The 2025 Skyline Conference Baseball Championship Tournament kicks off on Wednesday as the sixth-seeded Valiants are Long Island-bound for an opening round matchup against No. 3 Farmingdale. The winner earns a weekend trip to Merchant Marine to compete for a title, while the loser sees their season draw to a close.
How We Got Here
For the second year in a row, the Valiants wrapped up the regular season by earning the final spot in the Skyline Conference Championship. Entering the final weekend of the year in a three-way tie for sixth, the cards all fell in Mahattanville's favor as both Old Westbury and Purchase were swept in their final doubleheaders. That made the playoff picture extremely clear: win one against Mount Saint Mary and in.
Mother nature ultimately decided there would be only one game play between the Valiants and the Knights on Sunday, but Manhattanville took care of any guess work by defeating Mount Saint Mary 4-2 on the final day of the regular season.
Ray White (Mohegan Lake, N.Y./Lakeland) delivered his best pitching performance of the season, holding the Knights to the two runs (one earned) on two hits in a seven inning complete game effort.
Mike Ambrosecchia (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) delivered the go-ahead RBI in the the seventh, with
Joshua Gillison (Buchanan, N.Y./Hendrick Hudson) and
Justin Encarnacion (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Hayes) also driving in runs in the win.
The Valiants' strength this season has been their hitting, carrying a .322 team average that ranks third in the Skyline.
Anthony Mezzaucella (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle) and
Ryan Osso (Eastchester, N.Y./Eastchester) have both been .400 hitters this season, while Gillison (26) and
Chris Goohs (Nesconset, N.Y./Smithtown H.S. East) (24) lead the team in RBI. While pitching has been touch-and-go throughout the season, the Valiants figure to turn to
Ryan McCann (Medford, N.Y./Longwood) in the do-or-die game as the team's leader in wins and ERA (5-2, 4.47).
Farmingdale found themselves bunched atop the conference standings to head into the final week of play, but doubleheader sweeps at the hands of Maritime and USMMA cost the Rams their shot at a first-round bye. The Rams were able to get back into the win column before postseason play began, taking both games against Yeshiva on Sunday to lock up the No. 3 seed. While the Ram offense is in the middle of the pack in the conference, Farmingdale features the top pitching numbers in the Skyline, sporting a 4.86 staff ERA. Johnny Dougherty leads the Skyline with a 2.01 ERA and 66 strikeouts this season, holding opposing batters to a .200 average. Derek Watts, who held the Valiants in check in the regular season matchup, also ranks amongst the top in the conference with a 2.95 ERA.
Last Time Out
The Valiants and Rams met in Purchase on Apr. 14. Farmingdale took the seven-inning opener after Watts went 5.2 innings and held the Valiants to two runs (one earned) on four hits before Tyler Dirocco tossed 1.1 innings for the save. McCann suffered his first loss of the year in the a complete game effort, giving up four runs (three earned) on ten hits.
Manhattanville had the last laugh on the day, scoring four runs in the bottom of the ninth to walk-off Farmingdale for the split. After the Rams scored three in the top half to take an 8-5 lead, the Valiants scored four times with two outs to pull off one of the more improbable wins in recent memory. Gillison delivered a two-run single before Goohs was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to tie things up. A wild pitch allowed
Anthony Caputo (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Walter Panas) to dart home with the game-winning run in a four-run frame that saw Manhattanville record only one base hit.
Tournament History
Both teams are looking to make a second-straight appearance in the double elimination finals. The Valiants advanced to the final weekend for the first team since returning to the Skyline in 2020 a year ago after holding the top scoring offense in the nation of Maritime in check in a 4-2 win in the first round before falling to the top two seeds of USMMA and Saint Joseph's Long Island in back-to-back games to bow out of the postseason.
Farmingdale advanced all the way to the finals in 2024 before falling twice to Saint Joseph's Long Island in the Sunday slates to spell an end to their run as the No. 4 seed.
The teams have not met in the postseason since 2007, an 8-4 win for Manhattanville as the Valiants went on to win the Skyline title.
Team Leaders
Manhattanville
