The Westhampton Aviators would respond to their 2015 HCBL Championship Series loss with a push to go back when the 2016 season began. The Aviators would match the single season wins record of 27 set by previous league champions Shelter Island (2015) and North Fork (2010). As a team, Westhampton led the league in batting with a team average of .300 while driving in 257 RBI.
The Aviators would have the league batting champion in Matt Dunlevy (VMI) who hit .372 on the season with 51 hits and 11 doubles. Ross Puskarich (San Francisco) tied for the HCBL league lead in RBI with 41 with North Fork’s Max Smith (UNLV). Another USF Don player Aaron Ping would establish a new HCBL single season record with 13 home runs for Westhampton. On the mound, Seamus Brazill (Hofstra) and Reiss Knehr (Fordham) established a 1-2 punch ranking in the top two in ERA for the league with a combined record of 8-1.
Westhampton would take on Riverhead in the semi-final round as the Tomcats made their first postseason appearance since the 2012 season. The Aviators took Game 1 by a final score of 5-1 as Knehr tossed seven innings of one-run ball in the victory.
Game 2 saw a tight pitcher’s duel between Westhampton’s Nick Arnold (Post) and Riverhead’s Nick Morena (Stony Brook). Riverhead would get on the board when Joseph Flynn (Princeton) knocked an RBI double off Arnold to give the Tomcats a 1-0 lead in the sixth inning. The Aviators got a pair of runs in the top of the seventh when Daniel Franchi (Binghamton) had an RBI infield single while another run scored on an error. Donovan Armas (Lynn) would get out of a ninth inning jam by earning the save to send Westhampton to the championship for the second consecutive season.
In the other semi-final series, third-seeded Montauk would upset second-seeded North Fork on the road. Montauk would score 13 runs on 22 hits in a 13-4 victory. Jamie Galazin (St. John’s), Phil Capra (Wagner) and Ryan Markey (St. John’s) had four hit performances for the Mustangs.
Game 2 saw both teams tied at 1-1 after the first inning, North Fork would take a 3-1 lead in the top of the second inning on a home run by Nick Bellafronto (Stanford). The Mustangs would rally in the bottom half with a six-run inning highlighted by a three-run shot by Capra. North Fork would answer with three runs in the third inning, before tying the game at 7-7 in the fourth.
Montauk would take the lead for good scoring twice in the bottom of the fourth and then adding an insurance run on a Rob Vani (Adelphi) solo shot in the sixth. Zach Barnes (Butler) the Mustangs closer got the final three outs sending Montauk to face Westhampton for the championship.
The Aviators held serve at home behind three Westhampton homers and seven innings of one-run ball from Brazill for a 5-2 victory. In the second game, Montauk took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a home run by Capra. Westhampton cut the lead in the fifth on a solo homer from Trey Silvers (Lamar) in the fifth and took the lead scoring two runs in the sixth. Montauk took back the lead in the bottom half of the inning behind Capra’s second home run of the game. Vani would add to the lead with a two-run shot in the seventh. The Mustangs would snuff out late rally’s in the eighth and ninth innings by the Aviators to win 7-4 sending the series to a deciding third game.
Westhampton would send their ace Knehr to the mound for Game 3 but the Mustangs took an early lead when Galazin led off the game with a solo homer. The Aviators would rally in the bottom of the inning scoring four runs with two out to lead 4-1 at the end of one. Westhampton would score another four runs in the middle innings to take an 8-1 lead. Knehr would leave the game recording seven strikeouts while allowing just a run on four hits. Jordan McCrum (Monmouth) would get the final six outs as the Aviators won a record third HCBL title with an 8-2 victory.
The Series MVP went to Jacob Jaye (VMI) who made several outstanding defensive plays for the Aviators in the series, along with having a home run, 4 RBI and a stolen base at the plate.
The HCBL MVP award went to Richard Palacios (Towson) of North Fork. Palacios played in all 42 games for the Ospreys, becoming the second player in HCBL history to record 60 hits in a season. Palacios hit .347 for the year with eight home runs and 24 RBI while leading the league in stolen bases with 26.
Knehr ended up finishing ahead of his teammate Brazill for the HCBL Pitcher of the Year award. Knehr went 4-1 with a 1.15 ERA with 49 strikeouts in 39.0 innings.
A pair of pitchers had some notable accomplishments in the month of July. Sag Harbor’s Chris Sheehan (Wofford) tossed the HCBL’s fifth no-hitter in a rain shortened 11-0 victory over Southampton on July 1st. Riverhead’s Frank Valentino (NYIT) would be named National Pitcher of the Week by Collegiate Summer Baseball after a two-hit complete game shutout of Shelter Island on July 9th.
In the 4th Annual HCBL All-Star Game at Baseball Heaven in Yaphank, the South All-Stars ended a three-game losing streak defeating the North by a score of 9-1. The South rallied for five runs in the first inning and never looked back. Montauk’s Nick Fanneron (Northeastern) was 2-for-3 with a solo homer earning the game’s MVP award.
The 2nd Annual Home Run Derby saw the league’s home run champion Ping survive two first round tiebreakers and ultimately take the title in dramatic fashion beating Griffin Dey (Yale) of Sag Harbor by a score of 3-2 in the finals with one out remaining.
Two dozen HCBL alumni would be picked in the 2016 MLB draft with Corbin Burnes (Riverhead ’14) and Thomas Hackimer (North Fork ’13) headlining the class with the two being selected in the fourth round by Milwaukee and Minnesota respectfully.
