2025 has been a relatively pedestrian season for the Chaminade Flyers. They essentially have played .500 baseball all spring, failing to go on extended win streaks while simultaneously avoiding long losing skids.

After being swept in their final NSCHSAA series of the year against Kellenberg, head coach Patrick Kemp spoke with the team, asking, "How do you want to go out? Do you want to go out not competitive and not challenging other teams, or do you want to try to make a run?"

With the playoffs right around the corner, it will not be long until the answer is revealed. 

In their final tune-ups before postseason play, the Flyers opened the month of May by hosting the Holy Cross Knights. Holy Cross got off to a fast start thanks to a leadoff homer by Logan Garcia, but the Flyers bounced back in a major way, plating nine in the bottom of the first. 

Chaminade sent 14 hitters to the plate during the first inning onslaught. Spearheading the offensive attack and driving in runs were Daniel Anicito, TJ Bradford, Collin Anderson, Matthew Manopella, and Nolan Fernandez.

Although the Flyers put the game out of reach with this early explosion, they again scored nine runs in the third inning. The highlight of that frame was a massive two-run tank by Jake Settanni, a bomb which cleared the left field fence with plenty of room to spare.

Ultimately, the Flyers' total reached 19, invoking the run rule in just the third inning and saving valuable pitching arms for later in the campaign.

Next up for the Flyers was a critical league series against Kellenberg on May 6-7. The Firebirds entered at second place in the league with an 11-5 record, but were 0-4 against the other top teams - St. Dominic's and St. Anthony's. A sweep for the Flyers would have paved the way for them to jump ahead of the Firebirds in the standings.

The game one pitching matchup was worth the price of admission, as each team sent its best starter to the bump. Chaminade rolled out Carlos Pereira, who entered the contest with a 2.23 ERA. As for Kellenberg, they went with the future Miami Hurricane Jack Durso, one of the top pitchers on Long Island. 

For the second straight game, the Flyers were stunned with a leadoff homer, as the Firebirds' Mario Coscia lined Pereira's second pitch of the game over the left field wall, giving the road team the immediate 1-0 lead. 

The Firebirds tacked on another run in the third. With two outs, Lucas Vamvaketis hit an absolute seed to dead center for a triple. Then, a Pereira breaking ball got away from catcher Connor Meehan, allowing Vamvaketis to scamper home and stretch the lead to 2-0. 

Chaminade responded with a run in the bottom of the inning, but their chance for a larger rally was missed. The inning started with a Kellenberg miscue, as Durso picked off Meehan, who was attempting to steal second base. However, an inaccurate throw to first baseman Jaden Valdez allowed Meehan to successfully swipe second. Then, Anderson roped a triple to center, scoring Meehan.

As Anderson reached third, the relay throw skipped away from catcher Michael Cotto - far enough that the Chaminade star tried to score. However, he tripped and fell about 15 feet from home plate, allowing him to be tagged out by Durso. Anicito's ensuing single raised speculation surrounding how the inning may have been different had Anderson scored.

Kellenberg plated three crucial insurance runs in a strong sixth inning. With two runners in scoring position, Ryan Langner muscled a soft single into right field to bring home both runners. Soon after, Carson Fessler lined a single of his own into right to score Langner and make it 5-1. 

Chaminade was unable to get a rally going in the final two innings, as Kellenberg wrapped up a game one victory, 5-1.

It was the Jack Durso show all afternoon at Cantiague Park, as the big lefty dominated the Flyers offense in one of his best starts of the season. Durso went the full seven innings, allowing only five hits and one run while striking out 10. This was his second straight complete game, as he also went the distance his last time out against St. Dominic's, striking out 12 and allowing an unearned run in a tough loss. 

"The amazing thing about [Durso] is that any 6'4'' lefty that can throw 90 miles an hour typically sticks with his fastball because they get excited that they can throw 90 miles an hour, but he can throw three or four pitches for strikes," praised Kellenberg head coach Patrick Miles. "So, at any time, if a guy is sitting on his fastball, he can throw a curveball for a strike, he can throw a slider for a strike, and he can throw a changeup for a strike."

