Garden City falls short in Class AA baseball state regional final at Hofstra
Sat. June 7, 2025 Hempstead, N.Y: Trojan's team captain senior James Trochhia(#20 3B/p) slides into home to score a run as Fox Lane catcher Logan Mammola misses a thrown ball. High SchoolSoutheast Region Final of New York State Class AA baseball final between Garden City Trojan's and Fox Lane Foxes of Westchester. The Trojan's lost 9 to 4. Credit: Tom Lambui/Tom Lambui
There was life in the final inning of the Garden City baseball season. The Trojans were not going to see one of the program’s most successful seasons come to an end without a fight.
Trailing Fox Lane (Section I) by two runs in the bottom half of the seventh inning on Saturday, Nicholas Clyne led off with a crisply lined single for the Trojans.
He moved to second on a wild pickoff throw from reliever Will Rudolph and then to third on a groundout. With one out, Jack Murphy, who’d singled in a run earlier in the game, lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to get the Trojans within a run.
Leadoff hitter Skylar Lang battled to a 2-and-2 count, fouled off a two-strike pitch before he skied a long fly ball to centerfield where Fox Lane junior Janak Bain settled under it for the final out to seal the win and end Garden City’s magical season.
Fox Lane erased an early two-run deficit with two runs in the fourth and two in the seventh to eliminate Garden City, 4-3, in the state Class AA southeast regional final at Hofstra University in Hempstead.
Garden City (24-5) was denied its first appearance in the state semifinals since 2000. The Trojans did, however, win the Nassau and Long Island Class AA titles in the 2021 season that had no state championships due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Trojans' fantastic run through East Meadow, the Nassau Conference AA-1 champion, Bellmore JFK, the Nassau Conference AA-3 and East Islip, the Suffolk County champion, ended in a game in which they were outhit 9-4 and couldn’t solve Fox Lane sophomore starter Jackson Carroll.
“I’m proud of our guys and all that they accomplished,” Garden City coach Dave Izzo said. “It’s disappointing to see it end this way. We played solid baseball the last month and came through in the big moments.”
Garden City opened a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Jimmy Trocchia walked and moved to second on a fielder’s choice. Connor Griffin singled him to third and Trocchia scored on a Mateo Fortney fielder’s choice. With two outs, Will Jewel walked, putting runners at first and second. Jack Murphy, the Trojans hitting star in the Long Island title game, barreled a two-out RBI single to score Fortney for the 2-0 lead.
“They grabbed that early lead, and our guys showed the same grit that they have had all season and came right back,” Fox Lane coach Matt Hillis said. “Our big guys at the top of the lineup came through in the fourth and then the guy that we believe is the best nine-hole hitter in the state came through in the seventh.”
Garden City lefty Chris Desiderio cruised through the first three innings, allowing only two baserunners. Fox Lane (20-7) scored twice in the fourth to tie it 2-2. Logan Provost had a one-out RBI single and with two outs, the Foxers scored the tying run on the front end of a double steal.
“We grind out there,” said Hillis, who led the Foxers to their first regional title since 2003.
Fox Lane scored the go-ahead run in the seventh. Sean Singleton singled and Cooper Furst executed a perfect bunt for an infield single. A pickoff attempt that went awry allowed the runners to advance to second and third, thus, setting up a John Czernyk sacrifice fly for the 3-2 lead. The No. 9 hitter Dan Spolansky followed with an RBI single to make it 4-2.
Izzo removed Desiderio and brought in Lang to relieve. He recorded three straight outs, including two by strikeout, stranding two runners and giving the Trojans one last shot.
And they came up a run short but not without a fight.
Gregg Sarra is Newsday's high school sports editor and has been on the beat since the mid-1980s.
