The Massapequa High School boys' varsity baseball team rolled into Binghamton last weekend, sporting a daunting 27-0 record as they vied for the State Class AA title.

And in capping off an incredible season, the Chiefs were not to be denied. On a memorable Saturday, the Chiefs defeated both Pine Bush and Colonie to not only complete an undefeated season, but to capture the state crown.

In doing so, Massapequa became the first Long Island team since 1996 to enjoy an undefeated season.

In fact, the championship contest against Colonie was a rout, with Massapequa putting the game away with a 10-run fifth inning. By then, Massapequa hurler Mike Scudero, a senior southpaw, was already on his way to a shutout performance.

All year long, the Chiefs have hammered their opposition with big innings and timely hitting. For instance, in the Long Island title game against East Islip, the Chiefs, with two out in the seventh (and final) inning, tied the score on a dramatic pinch-hit home run by Jason Buono, a wallop that came after a close play at first on an infield single by another pinch-hitter, Chris Iovino.

In the championship game, Massapequa once again seized an opportunity to continue an inning. With two outs, an error on a grounder by Dan Robinson allowed Massapequa to take a 2-0 lead.

From there, the floodgates burst open. Matt Prokopowicz's three-run homer gave the Chiefs a 5-0 advantage. The Chiefs then capitalized on more Colonie miscues, including a dropped fly ball and an errant throw to first on a routine grounder, to score five more runs. In the fifth, Steve Campbell had two hits, two runs batted in, and two runs scored.

Scudero's shutout win merely followed up a nearly identical pitching performance from Mike Bartlett. In the semifinal game against Pine Bush, Bartlett twirled six and two-thirds innings of shutout ball, striking out five and giving up only six hits.

Massapequa prevailed in the semifinal with a single run in the fifth inning as Dan Robinson, imitating Enos Slaughter in the 1946 World Series, scored from second on a two-out infield hit by Tom Maloney.

When asked about his team's historic season, Tom Sheedy, the Chiefs' head coach listed Massapequa's "tremendous talent [and] pitching depth."

"This was a team that worked together, that had great focus and great discipline, all the things you need to be a great team," Sheedy said. "As great as they were on the field, they were equally as good in their behavior throughout the season and the way they carried themselves and bonded together as a team."

In addition to traveling to Binghamton, the Chiefs took a successful trip to Disney World in Florida where they played top teams from Connecticut and Virginia. They also journeyed to West Nyack to take on Monroe High School, the perennial New York City powerhouse.

All that, plus the regular season games, gave the team the confidence and poise it needed to prevail in both the Long Island and New York State title rounds.

In 1996, Division High School went 29-0 en route to winning the Class B title. Two years earlier, MacArthur High School also scored a 29-0 record to win that same Class B state crown. Finally, 31 years ago, in 1975, Walt Whitman sported a 29-0-1 record in becoming Long Island champs. Now, Massapequa joins that select company with their own undefeated season.