We are the champions! Bucks capture first league title since 2015

When the Shelter Island Bucks lost eight consecutive games during the first week of the 2026 Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League (HCBL) season, they were dead last in the standings.

Just one month later, the team battled through several nail-biting finishes to secure second place in the regular season, narrowly survived the league semifinals, and then captured the championship by a single run on Sunday, July 26. It marked only the second title for the Bucks since they joined the league in 2012 when they won it all in 2015.

After earning a bye into the semifinals, the Bucks hosted the Westhampton Aviators on Saturday, July 25, at Fiske Field. The game drew Shelter Island’s largest crowd of the season, as fans watched Bucks starter Noah Heath (Rider University) pitch five innings, allowing just three runs. While Heath handled business on the mound, his teammates backed him up at the plate. Shelter Island recorded 13 walks and 10 hits, scoring nine runs by the fifth inning of the nine-inning contest to build what appeared to be a comfortable lead.

That sense of relief among the fans vanished as Westhampton began stringing together hits over the final three innings. The Aviators added two runs in the seventh, bringing the score to 9-5 entering the ninth. Shelter Island needed just three outs to secure a trip to the league championship, but its four-run lead began to disappear.

The inning opened with an Aviators batter being hit by a pitch. A single and a walk loaded the bases before an RBI groundout brought home one run, leaving two Westhampton runners in scoring position. With two outs, another walk forced home an additional Aviators run, cutting Shelter Island’s lead to 9-7. A game that had once seemed comfortably in the Bucks’ control suddenly hung in the balance, with Westhampton threatening to tie or take the lead.

Shelter Island’s coaching staff turned to the bullpen and Danny Kerr (Thomas Jefferson University) slowly made his way in from the bullpen out in left field. Kerr had recently made history by breaking the HCBL single-game strikeout record, but he had also entered a similarly tense situation earlier that week when the Bucks were tied 8-8 with the North Fork Ospreys in the final inning.

Winning that game was the Bucks only chance to secure the No. 2 seed in the standings, which came with a bye into Saturday’s semifinals. Kerr retired all three batters he faced against North Fork before Shelter Island scored the winning run in the bottom half of the inning.

Back on Saturday, Kerr inherited a difficult 3-0 count. His first pitch missed, forcing home another Aviators run and cutting the Bucks’ lead to 9-8. On the next batter, however, Kerr induced a ground ball to Shelter Island’s second baseman, who flipped it to the shortstop for the final out and the victory.

Across the bay, the top-seeded Southampton Breakers defeated the North Fork Ospreys 15-3 in their semifinal, setting up a championship matchup between Southampton and Shelter Island on Sunday.

THE FINAL GAME OF 2026

The Bucks turned to Kerr once again, this time as their starter. Kerr began the championship game dominantly, retiring all three batters he faced in the opening inning.

Shelter Island, however, struggled to get its offense going through the first three innings. Meanwhile, the Breakers began to find their groove. A home run from Southampton’s Chase Jones (West Chester University), who batted .413 during the regular season and finished second overall in the league standings, drove in two teammates and gave the Breakers a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the third.

The Bucks answered in the fourth. A single from Heath put Shelter Island’s first runner on base before David Swift (Bates College) followed with a double. Sam Bradford (UMass Dartmouth) then hit a ball back toward the Southampton pitcher, and efficient baserunning combined with a fielder’s choice left Bradford safe at first and allowed Heath to score the Bucks’ first run.

With runners on first and third, Bradford stole second while Swift raced home, beating the a return throw from second to plate Shelter Island’s second run.

The rally continued when JD Stemhagen (Dickinson College) poked a ball into left field, moving the runners around and allowing Bradford to score the tying run. Ben Prince (University of Maine) followed with a single to center field, driving in Jack Pitman (Bentley University) and giving the Bucks a 4-3 lead.

Two strikeouts and a putout ended the inning with the bases loaded, but Shelter Island had erased a three-run deficit and taken control of the game.

