Connetquot baseball program honors local heroes pre-game before Brandon Bartick delivers walk-off win
First responders, active duty members and veterans are honored at a hometown heroes ceremony and baseball game at Connetquot High School in Bohemia on Saturday. Credit: Morgan Campbell
It was a special day all around for the Connetquot baseball program on Saturday.
They honored first responders and military personnel from the United States Marines, Army and Navy with the inaugural Hometown Heroes baseball game in Bohemia.
The pre-game ceremonies pulled together fire departments from Lakeland, Bohemia and West Sayville as two ladder trucks draped a 100-foot American flag in centerfield.
New York State Troopers, members of the Suffolk Sheriff’s Department and Suffolk County police lined the first and third base paths along with the fire department personnel as the Suffolk County Emerald Society pipes and drums band performed.
It was quite the show of respect as the ceremony included a Suffolk County police helicopter flyover after the national anthem.
The glorious tribute was followed by a competitive Bay Shore-Connetquot game that ended in walk-off fashion. And how apropos was it that a team-first guy would drive in the winning run on this day.
Senior Brandon Bartick, who was asked to move from his primary position at shortstop to third base this season, delivered in the clutch. He stepped to the plate with runners at first and second and two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning. Facing a 2-and-2 count, Bartick drilled a fastball through the shortstop hole just out of the reach of a diving Armani Valdes to score Jagger Adamo and give first-place Connetquot a 4-3 victory over Bay Shore in Suffolk League III. It was the fourth walk-off win of the season for Connetquot (11-1, 12-2).
“He [pitcher Jordan Drago] has an arm side run with his fastball,” said Bartick, a College of Staten Island commit, who is hitting .420 this season. “I let the ball travel a little deeper and then drove it.”
The hit punctuated the day for Connetquot and made a winner of reliever Dylan Wilkinson.
“It’s a spectacular day all around,” Connetquot athletic director Peter Melore said. “We honored the folks that serve our community and our country every day. Coach [Rob] Burger and the parents put in months of planning for this event, and it was fantastic. We had our entire program from middle school through junior varsity here.”
Burger said there were many people to thank for pulling the day of recognition together.
“We’re a baseball community and our AD and school superintendent were all for honoring the people who deserve to be recognized," he said. "We had so many people contribute to the days’ success.”
Will Loweth, a member of the Lakeland Fire House Station 1, was there to watch his son Vincent, 17, who plays on the Connetquot varsity team. Vincent also is a volunteer firefighter, and his younger brother Nicholas, 15, is a junior firefighter.
“We're all family in this and we thought it was a great idea and passed it up the chain for approval,” Loweth said. “We were in communication with Coach Burger for months. And to be here with brothers and sisters is special. When we reached out to the neighboring fire houses, they were all in.”
Frank Caputo, a fire captain in Bohemia Station 1, said the departments coordinated the ladder trucks for the flag display.
“We were in contact with each other,” said Caputo, whose son Thomas Caputo, 25, is a Lieutenant in the FDNY, and younger son Andrew, 19, is a Bohemia firefighter. “We had Lakeland Engine 8 and Bohemia Engine 7 on hand. It’s great to be recognized and thanked for what we do.”
In the end it was Bartick’s hit that capped the day.
“We’ve been finding a way to win late in games this season,” Burger said. “Bartick’s bat has been electric. I’m happy it was him — he always puts the team first.”
It was the theme of the day — putting others first.
Gregg Sarra is Newsday's high school sports editor and has been on the beat since the mid-1980s.
