Members of the Middle Atlantic Region champion from Beekman, New York, pictured, in front, from left, are: Lukas Csury, Jordan Suarez, Sean Mangano, Aidan Suarez and Rich Brown. In back are: assistant coach Jorge Suarez, assistant coach Jay Mangano, Sean Kelly, Tristan Rivera, John Bellantone, Casey Lowndes, Christian Anderson, Tyler Brochu, Tim Mahoney, manager Jason Brochu and assistant coach David Rivera. Absent is Gianni Servidio. Submitted photo

The boys from Beekman, New York, had a few moments of trepidation during the Middle Atlantic Regional a few weeks ago.

In Beekman’s final pool-play game against Broomall Newtown, Pennsylvania, manager Jason Brochu’s team lost 8-7 to fall to the Pool B No. 2 seed for bracket play.

In the semifinals against Pool A No. 1 seed and host Mifflin County, Beekman went into extra innings tied 2-2.

Brochu, his coaching staff and the team’s parents weren’t sweating it out like the boys were.

The adults already knew they were coming to the Babe Ruth 13-15 World Series at Diethrick Park.

“Going into that tournament, I knew we were accepted in as the New York state champion,” Brochu said Thursday afternoon while driving across Interstate 86 to Jamestown. “I didn’t tell any of our boys, but myself, the coaches and the parents knew.”

Beekman scored four runs in the top of the eighth inning and held off Mifflin County in the bottom of the frame to reach the final where it beat Broomall Newtown 6-4 to earn the Middle Atlantic Region championship.

“We were up for it and we were going to do it,” Brochu said. “We went into that tournament and we wanted to win.”

Winning a regional championship and a berth in a World Series has been elusive for the boys from Beekman, many of whom have been playing together since they were 7 years old.

“We’ve always been Cal Ripken and Babe Ruth affiliated. We’ve been going to all-stars since we were 7U playing up to 8U,” Brochu said. “In our younger ages, we’d struggle and we’d hope to get one win in pool play, not even making it into bracket play. Eventually we were very close to beating No. 1 seeds.”

Poughkeepsie and East Fishkill were always the best teams in that part of the state, in Dutchess County just north of New York City.

“They would always seem to dominate us,” Brochu said. “Poughkeepsie would go to the state finals almost every year.”

In 2020, when this group of Beekman boys were mostly 12 years old, the coronavirus pandemic shut down most of spring and summer baseball.

“We got to 12U and we finally were about to make some noise. COVID shut everything down. We didn’t get any Cal Ripken at 12, no Cooperstown at 12 years old,” Brochu said. “That was a big impact to the kids.”

But Brochu and his longtime assistant coach, David Rivera, kept the boys working on the sport even though they might not have been able to play games.

“We did little things over COVID. The team and families stayed really close,” Brochu said. “We always said we’d keep the boys playing, there just weren’t a lot of games we could play.

“Being able to come back and do this,” Brochu added, “was pretty awesome.”

When the kids moved up to the “big diamond” at 13 years old, they really started to put it all together — especially on the mound.

“We definitely have a top four pitchers, but we have seven or eight strong pitchers,” Brochu said. “We have some kids who specialize in closing or throwing just one or two innings.”

Brochu says his lineup is fairly balanced, even batting all 13 of his players when allowed.

“There’s really no top of the order or bottom of the order,” he said. “Some kids specialize in getting on base and stealing, some have power, and some move kids over, but every kid produces on this team.”

Since moving to the 60-90 diamond, Beekman has added assistant coaches Jorge Suarez and Jay Mangano.

“I carry around player cards from when the kids were 8 years old and about 70% of those kids are still on this team,” Brochu said. “We added a couple when kids moved into town or when we moved to the big field, but it’s really been the same group of kids for the most part.”

Beekman, playing in the National Division, will take part in the opening game of the World Series at 11 a.m. Saturday against Norwalk, Connecticut, before taking on Moorhead, Minnesota, at 4:30 p.m. Sunday. After playing Portland, Oregon, at 1:30 p.m. Monday, Beekman will have its off day Tuesday. Brochu’s team’s final pool-play game will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday against Greenville, North Carolina.

Name: Aidan Suarez

Jersey No.: 1

Bats/throws: R/L

Position: Outfield

Favorite professional team: New York Yankees

Favorite professional athlete: Mike Trout

Name: Jordan Suarez

Jersey No.: 2

Bats/throws: L/L

Positions: Pitcher/first base

Favorite professional team: New York Yankees

Favorite professional athlete: Ronald Acuna Jr.

Name: Tyler Brochu

Jersey No.: 3

Bats/throws: N/A

Positions: Second base/pitcher

Favorite professional team: None

Favorite professional athlete: None

Name: Timothy Mahoney

Jersey No.: 4

Bats/throws: N/A

Positions: Right field

Favorite professional team: None

Favorite professional athlete: None

Name: Casey Lowndes

Jersey No.: 5

Bats/throws: R/S

Positions: Pitcher/first base/third base

Favorite professional team: New York Mets

Favorite professional athlete: David Wright

Name: John Bellantone

Jersey No.: 7

Bats/throws: R/R

Positions: Catcher/third base/pitcher

Favorite professional team: New York Mets

Favorite professional athlete: Francisco Lindor

Name: Christian Anderson

Jersey No.: 12

Bats/throws: R/R

Position: Center field

Favorite professional team: New York Yankees

Favorite professional athlete: Aaron Judge

Name: Richie Brown

Jersey No.: 13

Bats/throws: N/A

Positions: Third base/pitcher

Favorite professional team: None

Favorite professional athlete: None

Name: Sean Mangano

Jersey No.: 17

Bats/throws: R/R

Positions: Catcher/third base

Favorite professional team: New York Mets

Favorite professional athlete: Francisco Alvarez

Name: Lukas Csury

Jersey No.: 21

Bats/throws: R/R

Positions: Infield/outfield/pitcher

Favorite music: Rap and Taylor Swift

Favorite professional athlete: Shoehi Ohtani

Name: Sean Kelly

Jersey No.: 24

Bats/throws: L/L

Positions: Pitcher/first base

Favorite professional team: New York Yankees

Favorite professional athlete: Randy Johnson

Name: Tristan Rivera

Jersey No.: 41

Bats/throws: R/R

Position: Shortstop

Favorite food: Pizza

Hobbies: Fishing, quad riding

Name: Gianni Servidio

Jersey No.: 99

Bats/throws: L/L

Positions: First base/pitcher/outfield

Favorite professional team: New York Yankees

Favorite professional athlete: Ken Griffey Jr.