AVERILL PARK, NY – It’s been a few weeks since Averill Park baseball claimed their Class A New York State Public High School Athletic Association state title and the Warriors haven’t come down from their championship high yet.
“I’ll be honest, it’s hard because you practice every single day and you see these guys every single day and then all of a sudden you never see anybody again,” said Head Coach George Brooks. “The tour has been rewarding because we got to see everybody again and you get to feel that championship status sort of speak.”
Earlier in the week the Rensselaer County Executive hosted the Averill Park team down to celebrate the championship and congratulate the team. Thursday morning the team visited Averill Park elementary schools. On July 13, they will be honored at the Tri-City ValleyCats game. Averill Park baseball is feeling the love.
“The banners are created and all the nice things they say about you gives you a chance to realize how special it really is,” said Brooks. “You have great seasons but to experience all those extra things is special. We’re going to go to each elementary school and be able to see all the kids cheering and showing excitement for us.”
Averill Park certainly earned their status as the best team in Class A. Coming out of the Suburban Council, arguably one of the toughest divisions in New York state baseball, the Warriors earned a 21-6 record, only losing to Suburban Council schools. After the Warriors lost their sixth game against Colonie on May 9 they never lost a game for next month to be the only team in Class A to finish the season with a win.
“We are playing in a very good league and we are playing up in a sense in a class standpoint that only helps – being able to be in so many tight games like the Saratoga game where they could have very well beat us, you are extremely tested,” said Brooks. “It all begins with that Colonie game. Although we lost we thought that had we done a couple things better, we felt like we were good enough. That was a tremendous confidence booster because at that time it was Colonie and Guilderland who were the cream of the crop.”
Winning streaks started early in the season for the Warriors. A 6-0 start to the season included tough wins over Troy, Ballston Spa, and South Glens Falls that proved early on Averill Park had some skill.
In a tough week from April 20 to April 27 the Warriors accumulated half of their total losses in the season that included a walk-off loss to Columbia, a tough loss to Shen on their own field, and another tough loss to Burnt Hills on the road.
“We were up in the Shen game and we were commanding part of the game, things were going well, and then all of a sudden, they weren’t,” said Brooks. “Against Columbia we were leading 8-0 and then all of a sudden, we weren’t.”
Averill Park got the train back on the track after that tough week and only lost three more games in the entire Spring against Guilderland, Bethlehem, and Colonie.
As sectional time came around, the Warriors were just getting going on their best baseball. The Warriors shut out Amsterdam at Shuttleworth Park (a massive home field advantage for Amsterdam) and then handled Scotia-Glenville with ease. When it came to the Section II, Class A title, what mattered was if Averill Park could suppress the bats of one of the best offensive teams in Section II.
And, they did just that.
“As tight as that game was, our guys’ ability to stay poised was key,” said Brooks. “Max O’Connor in right field was key. He made some huge plays in that game on some missile line drives off of the bat. He looked as smooth as ever as if it was an everyday routine ball and it certainly wasn’t. There was a strong level of confidence at the amount of plays we made.”
Brooks continued.
“It felt like we couldn’t lose that game. You saw it by the way the team was walking on the field.”
The confidence rolled into the NYSPHSAA tournament. Averill Park opens with an extra inning 3-2 win over Cortland and then from there, never allows a run again for the rest of the season.
For the last three games of the NYSPHSAA tournament, against the best competition Class A has to offer, Averill Park shut out the competition, pretty handedly too.
“Everything fell into place and they were the best versions of themselves,” said Brooks. “That Cortland game was probably one of the most incredible games I have ever been a part of.”
“They had a guy on first base with no outs and here comes Tyle Blake and he has just mashed the ball all game long. We shifted our guys into right field and our left fielder stayed put for the most part and Blake hit a gapper into left field that is going to get down because of the shift that we have on and out of nowhere comes a diving Michael Wormuth who catches the ball and throws a missile to Nicholas Galuski and he relays it to first base and all of sudden there’s nobody on base with two outs. It was like everything was meant to be.”
After the extra inning win over Cortland, Averill Park beat Massena 13-0, Maine-Endwell 7-0, and then Hamburg 3-0 for the state championship.
“I wasn’t surprised at those scores,” said Brooks. “You never anticipate putting a zero on the board but that is what we strive to do.”
“In the state championship game, I hope people don’t forget that the bases were loaded twice,” said Brooks. “They were a single away from making it a 3-2 game or two singles away from making it a 4-3 game. That would have changed the dynamic of the game and the way we were playing.”
Lots of players deserved to shine in the championship but for the seniors it was their last chance to leave a mark on Averill Park.
“They miss it already,” said Brooks on what conversations with his seniors have entailed in the most recent reunions celebrating the state title.
“Baseball has been such a big part of their lives, especially over the last month, and I think you can see the joy in their faces and body language about how excited they are. Part of it is they move on to the next chapter too. They are so proud that they did it and that banner is going to hang in their gym forever.”
The state title for baseball is the first ever title a boy’s team has ever won at Averill Park and the third state championship for Averill Park in school history. Averill Park has won state championships in girls basketball in 2010 and 2022, a softball state title in 2015, and girls cross country titles in 1990, 1995, and 1996.
The senior group consists of Gavin Moore, Michael Wormuth Jr., Alex Yash, Stephen Koval, and Aidan McCue.
“Stephen threw out a few guys in that sectional championship that were huge to that outcome,” said Brooks. “When you stick guys like Yash and Koval behind Galuski and Wormuth knowing they are going to get on base good things will happen. Yash ended up with 42 RBIs and Koval would have had just as many if Yash wasn’t hogging them all.”
Brooks continued on about Wormuth’s presence.
“Michael is your energy guy. He’s your heartbeat,” said Brooks. “He’s constantly talking. His go-to line was ‘It’s personal.’ He’s a special energy guy and the kids get excited in the dugout when he is around because that’s the type of guy he is. Then he also makes big hits and is a table setter, so to speak.”
Complimenting Wormuth at the top of the lineup was Nicholas Galuski. A junior shortstop who is a five tool athlete for the Warriors.
“Nicholas is much more quiet and is a humble player who expects himself to play at a high level,” said Brooks. “For Nicholas, it’s a much more of a ‘he’s up, what’s he going to do next,’ type of guy. He is electric and when he is in the box there’s a chance he is going to hit one into the opposite gap for a triple and when he is in the field he is electric in the way he moves.”
On the bump for Averill Park, Ethan Nardacci, Tim Koval, and Brady Mazzeo all made an impact this season. Mazzeo’s season started off slow as he dealt with rehab on an injury but as the season wrapped he was intricate to the Warriors run.
“Brady had a great year last year and he was phenomenal. This year he came in and we had some rules with basketball that a kid couldn’t do anything in the offseason if he was in another season, so he didn’t get a whole lot of throwing in,” said Brooks. “He came into the season with some soreness so we knew we were going to baby him a little bit and that’s what hurt him, not that he wasn’t ready to pitch but that we needed him in a different role.”
Brooks continued.
“His whole career he has been a starter and we asked him to come in against Shen and Columbia and take him out of his rhythm. Everybody has their role and everybody embraces their role and it’s not that he couldn’t come in and close out an inning if we needed him to, it really wasn’t the role he was used to.”
After Brady’s first official start of the season against Tamarac, Brooks and the staff knew Mazzeo was good to go back to the starting role.
The championship tour for Averill Park will last for just a little bit longer so they will get a chance to reflect and enjoy it while they can.
“It’s a special, special time,” said Brooks. “They are so proud. I don’t think I have ever seen them like this. It’s like they are glowing.”
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