Jack Gomez homers twice in Port Washington 12U state tournament loss; St. James/Smithtown eliminated
Port Washington's Jack Gomez jumps on home plate after homering during the Little League state baseball tournament on Tuesday, July 28, 2026, at the West Nyack Little League complex. Credit: Howard Simmons
Though they each suffered the same fate on Tuesday, one of Long Island’s 12U baseball teams is preparing to compete in a state semifinal while the other is returning home.
St. James/Smithtown fell to Penfield, 6-3, and Port Washington dropped its contest against Florida (Orange County), 7-5, in the third and final games of pool play at the West Nyack Little League complex. Despite the loss, Post Washington advances to the semifinal at 8 p.m. on Wednesday against Twin Town (Rensselaer County).
Port Washington had a 3-1 lead after Jack Gomez hit consecutive home runs in the third and fourth innings. Manager Dave Gabriel said Gomez has been an impact player all season.
“Jack is a great player, and when he gets going, he can really carry the team as well,” Gabriel said. “He's a great hitter and has been doing fantastic at third base on defense.”
Gomez finished 2-for-2 with two home runs, three RBIs, a walk and two runs.
The tide began to turn when a bases-loaded walk tied the score at 4 before Florida had a two-RBI single to rightfield to make it 6-4. Florida extended its lead to 7-4 when it scored on a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning.
Luca Theoharis hit an RBI single to make the score 7-5 in the sixth, but it would not be enough to bring Port Washington (2-1) its third win of the tournament.
“We just didn't execute on defense and make plays,” Gabriel said. “Kudos to the other team. They put the ball in play and worked a few walks and got the timely hits.”
Regardless of the loss, Port Washington’s journey is not yet over. Gabriel said the team will learn from Tuesday’s mistakes as it advances out of pool play.
“We just need to learn from some of the mental mistakes we made,” Gabriel said. “We’ll get the kids back to what got us here in the last couple of days and erase today. I told them today wasn't our day, but we moved on. The first part of our goal was to advance, so we're excited to be in the semifinal game.”
St. James/Smithtown was not as fortunate. With the Bulls’ loss to Penfield, the team’s road to a championship ended.
However, to manager Tom Viggiani, the experience outweighs the outcome.
“The experience was great overall,” Viggiani said. “Our kids and our families were supportive. They were completely into it. Obviously, the outcome on the field wasn't what we wanted. But the experience as a whole, the 12 of them, they loved every moment of it.”
St. James/Smithtown scored on a bases-loaded walk in the second inning that tied the score at 1 and officially eliminated Penfield, which needed a shutout to advance to the semifinals. The Bulls then took the lead with an RBI double from Andrew Barbato and Patrick Barbarite's RBI groundout.
Viggiani highlighted Barbato, Nico Ferruzzi and Matthew Viggiani as standout players throughout the tournament.
A two-run fourth inning and a costly throwing error gave Penfield a 4-3 lead that it never relinquished. An RBI single and a wild pitch drove in Penfield’s final two runners to close the door. The Bulls finished 0-3 in the tournament.
“I'm most proud of the way they came together,” Viggiani said. “A lot of these 12 kids don’t play club together, but they didn't let anything on the outside affect them. We kept everything within ourselves. I'm proud of the way that not one of them got down on each other either.”
Tess Ferguson is a reporter on Newsday's high school sports staff. She joined the team after graduating with a journalism degree from Ithaca College in 2025.
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