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Connetquot Looks to Defend Their Suffolk AAA Crown

Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s series

Entering last season, Rob Burger knew he had a special group. In fact , he knew well before then.

“I remember talking about that group when they were in middle school that it was a dynamic group. Well, that was them,” said Burger. Connetquot took a tremendously difficult path to winning the County Championship, needing to win five elimination games all in one week. They were able to knock off Sachem North twice – including a thrilling 3-2 win in which RHP DJ Filippone stranded the bases loaded with a high-chopper back to the mound and just narrowly beating the batter to first base.

Connetquot had their incredible run end in the Class AAA Long Island Championship against Massapequa at Farmingdale State College. Despite the loss, it should not take away from the nirvana that the T-Birds experienced during that week which was their first County Championship since 2019.

Now, it’s time to turn the page.

“We don’t talk about it anymore – it’s done,” said Burger. “2025 was a special group but we don’t dwell on it. We have 9th and 10th graders now that it’s time for them to forge their own path. We return two dynamic players, everyone else graduated including two of our three starting pitchers.”

From last year’s team, they graduated several impact players that have since gone on to begin their collegiate careers. RHP Dylan Wilkinson won 8 games and compiled a stellar 1.20 ERA over 64 innings including forcing the winner-take-all game against Sachem North. He is now at St. Thomas Aquinas. They also graduated 1B Michael Empaynado (St. Joseph’s), Brandon Bartick (Staten Island), Joe Scarabino (New Paltz), Andrew Amarando (St. Joseph’s), Dylan Cerone (Misericordia) and Liam Murphy (Maritime).

The T-Birds are fortunate to return the League MVP – Jagger Adamo, who will be attending Long Island University in the fall. He also represented Team Long Island and won MVP in the Leiderman Cup game last August. He batted .413 with a 1.279 OPS, 12 extra base hits and 15 stolen bases.

“Since middle school, Jagger has just been different. I’ve been blessed to coach a lot of great athletes at Connetquot but he’s just different from everyone. He just told me he’s flying down to Texas this weekend to see his hitting coach. What 17-year-old wants to do that? He’s been asked to do a lot and he’s done everything. I don’t even have to ask him to do anything he just does it. His brother, Trevor, was on our 2019 championship team and he is also a great kid. Jagger understands there’s more pressure on him now than last year and he hasn’t shied away from it. LIU is getting a stud. He reminds me a lot of Alex Ungar in how he approaches the game.”

Mercy-commit DJ Filippone will be anchoring the rotation. It will remain to be seen whether he pitches the first, second or third game of each series because of the significance of his bat in the lineup. Last year, he won five games, saved one and struck out 39 batters. His performance against Smithtown East was crucial in terms of prolonging their season.

“It was one of the gutsiest performances in Connetquot history,” said Burger. He pitched eight innings, allowing just two hits. “When I tried to take him out of the game, he said ‘no.” When he’s not pitching, he will play 1B and provide punch in the middle of the lineup.

Another reliable arm for them is senior RHP Jack Doucet, who was tremendous last season. He won 4 games, saved another and compiled a 1.02 ERA. He will be attending St. Joseph’s in the fall as well.

“He was a sneaky arm for us – he kind of hid behind our big arms.”

Justin Hendrickson came up huge in that winner-take-all game against Sachem North, showing poise beyond his years.

Another pitcher coach mentioned was Western Connecticut-commit Michael Mallon, who won two games and compiled a 3.15 ERA last season.

Behind the dish, they will have junior Damian Sosa. Burger spoke extremely highly of him.

“He’s put in so mo much work. He is a difference maker and he’s really responded well to everything. I am pumped to show him off,” said Burger.

The outfield will feature St. Mary’s-commit Matthew Lineman. His father was the longtime head coach of North Shore HS and was also on the vaunted undefeated Division team of 1996. Lineman was behind their seniors last year but still made his impact felt as their primary pinch runner, scoring 18 runs and stealing 11 bases while compiling a .295 AVG with 10 RBIs. He will slot into their starting lineup this year and will pitch as well.

“He’s really a plus defender in the outfield – he had two outfield assists for us. He’s a big lefty pitcher, he’s really taken off.”

Joining him in the outfield is Chris Steeneck, who will be attending UMASS Dartmouth in the fall.

The T-Birds always have a flurry of talented underclassmen and this year will be no different. We highlighted INF/RHP Andrew McQuade and INF/DH Logan Lamberson as part of our ‘Up Next’ series. Both are freshman and both are poised to be impact players for the duration of their four-year high school careers. They also have sophomore infielder Vincent Baez who will be “challenging for an infield spot.” His brother, Kevin, was a big part in St. Anthony’s breaking their 24-year title drought in 2024 and his father, Kevin Sr, was a big leaguer in the early 1990s for the New York Mets.

Coach also spoke highly of his coaching staff which includes Nick Ungar, who is also a Connetquot alum, and Ryan Pembroke – who recently was the head coach of Mount Sinai.

The T-Birds will be competing in League II again this season. The league is absolutely loaded with the likes of Sachem East, Sachem North, Ward Melville, Commack, Lindenhurst and Bay Shore.

They will be opening up their season against Bay Shore at Bay Shore as they look to successfully defend their title.