The two teams met the next day at Mitchel Field for game two. In this one, it was the Flyers who secured an early lead, as four straight balls in play gave them a two-run cushion in the second. Michael Gardner led off the inning with an electrifying triple, and he was quickly brought home on a base knock by Colin Cashin. After a Fernandez single pushed Cashin to third, Nicholas Sweeney drove him home on a fielder's choice. 

Kellenberg immediately doubled up the Flyers in the bottom of the inning, capitalizing on Chaminade starter Andrew Caramico's inability to throw strikes consistently. In the inning, he hit a batter, walked two, and threw two wild pitches - both of which scored runs. Couple that with a few timely hits, and suddenly, it was a four-run frame for the Firebirds. 

Caramico threw 62 pitches in just two innings of work, forcing his early exit. 

The Firebirds put the hammer down in the final three innings, plating nine runs. The Flyers pitching staff just could not find the strike zone, as five different pitchers walked 12 batters and hit another three. 

Kellenberg only had six hits in the game, but they came when it mattered most. Coscia and Richie LaVacca each had run-scoring singles, while Vamvaketis came up with the big hit of the day - a three-run inside-the-park home run to put the run rule into effect. Outfielder Daniel Nawrocki attempted to rob Vamvaketis of the hit with a dive, but he missed, enabling Vamvaketis to circle the bases as the ball rolled all the way to the wall.

On the mound, Eric Ressegger - like his teammate Durso a day prior - hurled a complete game. He scattered five hits and three runs over six innings, inducing a lot of soft contact that the defense handled easily. 

The final score of game two was 13-3, as the Firebirds closed out a dominating sweep of their Marinaist foes. 

After the tough series against Kellenberg, the Flyers were in need of a get-right game. Fortunately, they got just that when they matched up with the Xaverian Clippers on May 8. The offense woke up with a 10-run outburst, while Sweeney delivered a one-hit shutout in his first varsity start, guiding the Flyers to victory.

The ten-run showing was propelled by a six-run rally in the second inning, one highlighted by a three-run homer off Anderson's bat. The senior from Rockville Centre now has a .525 batting average and 1.499 OPS, solidifying his status as one of the top players in the league. 

Nawrocki added a solo shot in the fifth for the Flyers' second round-tripper of the day. 

Noah Kim also had a big day for the Crimson and Gold, as the junior outfielder contributed three hits and an RBI out of the number-nine spot in the order to solidify a 10-0 victory.

The Flyers closed out their regular season two days later when they visited the McClancy Crusaders in East Elmhurst. In what was nearly a carbon-copy of the Xaverian game, the Flyers offense put up eight runs, while pitchers Kenneth Meliere Jr. and Jack Pfeifer dazzled on the mound in a two-hit shutout. 

The Crimson and Gold tallied four runs in the second inning thanks to a couple of hot hitters: 

Kim built upon his three-hit showing against Xaverian by banging a triple to center field, scoring Bradford from first. Three pitches later, Nawrocki smashed his second homer of the campaign to make it 4-0. The Flyers added one more run in the inning on an error to increase the lead to five. 

Four straight hits by Chaminade in the sixth put away McClancy. Sweeney, Fernandez, and Settanni all peppered left field with RBI singles as the Flyers knocked around reliever Declan O'Hara for three runs. 

This total was more than enough for the dynamic duo of Meliere and Pfeifer. Meliere earned the win with his four scoreless innings of two-hit ball, while Pfeifer registered the save - his second of the year - with three scoreless innings of his own. 

The scoreless outing lowered Pfeifer's ERA to a team-best 0.89 (in 15.2 innings pitched). He has quickly emerged as one of the top pitchers on the staff and likely will be in line for some high-leverage situations as the playoffs begin. 

Chaminade finished the regular season with an 11-11 overall record, going 11-8 in league play. (This league record can be broken down into a 6-6 mark against NSCHSAA opponents and a 5-2 tally against Brooklyn and Queens foes.) They will now look ahead to the playoffs, which begin this Tuesday, May 13 when Flyers hit the road to face off against St. John the Baptist at Farmingdale State College. First pitch is set for 7:00 p.m.