Kennedy posts record 20 victories

A conference championship. A school- record 20 victories. A berth into the Nassau County Class AA championship game. A New York State Scholar Athlete Team Award. 

The achievements have been remarkable for the Bellmore JFK baseball team and the best may be yet to come. 

All but three of the 25 players on the roster return next season. Hence, its county finals loss to Division was not met with great disappointment.

“I’m really proud of our team,’’ coach Mike Gattus said. “This is a good foundation to build on. We’ll miss our seniors but to get there with this young group we have, we’re really proud of our efforts and looking forward to building on it next year.’’ 

From the Cougars’ record-setting 20-5-2 team, JFK will miss senior pitcher Jack Finkelstein, who posted 59 strikeouts and a 1.25 ERA as an All-Conference selection. The school’s team spring sports MVP will pitch at Oneonta. 

But the top star returns in junior Eli Lowenstein, an All-County selection who collected a team-leading 40 hits and scored a school record 45 runs.

“Even though I was upset we lost it, I was happy with how hard we came and lived up to expectations,’’ Lowenstein said.

 Lowenstein and the Yormack brothers, who are freshmen, formed a vicious top-3 lineup that wrecked havoc. They all return for the 2025 season. 

Lowenstein hit .460. Ryan Yormack was at .456 and Derek Yormack .385.

“He’s a very instinctive baserunner,’’ Gattus said of Lowenstein. “When he gets on, he’s very quick to take bases on passed balls and take extra bases on balls hit to the outfield. He’s phenomenal on the basepaths – a super athlete.’’

And Lowenstein accomplished this after coming off two meniscus injuries in his right knee the past six months that required intense physical-therapy work. Lowenstein credited his trainer, Dwayne Johnson, for “getting me right.’’

“Coming back and playing like this shows how tough I am,’’ Lowenstein said.

The Yormacks dominated the conference awards.  Derek Yormack, also a hurler, struck out 67 batters and posted a 0.98 ERA to win AAIII Conference Pitcher of the Year. 

Ryan Yormack, who posted a .638 on-base-percentage, was All-County and AA III Conference Player of the year as as frosh. He also smacked six home runs and walked over 30 times. 

“(Ryan) and his brother have phenomenal swings and work really hard,’’ Gattus said. “(Ryan) can hit for average too. He gets on base a ton. He knows the zone well and, when he gets his pitch, he takes advantage of it. When he doesn’t, he gets on base with a walk.’’

Derek Yormack was a key component to the four-man pitching staff. The arsenal was headed by Finklestein and also included Zach Adelstein (1.51 ERA) and Vincenzo Caravello, who was mostly a reliever and made All-Conference.

“Those guys really carried us and did an outstanding job,’’ said Gattus, in his sixth season as head coach.

There were other notables. Jake Wexler posted a 1.000 fielding percentage in 15 games in centerfield. Frankie Stella was All-League. Will Cona won the spring’s coaching award for being selfless teammate. Derek Fong was the sturdy starting catcher. 

And then there was JFK’s state academic award. “It means a lot to me and the team,’’ Lowenstein said. “We’re student-athletes. We put student first.’’

The future looks even better. “Our regular-season goal was to win the conference,’’ Gattus said. “We accomplished that. This team works so hard and is so talented, the skies the limit for them.’’