Being on the mound for his senior year was in jeopardy for Carle Place ace Tommy Schoch, who blew out his shoulder on the gridiron in a playoff game vs. Lynbrook last fall.
“I was going to make a tackle. I hit the other player with my shoulder and I dislocated it, and I tore my labrum,” the 18-year-old quarterback and cornerback told The Post.
“Being able to play baseball really was my first thought. … it’s been everything to me.”
Schoch (pronounced “shock”) made the varsity nine as a freshman, and his talent on the mound — he put up 38 strikeouts in 35 innings with a 1.40 ERA in 2025 — was enough to earn a spot on SUNY Old Westbury’s team next season for college.
Last year, he was on Carle Place’s first county championship-winning squad in a few decades, and Schoch pushed himself to make it back on the diamond for a last dance.
It started with winter surgery on the righty’s non-throwing arm, then it was up to Schoch to do what was necessary to return to the Frogs in a timely manner.
“Just a lot of strength training,” he said of routine physical therapy over the past few months.
Getting healthy by the March 9 start date was “the thing that kept me motivated through the entire recovery process,” Schoch added.
“I got cleared on March 3, so it was literally the week before baseball started. It was just in time.”
The euphoric news meant as much to Schoch’s teammates as it did to him.
“A lot of them I also played football with, so they were very concerned for me,” he said.
Now the tight-knit crew wants to run it back this spring and bring home more hardware.
“Mainly the goal is to get another county championship,” Schoch said.
“Maybe even the Long Island championship. That’s really what I want.”
The NYPD and FDNY hockey teams face off in their 52nd annual event at UBS Arena at 1:30 p.m. Sunday. New York’s Bravest lead the series 31-18-2 and have been on a win streak since 2019.
