Kellenberg baseball's Richie LaVacca powers Firebirds to Game 1 win in NSCHSAA championship series
Richie LaVacca of Kellenberg watches the flight of his second home run of the game in the sixth inning of Game 1 of the NSCHSAA baseball championship series against St. Dominic on Saturday, May 23, 2026, in Hempstead. Credit: Michael A. Rupolo Sr.
The baseball took off on a third-inning flight and finally disappeared beyond a high wall in left-center at University Field. Then it happened again in the sixth, the ball disappearing beyond the wall in left.
Richie LaVacca hadn’t made a ball disappear over a wall all season for Kellenberg. The senior shortstop from Bellmore was getting kidded about it after belting three last year.
Now second-seeded Kellenberg and No. 5 St. Dominic were squaring off in Game 1 of the NSCHSAA championship series at Hofstra, starting at 9 a.m. Saturday to try to beat the rain.
“So it was a good time to get my first two,” LaVacca said.
The Adelphi commit delivered three RBIs, including those two solo homers off 3-and-1 fastballs from a pair of relievers, to help power the Firebirds’ 11-4 victory, a good start toward trying to pull off a repeat for the first time since 2017.
“He was the only out of our top five guys that hadn’t (homered), so we were giving him a hard time for it,” coach Pat Miles said. “Saved the best for last, I suppose, and doubled it up. . . . He kind of just changed his approach to line-drive hitting. That’s why he hit .460 this year.”
Now the Firebirds (17-9) will hope that St. Dominic (19-14) wasn’t saving its best work for last. They were rather enthused over heading in front in the series. Game 2 is back at Hofstra at 11 a.m. Monday, with Game 3, if necessary, to follow about 45 minutes later.
“It sets the tone,” LaVacca said. “Hopefully, we don’t, but even if we do lose Game 2, we’ve still got Game 3. But definitely coming out of Game 1, especially beating them the way that we did, sets us up good.”
They dropped Game 1 last spring to Chaminade before rallying. So Miles gathered his team after this Game 1 to preach some caution.
“I told the boys just now outside of the dugout, like, ’Don’t take anything for granted,’ ” Miles said, “Chaminade took Game 1 against us last year, and I’m sure they felt exactly how we feel right now, and they lost two in a row to us. So I said, “Don’t get too comfortable.’ They’re going to have all their bullpen and their starters come back now on Monday.”
Indeed, Bayhawks coach Joe Fusco was totally unfazed by falling behind in the series.
"I don’t think it really matters much to us,” Fusco said.
He used some more inexperienced arms after playing four games in the tournament and with senior ace Kevin Prosceo going for Kellenberg.
“Listen, we just didn’t throw enough strikes,” Fusco said. “We have our one, two and three (pitchers) ready to go on Monday, so we’re extremely confident going into Monday.”
Prosceo (4-2) surely did his part, working six en route to improving to 4-2. The Iona-bound righty from Levittown yielded four runs, including a two-run homer and an RBI double to Ray Kim, and nine hits. He kept the bullpen from getting chewed up.
“I think it was very important because obviously that sets us up,” Prosceo said. “You don’t want to go too deep into the bullpen. Using as least pitching as possible definitely sets you up to be successful in the next games coming, keep everyone’s arm fresh.”
It was 2-2 with one out in the last of the third when LaVacca pulled his first homer with two gone in the second.
But Kellenberg wasn’t done in that third inning.
Justin Diaz walked, swiped second and scored when Nick Conway lined a single into left. Conway moved up on the throw home. Gavin Langner stroked a long double to left making it 5-2.
“We’ve got a pretty good lineup, I’ll say,” LaVacca said.
LaVacca’s RBI single highlighted a three-run fourth and his leadoff homer highlighted a three-run sixth.
St. Dominic’s highlights including back-to-back RBI doubles by Dylan Weinstein and Kim in the third and Kim’s blast to left in the fifth.
So the Firebirds took the first step toward back-to-back crowns.
“We’re very driven,” Prosceo said. “It’s obviously always the goal. It’s the standard.”
