Long Island Lutheran baseball captures its fourth straight PSAA title thanks to Troy Vigilis' gem, Matthew Muzikant's walk-off double

Long Island Lutheran sophomore Matthew Muzikant stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning in a scoreless PSAA championship game with senior Marcus Harrington on second base, his body facing third.

Less than a minute later the roles were reversed as Muzikant stood on second with his arms pumping in the air after drilling a grounder down the leftfield line and watching Harrington score the walk-off run in the host Crusaders’ 1-0 win over Portledge.

Muzikant accounted for two of Lutheran’s four hits — he went 2-for-3 with a single and the walk-off RBI double — as LuHi won its fourth consecutive PSAA title Thursday afternoon.

LuHi players dyed their hair blond for the playoff run, something Muzikant shared his relief about.

“Thank God we won this game, or it all would’ve been a waste,” he laughed. “We’re a brotherhood here.”

Muzikant shared co-playoff MVP honors with senior pitcher Troy Vigilis, who earned the win after pitching a complete game and striking out nine.

The senior seemed to warm up as each inning passed, allowing only two hits after the third inning while also striking out five of the final 11 batters he faced.

Lutheran’s biggest defensive play came courtesy of junior catcher Tyler Persampire and freshman second baseman Kayden Bates, who turned a double play following an intentional walk to end the sixth inning.

Vigilis then struck out two of three batters in the seventh to put the Crusaders in position for the walk-off.

Coach Shaun Manning praised Vigilis for his leadership, with the pitcher being one of four seniors on a team with 14 underclassmen.

“We spend multiple hours every day with each other, we went to Florida with each other, we room with each other, so we’ve really built a connection” Vigilis said. “It just feels awesome to be able to win this and do it as a team.”

That leadership did earn the senior a spray of water to the back of the head after the game, with Bates delivering the honors. Given the heat Vigilis was tossing over the back half of the game, perhaps the senior needed to cool down.

Lutheran, now 15-9 overall, won’t know its fate within the NYSAIS tournament until Monday when bids are released.

Regardless of the future, the four-peat Crusaders know they’ve written another title into program history. Vigilis would love to see Lutheran add even more of those in the years to come.

“It feels great to continue what the guys four years ago started,” Vigilis said. “Hopefully it passes onto [Muzikant] and the other kids once I graduate.”