LI Lutheran baseball captures third straight PSAA title with win over Portledge

Long Island Lutheran’s baseball team has dominated the PSAA the last three years. Thursday afternoon in Brookville was no different, as Lutheran defeated Portledge, 14-4, in five innings to claim its third straight PSAA title.

“It means the world to everyone on the team, especially the guys that have been here for a while,” senior captain Eamon Fortune said. “I appreciate all the hard work from all the players and coaches this year. We’ve made a lot of improvements since the start of the season and we’re not done yet.”

Fortune and his teammates will look to carry their hot bats into the NYSAIS Tournament, which begins Thursday.

Freshman centerfielder Matthew Garib drove in Tommy Bressmer for the first run in Lutheran's nine-run first inning. Marcus Harrison had two hits in the inning and finished 3-for-3 with four RBIs.

Harrison also pitched the first two innings, allowing no earned runs. He was relieved by Matthew Muzikant, who earned the win. Muzikant batted .300 throughout the postseason and was named playoff MVP.

Bressmer, who had two hits and two RBIs, was named the league’s regular season MVP. The senior catcher is committed to play at Saint Peter’s University.

“We’ve gotten better and better each year,” said coach Shaun Manning, who was named Coach of the Year. “We’re graduating a few seniors, including our two senior captains (Fortune and Michael Malherb), but we started four freshmen most of the year and we’ve got a good class coming in. Our future is bright.”

Fortune went 2-for-2 and drove in two runs on a single up the middle in the bottom of the fourth to give Lutheran a 12-2 lead. He later scored the 14th run.

Fortune and Malherb became the first players in program history to win three consecutive championships.

“We know what it takes to win titles, but when I first played on the varsity team in eighth grade, we didn’t have that mentality,” Fortune said. “We were more of the underdogs. Now, we know what we’re capable of, but we still have some of that underdog mentality because we want to be able to compete with the (CHSAA).”

Lutheran defeated Waldorf, 10-0, on Monday to advance to the final and Portledge took a 3-0 victory over Martin Luther in the semifinals.

Lutheran finished 8-0 against PSAA opponents and 10-9 overall. Manning said that playing a tough non-league schedule loaded with CHSAA teams helped Lutheran’s growth throughout the season.

“We played St. Mary’s and St. Dominic as our first two games and I think we would all admit that we were a bit overmatched,” Fortune said. “As the season went on, we started playing those teams a little closer and feeling like we belonged.”