AJ Walker from third base to tie the score at 3.

“I thought Chin battled his way through the inning,” Canestro said. “I went out and calmed him down and he responded.” 

Chin induced consecutive groundouts to end the threat.

With one out in the fifth inning, Montalbano launched the winning blast to leftfield for a 5-3 Colts lead. Calhoun then batted around and blew the game open with a three-run sixth. Andrew Schneir had a one-out, two-run single to make it 7-3. And Pucella added a line drive to rightfield to make it 8-3.

“We scored a lot of runs this season,” Canestro said. “We have like 255 runs scored in 28 games. It’s a total team effort.”

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