Garden City baseball rallies late to force Game 3 in Nassau Class AA final with Bellmore JFK
Fionn Ryan of Garden City drives one into the outfield for an RBI in the top of the seventh during Game 2 of the Nassau Class AA baseball finals on Friday, May 29, 2026, in Farmingdale. Credit: Dawn McCormick
They have been the comeback kids in Nassau baseball. No lead is safe when playing Bellmore JFK. The Cougars played from behind in every playoff series and always found a way to advance.
The best of three championship series against Garden City was no different. The Trojans found out what MacArthur and Clarke already knew — Bellmore JFK never quits. But neither does Garden City.
Bellmore JFK used an eight-run fifth inning barrage to wipe out a four-run deficit and forge a four-run lead. One the face of it, this looked like the Cougars would capture the school’s first-ever Nassau Class AA championship.
But hold on. Garden City, which surrendered that four-run lead, showed that it too could be resilient.
The Trojans scored twice in the top of the sixth inning and rallied for five runs in the seventh for an exhausting 13-10 comeback win over Bellmore JFK to even the best of three Class AA championship series at one game apiece Friday at Farmingdale State College.
The teams will meet in a decisive game three for the title Sunday at Farmingdale State College. Both teams will qualify for the state tournament, win or lose, as Nassau County received the wild card spot in the state Class AA tournament.
The Nassau County winner will play the Suffolk County representative in the Long Island Class AA championship game at Farmingdale State College Saturday June 6 at 3:30 p.m. The LIC also serves as a southeast regional game in the state tournament. The winner advances to the state final four.
The Nassau County series loser gets the at-large wild card bid and travels to Binghamton for a state regional on Tuesday.
“That makes the third game of this series even more important,” Garden City coach David Izzo said. “Our guys want to win the county title and the Long Island championship.”
Garden City (23-6) took advantage of a first inning error to score two unearned runs. Jake Brown lifted a sacrifice fly, and Thomas Bacich lined a two-out, run scoring single for the 2-0 lead.
Bellmore JFK loaded the bases in the first with two walks and a single. Matt Tolipano drew a two-out bases loaded walk to cut the deficit to 2-1.
Garden City took advantage of sloppier defense in the second inning. The Cougars committed two more errors before Matteo Fiore lined a run-scoring single and Skylar Lang scored on a wild pitch for the 4-1 lead.
Leading 4-2, Garden City played small ball in the fifth. The Trojans dropped three consecutive sacrifice bunts by Joe Carey, Bacich and Fionn Ryan to plate two runs for a 6-2 lead. Carey moved two runners into scoring position and Bacich and Ryan followed with RBI squeeze bunts.
“We executed in a lot of good ways to pull this one out, Izzo said. “There were a lot of players who contributed — a total team effort.”
Bellmore JFK, which left the bases loaded in the first and fourth innings, unloaded in a big way in the fifth. The Cougars sent 11 batters to the plate and scored eight runs for a 10-6 lead. The rally started and ended with Tolipano. He opened the inning with a leadoff single and closed it with a line drive into the right centerfield gap to clear loaded bases and cap an eight-run rally.
Garden City wasn’t done. The Trojans scored twice in the sixth to get within 10-8. And the five-run rally in the seventh was keyed by RBI singles from Carey and Bacich and Ryan’s sacrifice fly.
“It was a character check for sure,” Izzo said.
Bellmore JFK (20-5) won the opening game of the series when Derek Yormack blasted a solo home run in the top of the 12th inning to break a scoreless tie and send the Cougars on to a 2-0 win.
The instant classic was the longest extra inning game in Nassau playoff history according to Helms Bohringer, the president of the Nassau County Baseball Coaches Association.
Gregg Sarra is Newsday's high school sports editor and has been on the beat since the mid-1980s.
