Lindenhurst has its own canyon of (high school baseball) heroes

They got an honest-to-goodness parade.

If there was ever any question as to how much that state championship means to the town of Lindenhurst, it was answered when Mike Canobbio's squad came back from Binghamton last week to a victorious and boisterous welcome. They already have a highlight reel up on YouTube. Go to the Lindenhurst Public Library website and the Bulldogs are on the front page.

And then there was the parade. Fans lined Wellwood Avenue as the Bulldogs, sitting on the flatbed of a semi and accompanied by an envoy of five fire trucks, made their way from Firemen's Memorial Park to the Lindenhurst Middle School football field. The parade was attended by a slew of town and Board of Education officials, including Mayor Thomas Brennan and district superintendent Richard Nathan.

"This is by the far the best week of my life," first baseman Jon McGibbon said.

It's hard to dispute that. Lindy baseball, which had never captured a state title and last won a county crown in 1963, is floating on a cloud of its own success.

The Bulldogs finished 26-1 after an unreal 21-game winning streak. They defeated Guilderland in the Class AA final with ease - 15-2. They were led by McGibbon, who went 3-for-4 with a double, a walk and two RBIs after being drafted in the 29th round by the Seattle Mariners the week before. Jimmy Briggs, the team's other All-Long Island selection, added two hits and an RBI. Danny DiBlasi went 3-for-3 with a walk, a double, two RBIs and four runs.

A good stretch of days, indeed.

But maybe the biggest deal was Tom Bammann. He was more than serviceable, pitching 51/3 innings, but the story was in the story. After Bammann was hit in the right side of the face by a line drive April 12, Lindenhurst was left scrambling without its ace, but No. 2 starter Joe Lovizio and scrappy reliever Rich Vrana wouldn't let the Bulldogs flounder.

Vrana, a lefty, came up huge, notching a team-high three wins in the postseason.

Then there was the bottom of the lineup. "It feels amazing," Steve Skon said. "From day one I knew we were this good. We had a great year. We were confident going into states and everything worked out.

"Everyone in the lineup can hit. Our seven hitter, Alex Genao, smokes the ball. The eighth hitter, Ryan Manning, gets big hits and Vin Valela is probably the best nine hitter in the state."

It was, Canobbio said, a case of everything coming together at the right time. Lindenhurst played in a formidable League II. "We were looking to come out of Whitman and Connetquot 3-3," Canobbio said, referring to the first two series of the season. Lindenhurst did him two better: The team went 5-1, with its only loss a tightly contested 6-5 game April 15 against Connetquot.

"We wanted to get 10 wins and make the playoffs,'' he added. "Then everything went right the entire season."

The breaks came often and early, Canobbio said, and it was enough for Lindenhurst to stave off Longwood and capture the all-important No. 1 seed.

"When we needed an out, we got it," Canobbio said. "When we needed a key hit, we got it . . . We kept telling the kids we need home-field advantage and that they needed to stay focused."

It was the only goal for a senior-heavy team that had played together since Little League. "We worked hard," junior catcher Genao said. "We had talent and the work ethic was great. We knew we could get here."