Neither team scored in the fifth before the Bucks added two more runs in the sixth. A shot into center field from Sam Ametrano (Quinnipiac University) allowed Stemhagen, who had singled earlier in the inning, to score. A routine ground ball hit by Heath was then overthrown by the Southampton infield, allowing him to reach second on an error while George Proffitt (St. Lawrence University) scored.

A flyout and two strikeouts ended the inning with Shelter Island holding a 6-3 lead. With three and a half innings remaining, it was up to the Bucks’ defense to keep the game in their favor.

Kerr faced just six batters across the sixth and seventh innings before Shelter Island turned the game over to right-hander Sam Lowenstein (Colby College). Lowenstein entered with a three-run lead and needed just six outs to secure the championship.

A routine infield play was mishandled against the first batter Lowenstein faced in the eighth, allowing the Breaker to safely reach first. The error created an immediate shift in momentum as the Southampton dugout grew louder and the Breakers began stringing together hits.

A shot into left field, another into right and an additional fielding error brought home two runs, cutting Shelter Island’s lead to just one. Lowenstein recovered, recording a flyout and two strikeouts to end the run and preserve the lead, now 6-5.

With momentum still on Southampton’s side, Shelter Island went down quickly in the top of the ninth on two popups and a groundout. That left the Bucks three outs away from a championship, with everyone in the stands and both dugouts on the edge of their seats.

The Breakers’ first batter hit a ground ball toward Heath at second base. Heath barely secured it before diving toward first and flipping the ball directly from his glove, narrowly beating the runner to record the first out.

The risky but successful play sent the Shelter Island dugout and its fans into a frenzy as Lowenstein regained his momentum on the mound. A strikeout recorded the second out before a ground ball back to Lowenstein was cleanly fielded and thrown to first base for the final out of the season.

The Bucks stormed the field, jumping on one another in a giant dogpile as they celebrated their HCBL championship. League officials later presented Head Coach Andy Concepcion with the trophy, which he handed directly to his players as they erupted into another celebration.

Moments later, as the team huddled in right field, Lucas Ametrano (Holy Cross) emerged from the dugout with his teammates and the water cooler, soaking Concepcion and putting the finishing touch on Shelter Island’s championship season.

REFLECTING ON THE TITLE

While it had been 11 years since the team last won the HCBL title, the Bucks had come close several times, including three years ago, when they faced the Breakers in the championship in Southampton. With the series tied 1-1, Shelter Island lost the deciding game. That season was J.D. Stemhagen’s first with the Bucks.

“Coming back to this field brings back a lot of memories,” Stemhagen said after the game. “It means so much. Just thinking about the team we had this summer, but also the team from two years ago when we fell short here.”

“I completely trusted all my guys,” Sam Lowenstein said. “I told everyone before I went out there it was the same thing we’ve been doing all summer.”

He stuck to the same mindset, even with the championship resting on his shoulders in the final frame. “Noah’s probably one of my best friends on the team, and I have so much faith in him. When he made that play at second, I was fired up. I knew we were winning after that.”

Lowenstein added, “I was honestly kind of in shock. After that eight-game losing streak, none of us really knew how the season was going to turn out. Then we had that talk as a team and really turned things around. I was just thinking about how far we’d come. We were at rock bottom, and now we’re finishing the season as champions.”

For Bucks General Manager Brian Cass, the moment had been a long time coming. During the postgame huddle, GM Cass thanked the team before shaking every player’s hand and personally thanking them. “It means a lot. It really means a lot,” he said.

“From Day One, we said we were going to win a summer championship,” Coach Concepcion said. “We won the first two games and then hit a rough patch. We lost eight in a row, and guys started questioning themselves. We just went back to the basics and got everybody believing in each other again. We said, ‘Let’s pick each other up. Let’s not beat each other up.’ And the chemistry really came together.”

He added, “I’ve been doing this a long time. You’ve got to trust your catcher, trust your pitcher, and let the chips fall where they may.”