Evan Cabral wasted no time setting the tone for Garden City.
With no outs and a runner on first in the top of the first inning, Cabral - the Trojans' designated hitter - hammered an 0-and-1 curveball over Farmingdale State's leftfield wall for a two-run homer.
No. 2 Garden City would score three more runs in the first inning of an eventual 6-4 win over top-seeded Bellmore JFK in Game 1 of the best-of-three Nassau Class AA baseball championship series Thursday afternoon.
"Baseball is a game of momentum, man," said Cabral, a Stony Brook commit. "So I was just trying to get the boys going, and from there we were rolling."
Said Garden City coach Dave Izzo: "He's our guy. You can't expect anyone to hit a ball like that, but he seems to be seeing the ball well right now."
Jimmy Trocchia had an RBI double and Connor Griffin had a two-run single for Garden City (22-4) in the first inning.
"It's huge," Izzo said. "That's why I said to the boys, I like being the visiting team for that exact reason: you could score early, set the tone. However, you see so often in sports when a team does that, and then you just kind of lull your way to sleep and allow them to get back in it. So credit to them for not giving up."
Bellmore JFK (22-5) scored a run in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by Dylan Babek (4-for-4).
The Trojans extended their lead to 6-1 on Azan Durkovic's seventh-inning RBI single.
Babek hit a two-out, three-run homer to rightfield in the bottom of the seventh, but Trocchia retired the next batter to finish the game.
Lefthander Joe Carey struck out two, walked four and allowed six hits and an earned run in a 5 1/3-inning start for Garden City.
Skylar Lang pitched 2/3 scoreless innings in relief for the Trojans, escaping a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the sixth.
"Lang, he has a knack of coming in and making pitches and hitting spots," Izzo said. "He's not overpowering guys, but he's able to hit spots and change speeds, and that was huge."
Vincenzo Caravello shined in relief for Bellmore, allowing only two hits in 4 2/3 scoreless innings.
Game 2 is set for 6 p.m. Friday at Farmingdale State. Garden City is a win away from its first county title since 2021.
"It's absolutely everything," Cabral said. "We're playing for our coaches. We love our coaches. We're playing as a family. We all love each other, and it would just mean the world."