Long Island rising seniors defeat NYC in the third annual Mike Leiderman Cup

Friday night was exactly the type of evening Mike Leiderman loved. Excellent summer weather under the lights of a baseball field, culminating in a Long Island victory. Exactly the moments Leiderman lived for.

Long Island defeated New York City, 12-4, in the third annual Mike Leiderman Cup at Mitchel Field in Uniondale. 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.

Leiderman founded the Long Island Storm and Storm Baseball Academy, a prominent youth baseball program in the area. He also created and managed amateur baseball teams that played across the world.

“He made it a passion to help people,” said John Matarazzo, who played for Leiderman for more than 20 years and caught the game’s ceremonial first pitch from former Mets outfielder Endy Chavez. “He really did so much for amateur baseball on Long Island.”

Long Island had seven players record at least one hit and 11 of 15 players with at least one plate appearance reach base safely Friday.

“There’s a lot more talent here than I think people know and we showed that today,” said A.J. Bardi, a catcher for Wantagh. “With all the best players on the Island, I don’t know anyone that would beat us.”

Bardi had a two-run single to drive in Alex Apicella (Sachem East) and Ryan Kiendle (Connetquot) and tie the score at 2 as part of a four-run second inning for Long Island. The outburst came after New York City scored two runs in the top half of the frame.

Long Island lost the first two editions of the Mike Leiderman Cup.

“Nobody really thought we were going to win and it feels good to prove everyone wrong,” Bardi said. “We were down two early and I think that’s when people were like, ‘City’s going to run away with it,’ but that was big and really fired us up.”

Kiendle added a two-run home run over the leftfield fence to give Long Island a 6-2 lead in the third inning.

“It felt like butter,” Kiendle said. “I knew a fastball was coming, I stuck to my approach, stayed inside the ball and just drove it. I never had a doubt in my mind, I knew we were going to come out on top. All these kids are studs.”

Other Long Island standouts included Kenny Noe (Kellenberg), who went 1-for-2 with three walks and three runs; Andrew Heppner (Holy Trinity), who went 2-for-2 with an RBI and a run; Andrew Lenski (Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK), who went 1-for-2 with two walks and an RBI, and Evan Kay (Commack), who started on the mound and retired New York City in order to open the game. 

Long Island Lutheran baseball coach Shaun Manning, owner of Next Level Baseball, founded the Mike Leiderman Cup. He said he’s seen it grow from something not many knew about in 2021 to a game players discuss the opportunity to participate in. Manning estimated they raised $5,000 on Friday night that will be donated toward fighting ALS.

“Mike lived, breathed, ate, slept baseball,” Manning said. “So this would be very up his alley to see what’s going on tonight, see his name live on, and these kids playing in his honor.”

Every player in the game took pride in playing for Leiderman. They know his story and how much baseball meant to him. They share a similar passion and wanted to display that and help raise funds to fight ALS.

“It was an honor to be chosen,” Bardi said. “I was very happy to play and I thank everybody involved.”

“Mike was all about providing people opportunities through the game of baseball and you look out tonight, there’s four, five scouts, 10 colleges giving kids opportunities,” Manning said. “Mike would be really proud of what this turned into and Mike really liked to win, so considering this is the first time Long Island won the game, he’d be really happy.”