Iona Prep Captures CHSAA City Baseball Title

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Iona Prep rallied for three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning and won its first CHSAA AA city baseball championship since 2016 with a 3-2 victory over Msgr. Farrell High School at St. John’s University in Queens June 10.

Coming out of the elimination bracket, the Gaels of New Rochelle defeated Msgr. Farrell of Staten Island for the second time in three days to win the double-elimination tournament.

In the seventh inning, Joey Fama started the rally with a bunt single, pinch hitter Kyle Bailey followed with a single and Cristian Rodriguez worked a nine-pitch walk to load the bases. Zach Levinson doubled home two runs to tie the score.

After Ryan Bailey was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Pete Fasciglione lined out, Luke Nascimento singled to drive in Rodriguez with the winning run.

“Incredible effort from our team, and the seventh inning was very special because everyone battled and found a way to help the team win,” Iona Prep coach Ryan Mahoney told CNY. “Their pitcher was great all game and we were able to get into the bullpen, which is always big.”

Fasciglione, who has committed to play at the University of Notre Dame, received the playoff most valuable player honor.

The next day, Iona Prep lost, 3-0, to Chaminade of Mineola in the CHSAA state championship game. Nascimento had the Gaels’ only hit against Seton Hall-bound John Downing, who had 12 strikeouts over seven innings.

“Chaminade's pitcher was as good as advertised and did a great job mixing his pitches,” Mahoney said.  “We had a few opportunities but he was able to pitch his way through it.”

For Iona Prep, Vito Gallello pitched five innings of relief, allowing two unearned runs on three hits. John DeStefano started, surrendering a first-inning run.

Iona Prep finished the season at 22-5 overall.

“We had an unbelievable year, winning the regular season league title, the CHSAA AA city championship and having a chance to win the first-ever Catholic State baseball title,” Mahoney said. “We had 15 seniors who continued to raise the bar for our program and we wish them all the best and are excited for next year with a lot of quality players in the program.”