Sachem North pulls away from Connetquot in Class AAA winners' bracket semifinal
Ryan Palm of Sachem North reacts after gaining the last out in the sixth inning with a strikeout in a Suffolk County Class AAA playoff baseball game on Saturday May 24, 2025 in Bohemia. Credit: Michael A. Rupolo Sr.
Ryan Palm is a combination of power and accuracy. The Sachem North righty can reach back for a little extra for key strikeouts or he can move the ball around the zone for easier outs.
Palm has been the staff ace for the past two years. He worked his way through a challenging first inning against top-seeded Connetquot and then threw five straight scoreless innings as Sachem North cruised to an 8-1 win on Saturday in the winner's bracket semifinal of the Suffolk Class AAA baseball tournament in Bohemia.
Palm, buoyed by a 3-0 first inning lead, allowed one run, two walks, two hit batsmen and three hits over six innings. He struck out six, threw 97 pitches and retired 12 of the final 14 batters faced.
“I didn’t feel great at the start,” said Palm, who has a remarkable 15-1 record over two years. “But that early run support made things so much easier. We jumped out early, I settled down, and our defense played great.”
Palm (7-1) moved No. 4 Sachem North within one game of the Suffolk Class AAA title. They’ll play at third-seeded Smithtown East in the winner's bracket final at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Connetquot (16-5) will host No. 7 Patchogue-Medford in an elimination game on Tuesday at 4 p.m.
“Ryan has been a great pitcher for two years,” Sachem North coach Tom Gambino said. “We’re a senior-laden team with experience. I was concerned that we weren’t hitting earlier in the playoffs. We talked about it before today’s game. And we were grinding out runs today.”
Sachem North scored three times in the top of the first inning. Leadoff man Jack Pitman lined a single, Zach DeMilt was hit with a pitch and Matt Podesta’s infield single loaded the bases against Connetquot starter D.J. Fillipone.
Cleanup man Lucas Singleton fought off an 0-and-2 pitch on his hands to dump a bloop run-scoring single into rightfield for the 1-0 lead. After Fillipone struck out two, designated hitter Kevin Lyshir drilled a two-run single to right to make it 3-0.
It was all Palm would need.
Connetquot’s leadoff hitter, Jagger Adamo, the Suffolk League II MVP, lined a double down the leftfield line and scored on a fielder’s choice to make it 3-1.
Sachem North got the run back in the second inning when freshman Joe Vulin, the No. 9 hitter, smoked a solo home run over the rightfield fence to make it 4-1.
“Joe has been improving all year,” Gambino said. “He hit that one well.”
Sachem North (18-5) added two runs in each of the fifth and sixth innings to make it an 8-1 game. Lyshir and James Prinzivalli had RBI singles in the fifth and Matt Podesta keyed the two-run sixth with a laser-like RBI double to center.
Sachem North outhit Connetquot 12-3 in a rematch of a season series where Connetquot won two of three games.
Sachem North was denied its first Suffolk title since 2011 in last year’s final loss to Commack. Gambino thinks his team can take that final step in 2025.
And Palm has them one step closer.
Gregg Sarra is Newsday's high school sports editor and has been on the beat since the mid-1980s.
