Southampton's Forgione Named HCBL All-Star Game MVP, Helps Red Team's Comeback Victory Over Gold Team

As a kid growing up and playing baseball on Long Island, Freddy Forgione always heard about the Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League — how good and competitive it was, and maybe one day he’d be able to compete in it and see what he’s got against some of the best players from around the country.

Not only did Forgione, who plays on the Southampton Breakers and is a Ronkonkoma resident and graduate of Sachem North High School, prove he has what it takes to play with those players, he did it on one of the HCBL’s grandest stages. In the ninth installment of the league’s All-Star Game at Cochran Park in Peconic on July 6, Forgione went 2 for 2 with a walk, a home run, two runs scored and a pair of RBIs to earn Most Valuable Players honors to help lead the Red Team All-Stars to a 9-8 come-from-behind victory over the Gold Team All-Stars.

Forgione is the first Southampton Breaker ever to be named HCBL All-Star MVP.

“It’s a nice story,” he said Tuesday morning, reflecting back nearly a week later on his accomplishment. “I play at a DIII school in SUNY Maritime and this league is so tough to play in, I guess I’m not really expected to do as well. But as we eventually started to come back in the game, it hit me that I might actually be able to win MVP. And Jake Young, who is our closer on the Breakers, comes in a closes it out and we all got to celebrate. It was awesome. I had my family there so it was really nice.”

After a pair of solo home runs in the second inning — one by Sean Keys (Westhampton/Bucknell) for the Red Team, and one by Billy Kender (Sag Harbor/Bucknell) for the Gold Team — the Gold Team took a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning on a run-scoring single that scored Kender by Matt Shuhet (North Fork/Iona), who was more than likely an MVP frontrunner had the Gold Team held onto the victory, going 4 for 5 with three RBIs. The Gold Team then poured it on in the fifth inning as it scored five times to take a 7-1 lead, which it held through the game’s first six innings.

But from the seventh inning on, it was all Red Team.

Forgione, who only played the second half of the game, didn’t get his first at bat until the top of the seventh inning when the Red Team mounted its comeback, and he was in the middle of it. Having already scored two runs in the seventh, Forgione came up to the plate with a runner on base and one out. He received a fastball and deposited it over the left field fence to make it a 7-5 ball game.

Forgione walked in his second at bat in the eighth inning and was one of three runs that came across to tie the game at 8-8 — Tyler Smith’s (Westhampton/Saint Peters) single to left drove in Sean Flaherty (Southampton/ Hofstra) with the game-tying run. The Red Team took its lead in the top of the ninth when an error allowed Eric Genther (Southampton/Rhode Island) to score — Forgione was in the middle of it all in that inning as well with a single up the middle that kept the team’s rally going.

As Forgione mentioned earlier, Jacob Young (Southampton/Brown) came into the game in the bottom of the ninth and worked around a leadoff double by Tommy O’Connor (Sag Harbor/Cincinnati) and a one-out walk to Johnny Catuousco (South Shore/Adelphi) to end the game.

Forgione had a record-breaking season this past spring, his sophomore season, at SUNY Maritime where he set the school’s record for doubles (15) in a season. That led to him being named the team’s MVP, so he’s no stranger to such awards, but he did say the HCBL All-Star MVP may be his biggest one yet.

With the league in the midst of its second half, a number of teams are well within the playoff hunt, including Forgione’s Breakers.

“We’re all so close even though it’s only been a month,” he said of himself and his teammates. “We have such a great time together, the coaching staff is great. I couldn’t ask to be in a better sport for the summer. I think we easily have one of the best rosters in the league. Once we get into the playoffs, no matter what spot we’ll be in, we’ll be a very dangerous team.”

Preceding the All-Star Game was the league’s seventh rendition of its Home Run Derby. Whaler Tommy O’Connor hit six home runs in the qualifying round, many of which landed in the roller hockey rink beyond the fence in right field. After South Shore’s Matthew Tempone (UMass Dartmouth) hit a pair of dingers to become the second player to advance to the final round, Riverhead’s Dante D’Amore (Sacred Heart) and Westhampton’s Tyler Smith (St. Peters) each hit a home run in the qualifying round to tie for third place and force a three-out tiebreaker, which needed three rounds before the tie was finally broken. In the end, D’Amore advanced, beating Smith, 1-0.

In the final round, O’Connor, going last of the trio, took his time to hit a pair of homers, defeating D’Amore, who hit one, and Tempone, who was held without a home run. O’Connor is the first player from the Sag Harbor Whalers to win the HCBL Home Run Derby.

A.J. Anzai (Chapman/North Fork), Freddy Forgione (SUNY Maritime/Southampton) and Jack Lincoln (Bradley/Shelter Island) also competed in the derby, but didn’t advance past the qualifying round.