Matt Nowlan's grand slam helps Comsewogue baseball team advance in Suffolk Class AA winner's bracket
Matt Nowlan #24 of Comsewogue connects for a grand slam to give his team a 4-1 lead over Centereach in the top of the third inning of the Suffolk County baseball Class AA playoffs at Centereach High School on Friday, May 17, 2024. Credit: James Escher
The baseball carried deeper and deeper to leftfield off Matt Nowlan’s lefty swing. The bases were loaded, and he was running and watching, and then he saw it sail over the fence — grand slam.
“I’m just going crazy,” Nowlan said, flashing back after the game. “I don’t even know what happened. I think I blacked out. I heard everyone in the dugout screaming.”
The senior centerfielder’s opposite-field shot in the third inning gave seventh-seeded Comsewogue a three-run lead and sent it in the direction of an 8-2 win at No. 3 Centereach on Friday.
Comsewogue (14-8) will play Hauppauge (18-3) at noon on Sunday, with the winner clinching a berth in the Suffolk Class AA title round. Centereach (13-7) will host No. 4 West Islip (16-5) on Saturday in the losers' bracket of the double-elimination tournament.
Comsewogue hasn’t claimed a county title since 1982, but this team can at least dare to dream about ending the long drought.
“We’ve got a lot of good players,” said Nowlan, a Molloy commit who had two hits and five RBIs. “I think we can be the team to do it.”
Comsewogue had to beat West Babylon in its final league game to reach the playoffs. “I definitely think we came in as underdogs,” senior righthander Nick Zampieron said after hitting a solo homer and allowing one earned run and eight hits and fanning five in a complete-game effort. “We definitely have a chance to become champions.”
Comsewogue has beaten second-seeded Smithtown West and now the No. 3 seed to start the postseason.
“I told them that maybe other teams look at our seed and they think, ‘Oh, the seven,’ ” coach Joe Caltagirone said. “But we don’t look at the team’s seed. We just treat them as they’re another baseball team.”
After Joe DeSantis’ RBI single gave the Cougars an unearned run in the first, Comsewogue struck back in the third.
Anthony Gagliardi, who was charged with seven runs in 4 1⁄3 innings, allowed two walks and a bunt single to the first three batters before Nowlan delivered his big drive.
Zampieron also homered to left in the fourth, making it 5-1.
Joe Perri smacked an RBI double and Gavin Dandrea had an RBI single in the fifth. Nowlan added an RBI single in the sixth.
So Centereach now has to try to chase its first county title since 1977 from the losers’ bracket.
“It’s definitely a much tougher road, but we’re ready for it,” said senior centerfielder Logan Norman, who had two hits for the Cougars. “We’re not going to get down on ourselves.”