Holy Trinity baseball's SJ Garneau sharp on mound, excels at the plate in win over St. John the Baptist
SJ Garneau of Holy Trinity throws a pitch during a CHSAA baseball game against St. John the Baptist on Wednesday, April 29, 2026, in West Islip. Credit: Kelvin Loarca
Despite all of its upperclassmen talent, it is a sophomore who has the Holy Trinity baseball team within striking distance of a Nassau-Suffolk CHSAA baseball regular-season title.
SJ Garneau allowed one run on one hit over four innings and went 3-for-3 with two doubles, three RBIs and a walk, leading visiting Holy Trinity to a 13-1 win over St. John the Baptist in West Islip on Wednesday evening.
The win secured a series victory for the first-place Titans (12-6, 11-6).
Garneau has been huge in their ascent to the NSCHSAA’s top. He leads Holy Trinity with 17 hits and a .369 batting average, and has driven in 19 runs this year, second only to senior leftfielder Jalen Josey. He also leads the team with 24 innings pitched and has earned three wins.
“It makes me feel like I’m meant to be here,” Garneau said. “I love being a big part of a big program, and this program is everything to me ... I know I’m just as good as everybody on the field. I’m confident in myself, as are my coaches and teammates, so that helps me stay out there and keep going.”
The Titans only have one league game left in their regular season, which is at home Friday against the Cougars (9-6, 8-6). The two teams entered this week atop the league standings, but Holy Trinity now owns the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Garneau’s performance helped secure that tiebreaker, as he held SJB without a hit until one out in the fourth inning. During that time, the Titans built a 13-0 lead.
“I stuck to my plan: get ahead, throw strikes, live down in the zone and go from there,” Garneau said.
Holy Trinity scored eight runs in the second, starting with a long solo home run to leftfield by junior first baseman Dom Longardino. Later, Josey crushed a first-pitch, no-doubt grand slam to left, making it 9-0.
“That was like a baseball dream,” Josey said. “I was just thinking, ‘Single up the middle, advance the runner.’ Home runs happen on accident. I’m just happy it happened there.”
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.
