This year the Long Island Baseball team won the Gold medal in the Empire State Tournament that was held at Binghamton University. To add to the excitement, the team got to play at the beautiful Mets Stadium (where the Mets Double A team plays).

From the moment this team got off the bus they displayed a desire to win that they carried through the three straight doubleheaders that they had to play.

In their first game, Long Island defeated a very tough Central N.Y. team 2-1. Bill Weitzman, of Oceanside was the winning pitcher. Long Island scored in the first when Matt Gidaly walked, and was bunted over by Division Avenue High School's P.J. Antoniato. He later scored on a single by his high school teammate Tom Pennino, of St. John the Baptist. Long Island scored the winning run when Brian Hansen, of Longwood doubled and moved to third on a wild pitch. He scored on a sacrifice fly by Scott King, of Connetquot High School.

In game two, Long Island played Hudson Valley and found themselves down a run in the first when Antoniato singled home Matt Gidaly. Antoniato delivered another big hit in the second when Long Island took a lead they would not relinquish. Justin Anderson, of MacArthur High School, was the winning pitcher, keeping Hudson Valley in check going the distance. Antoniato, Nick Conte (Oceanside) and Paul Greco (Southside) all had three hits for Long Island.

In game three, Long Island defeated New York City 11-3 behind the complete game pitching of Garden City's John Burke. Long Island jumped out to the lead on a double by Antoniato, who later scored on a base hit by Pennino. Pennino had two hits, as did Kellenberg's Mike Ferrigi. MacArthur's Andrew Johnson had an RBI double and made two spectacular diving catches to kill N.Y.C. rallies. Antoniato went four for four with three runs scored.

In game four, Long Island beat Western New York 7-4. Sachem's Ron Hamilton was the winning pitcher, with some relief help from Massapequa's Chris Cincowikz. Long Island jumped out to a 3-0 lead on a double by King and a sacrifice fly by Conte. Patchogue's Eddie Cordova, singled home Paul Greco with run number two and later Greco singled home Pennino. Long Island added to its lead when Pennino scored on a double by Brian Hansen. In the fifth, Gidaly hit a two-run homer to close out the scoring for Long Island. MacArthur's Johnson made another spectacular diving catch for Long Island.

In game five, Long Island faced its nemesis Adarondeck, the same team that won three straight gold medals. Long Island came out on top, 7-5 on five strong innings by winning pitcher Matt Burke, of Kings Park. Tom Cinelli , of Farmingdale, finished up with two strong innings of relief, striking out all six outs. Cinelli had some tremendous hardship during the tournament, having his grandfather die while he was up in Binghamton. He opted to stay and was an inspiration to all of his teammates. Division's Antoniato knocked in Gidaly for Long Island's first run and scored Long Island's second run and later batted in Long Island's third run. Later in the game Conte hit a monster home run, which was followed by another homer by Brian Hansen to finish Long Island's scoring for the game.

Long Island entered the gold medal game as the only undefeated team, having to play Hudson Valley again. Hudson Valley entered the game with only one loss. Oceanside's Weitzman begged for the ball, wanting to start his second game in three days. Weitzman did a great job, giving up three very shaky runs that were allowed due to some poor defense. Gidaly started Long Island off with a home run in his first at-bat. Being down 3-2 early, Long Island took a 4-3 lead when Johnson walked, Antoniato singled, and they both scored on back-to-back RBI hits by Pennino and King. Hudson Valley tied the score at four and it stayed that way until the fifth inning when Johnson ripped a bullet two-run double that gave Long Island the win.

Big hitters in this game were Gidaly with two homers and Hansen, Pennino, King, and Johnson who all had two hits.

Not enough can be said about starting pitcher Billy Weitzman who controlled the game from the very beginning despite some early inning shaky defense.

This was truly a team effort where any one of about six players could have been the team MVP. It was the team's tough, aggressive, never give up attitude that allowed them to have as much success as they did.

This was Long Island's third gold medal, having also won in 1994 and 1995. In the last 10 years Long Island has won a medal every year except 1997.