Wantagh High School’s varsity baseball team is the 2025 Class A champions in Nassau County.
The program defeated Seaford High School in a winner-take-all game on Sunday, June 1, to claim the county title. The win marks the first Nassau County championship for Wantagh’s baseball team since it won three straight titles from 2016 to 2018.
Keith Sachs has been the team’s coach since 1994. He said the program has been one of the best in the state during his tenure.
Wantagh made it to Game 3 of the county championship in 2024 as well, falling to Clarke High School. Sachs said that a lot of that team’s core came back to try to win it all this year.
“We were missing two superstars, but we returned a lot of solid players,” he said. “We knew we were gonna be good because we returned a lot of good baseball players and a lot of good kids.”
The Warriors rattled off six straight wins to start the 2025 season, outscoring their opponents 59-14. Sachs said he typically doesn’t put too much pressure on winning regular-season games as the program has its eyes on winning championships.
Wantagh went 15-1 before its final series of the regular season, which came against Clarke. The Warriors won the first game, but the Rams took Game 2 of the series. That meant that the winner of the final regular-season game would also take the division crown and the higher seed in the playoffs.
“We had an eye on that series all year,” Sachs said. “We figured whoever wins that series deserves to win the league.”
Dom Cusumano pitched 6 ⅔ innings in the 4-3 victory to clinch the division and the top seed in the conference.
The Warriors dropped their first game in the opening round of the playoffs against Island Trees High School, but they outscored the Bulldogs 19-2 to win the series. Wantagh then swept the Wheatley School to propel them to the county finals yet again.
Wantagh played the third seed from Nassau Conference A-II, Seaford High School.
Sachs said Christian Danzillo transitioned to become the team’s ace during the season. He allowed just two hits and struck out six batters in the Warriors’ 6-1 Game 1 victory.
Wantagh had the opportunity to close out the county championship the next day. Don Cusmano gave up a walk-off single, forcing a Game 3 to decide the title.
Cusmano got the ball back for Game 3. He allowed just one run in 6 ⅓ innings before Danzillo closed out the game in the 6-1 title-clinching win.
“The program’s got a lot of history, and they [the players] all know it,” Sachs said. “They wanted to put their number on the back of our shirt with all the championships.”
And at the end of all, Sachs said he was proud to be coaching this group of players.
“They’re just an awesome group of kids. They work so hard. They root for each other. They take on different roles,” he said. “I’m so happy they won.”
Wantagh lost 1-0 in the Long Island Championship to Sayville to end its season.
