Sayville honors longtime baseball coach Barry Fitzpatrick with field renaming
Barry Fitzpatrick throws out the ceremonial first pitch after Sayville renamed its field "Barry Fitzpatrick Field" on Thursday, May 1, 2025. Credit: Jonathan Singh
For over 20 years, the Salute Our Troops Day game has been of paramount importance to the Sayville baseball program. However, the event’s most-recent installment will hold historic significance to the program forever.
On Thursday afternoon in Sayville, the Golden Flashes hosted a pregame ceremony an hour before they hosted Mount Sinai for a regular-season game. The ceremony honored a Sayville legend: former physical education teacher and baseball coach 78-year-old Barry Fitzpatrick. The program decided to rename its baseball field in his honor, unveiling a brand-new scoreboard reading “Welcome to Barry Fitzpatrick Field at the Swamp” just 40 minutes before first pitch.
Fitzpatrick served in the Vietnam War with the U.S. Army from 1969 to 1970 before being honorably discharged as a first lieutenant. Immediately after returning home from the war, Fitzpatrick became a teacher in the Sayville School School district, and in 1978, he became the high school’s baseball coach.
During his 22 seasons as varsity coach, he won a program-record 316 games and five league championships before stepping aside and remaining on the staff as an assistant through the 2024 season. As a teacher, he taught in four schools across the district.
“I’m sort of at a loss for words right now,” Fitzpatrick told Newsday after the ceremony. “It’s one of those things that you don’t expect to happen, and it happened.”
Hundreds of people were in attendance, ranging from Sayville alumni who Fitzpatrick coached and/or taught, to former coworkers of his, as well as many other veterans. Before the scoreboard’s revealing, Fitzpatrick was welcomed onto the field with a round of applause from the crowd. Bagpipes played while Fitzpatrick was wheeled onto the field by his wife, Barbara, through a tunnel formed by Sayville’s junior varsity baseball and softball teams.
Before going through the makeshift tunnel toward the pitcher’s mound, Fitzpatrick made an announcement to his supporters that showed up for his big day.
The newly unveiled scoreboard at Sayville’s baseball field, featuring the dedication to Barry Fitzpatrick, during a ceremony on Thursday, May 1, 2025. Credit: Jonathan Singh
“God bless everybody here,” Fitzpatrick exclaimed.
Preceding the new field name’s official unveiling was a speech by Sayville athletic director Ryan Cox, who played for Fitzpatrick in the mid-1990s and eventually replaced him as baseball coach. Halfway through Cox’s speech, Town of Islip councilman John Lorenzo presented Fitzpatrick with a citation from the town for his service to both the Sayville community and the country.
Toward the end of Cox’s speech, he fought through tears as he spoke about Fitzpatrick.
“On a personal note, I want to say, Coach, you are one of the finest people I have ever met,” Cox said. “I love you, Coach. This field is yours.”
Former Sayville High School baseball coach and U.S. Army veteran Barry Fitzpatrick is honored as the school names its baseball field ‘Barry Fitzpatrick Field’ on Thursday, May 1, 2025. Credit: Jonathan Singh
After Cox finished, Barbara Fitzpatrick thanked the community on her husband’s behalf for showing up. Once the speeches were finished, Cox and current Sayville coach Joe Esposito presented Fitzpatrick with a plaque listing all of his accomplishments.
After the plaque was given to him, Fitzpatrick, alongside several other veterans, threw out a ceremonial first pitch, which Barbara Fitzpatrick told Newsday was “all he had wanted to do.” Esposito caught his toss and then hugged his mentor.
“He’s a great man,” Esposito said. “We’ve been trying to do this for a few years . . . so we were very happy to get the necessary protocols done and make it to where this could happen. It couldn’t have been a better day and situation with this crowd. Everybody’s so happy to see him. Lots of love today.”
For the game that followed, Sayville adorned stars-and-stripes-themed uniforms, and all of its coaches wore No, 24 jerseys with Fitzpatrick’s name across the back.
Throughout the game, Sayville continued to honor those who have served by announcing their names between innings. The game began with them providing Mt. Sinai shortstop Bennie Franquiz with a round of applause, as he is committed to West Point. Franquiz tipped his cap to the Sayville faithful before stepping into the batter’s box.
“The Sayville community does a great job with this day,” Franquiz said. “Veterans are the reason that we get to come here and play everyday, and we wouldn’t be here without them. Recognizing them for the efforts that they’ve put through since this country’s beginning is awesome, and I’m proud to be a part of that one day.”
Later, Franquiz pitched a scoreless bottom of the seventh inning with two strikeouts to earn the save and secure a 3-2 win for Mt. Sinai. In the top of the sixth inning, catcher Ralph Passantino lined a go-head two-run single to give the Mustangs (5-8) the lead for good. For Sayville (8-6), second baseman Brody Tellier hit a home run and shortstop Kyle Messina hit a sacrifice fly.
Mike Anderson is a high school sports reporter who has covered 12 sports so far at Newsday. He was the sports editor of Stony Brook University's campus newspaper for two years.
