Long Island wins Mike Leiderman Cup benefit baseball game against NYC
Long Island players with trophy of the Mike Leiderman Cup, an all-star game between rising HS seniors on LI and NYC on Friday, Aug. 16, 2024. Credit: Howard Simmons
Those who knew Mike Leiderman best know he was about competition, passionate play and giving maximum effort. There’s no doubt he would have loved to have witnessed what Team Long Island was doing in the seventh inning in a game in his honor.
Long Island used a four-run rally in the seventh inning to defeat New York City, 7-4, in the fourth annual Mike Leiderman Cup at Mitchel Athletic Complex in Uniondale on Friday night. The baseball game features the best rising seniors in both areas in honor of Leiderman, who died of complications of ALS — also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease — in 2018.
Long Island trailed 3-2 in the seventh before Kyle Scheurer (Oceanside) beat out a ground ball to shortstop to start the rally. After Connor Meehan (Chaminade) walked, a double steal set up the tying and go-ahead runs. Scheurer scored on a groundout before Meehan scored on a wild pitch.
“It’s an honor and I’m just really happy to be here with this great group of guys,” Scheurer said.
Mike Oliveto (Hauppauge) and Joe Cavallaro (Jericho) added RBI singles in the four-run rally to give Long Island a 6-3 lead.
Leiderman founded the Long Island Storm and Storm Baseball Academy, a prominent youth baseball program on Long Island. He also managed amateur teams.
“I think everybody in their life runs across a person that there are not enough adjectives to describe them. That was Mike to me,” said Shaun Manning, the founder and organizer of the game and coach at Long Island Lutheran. “He was truly one of a kind.”
“It’s an awesome opportunity,” said Bennie Franquiz of Mount Sinai, who went 1-for-2 with an RBI and a walk.
Long Island has won two of the four Mike Leiderman Cups.
Long Island used 11 pitchers in the nine-inning contest, and arguably no arm was more important than Nick Lang of Valley Stream North. He entered in a bases-loaded jam with one out in the fifth and induced an infield pop-out and a ground ball to keep the score tied at 2.
“It’s a huge spot to come in,” Lang said. “A lot of stress, a lot of adrenaline going through my body.”
Clarke coach Tom Abruscato, who guided the Long Island team, said the game “is for a great cause. When you look at the resumes on both sides, you can tell these guys can all play.”
