Below is the transcript from our August 16 podcast live from The Turning Point with Vito Friscia and Steve Corrado.
[00:00] Hello, and welcome to the Axcess Baseball podcast. We are here at The Turning Point bar and grill in Farmingdale, New York joined by our special guests Vito Friscia. He just won the, Axcess Baseball home run derby at baseball heaven. 15 home runs in the first round and he hit four in the championship to beat Thomas Colombo from Adelphi. So Vito, you were in a rhythm in that first round, what did that feel like?
[00:23] First off, thank you for having me, Vin. I appreciate it. I don’t know, I mean I was just having fun out there, trusting my swearing that trying to do too much. Um, you know, I like to take a lot of pitchers, keep my muscles relaxed. We’re a lot of guys get themselves out by lunging and overstriding at the ball being tense. I just tried to stay relaxed and trusting a stay within myself.
[00:46] Now you, you’re no stranger to the home run derbies. You kind of put yourself on the map. I guess that was in what the fall, the winter of 2014 in the power showcase. And, um, you know, for our audience, you could watch the videos on youtube, you hit a, a number of a mammoth home runs. What do you, what stands out to you most about that experience?
[01:09] You know, it was just so surreal and you’re a big leaguer for a week, you know, um, you got a lot of exposure and it’s a lot of fun, you know. I just, you know, it was cool, you know, playing with some of the best players in the world and it was just surreal.
[01:28] Have you kept in touch with the guys after that, or was it just like a one week together and then tit was almost like they didn’t exist?
[01:35] No. Yeah, I keep in touch with some of the guys. Like Danny Wright is a John Michael Boswell. The two guys I saw in the championship round, you know, we kind of keep in touch like instagram, twitter, we like each other’s pictures and know they’ll comment stuff. You know, I texted him back and forth. My friend Danny actually just got drafted by the Tigers at 29th round. I want to say, so he’s with them right now. He’s doing really well. Good player, you know.
[02:01] Yeah. So speaking of the draft, I thought you were going to get drafted this year, honestly. Had an outstanding season at Hofstra and led the team inmost offensive categories. What’d you do in the off season to improve? Because obviously you improved across the board.
[02:16] It wasn’t so much just myself personal stats or a personal life change. It was more of a culture change in the program. You know, we brought in a new coach, coach Matt Wessinger over from St John’s. He started teaching different kinds of swings hand path and like really focused on the hitting, but other than the hitting, he really focused on like having the right mindset and like, you know, being positive thinking and you’ll having the belief you could win every game and that really helped me in, you know, my approach at the plate and as our team going towards the game itself.
[02:50] I mean the crux of the team was pretty much the pitching staff. It was pretty unique that you had arms like John Rooney got drafted in the third round, Teddy Cillis got drafted by the royals. Chris Weiss. Weiss up signing a independent. So three professional pitchers on one staff. Let’s talk about Rooney though. You watched him pretty much every start this career. What did he mean to the program? How about his progression over the last three years
[03:15] It was unbelievable and everyone knew he was going to be the superstar from the second he stepped on campus, you know, he always presented himself that way and you know, he was a leader on the field. Even when he was a freshman, you know, he always competed. He battled out there and you know, every year he worked hard to get himself better. You know, freshman year he didn’t have the numbers. Sophomore year’s numbers were a little better and this year he put up video game numbers and like everyone really envied his work ethic this year and it really shows, you know, when Rooney was on the mound, we always felt like we had an opportunity to win the game and know it was basically we won the game.
[03:52] Yeah. I think he had only one loss. I was going to ask that, you know, that feeling when, when your ace takes the hill on a Friday night, does that give you guys a different level of energy and confidence?
[04:02] Yeah, it was. We started calling it Rooney Day. It was just Fridays. We won and we had a steal a game one other day and it’s either, it was either Matty Weiss or we had a teddy in the middle that we always had the belief we would win a series, whether it be the one seed or the or the twelfth seed in our conference. But you know, we always, we always chalked up Friday night is a win.
[04:21] now you guys got the experience of playing, you know, when weekend series on the road and you know, outside of long island, different places bring different levels of experiences for you, like UNC Wilmington. I traveled with you guys. What was it like being down there? Just that classic college atmosphere, right? College baseball. Was that the sense that you got ?
[04:45] UNC Wilmington.. They’re one of a kind man. They’re a smaller school where they have a big school fan base. Like they always show up. They’re always heckling you, you know, it’s, it’s a lot of fun to play down there now you just got to stay on your game and just clear out your mind when you play in there because they’re going to get on you every little thing.
[05:02] And now you guys made it to the post season this year for the tournament for the first time since 2012 as you guys were getting closer, obviously you knew that the magic number was dwindling. What was that level of excitement like in the clubhouse knowing that this was kind of uncharted territory for a lot of the guys in the program? Especially the seniors?
[05:20] Yeah, it was, it was unbelievable. Like you could just see it in the guy’s like, you know, every time we went out to practice like it was, it was a different, it was different Mojo out there. Like, you know, we know like the past couple years, my freshman and sophomore year, you didn’t have the same attention. Even when we were out in practice, everyone was trying to get better. Everyone was intense people leaving with dripping in sweat. It was just, it was so much fun to be around. The atmosphere was unbelievable. Help to get back to this year too.
[05:46] Now, speaking of this, so you guys are going to have a, you know, a new core of players obviously losing Rooney and Cillis as I mentioned, who are some guys you’re going to be expecting to step up?
[05:57] Austin Gothier, he was a freshman last year. He was our starting shortstop for all 48 games? Whatever we had, you know, he started out well then he struggled a little bit, but everyone struggles their freshman year. I had a rough freshman year, you know, that kid’s a good player. He shows out every day in practice, you know, he’s a work horse. You Got Ssean Rausch coming back from injury. Probably one of the best athletes I’ve ever been around. The kid has a work ethic. Second to none. He’s a great kid to be around. So he’s going to be a lot of fun to play with.
[06:26] Yeah. Coming off an injury, he was one of the big recruits a year before that, so I’m sure he’s going to be expecting big things from himself as well.
[06:34] Oh yeah. Um, we got Vinnie Costello, you know, he’s got some power numbers that we can hopefully look forward to this year. Rob Weissheier, you know, give some pop in the lineup. So, you know, that’s really it.
[06:47] Yeah, you guys are going to be deep. And now on a personal standpoint, obviously, you showed your power, you showed how well-rounded you are as a player. And then in the Cape this year, you hit .375. Tell our audience about that experience because we haven’t had anybody on this show that has played in the Cape and it’s truly, I’m sure a one-in-lifetime experience.
[07:08] Yeah. When you’re in the Cape, you’re a professional for three months. There’s, there’s no doubt about it. Like, you know it’s just you eat, sleep and breathe baseball. That’s all anyone ever cares about. And you’re just, you’re there and there’s always a player better than you. You know, you’re never head-and-shoulders above anyone. Like everyone’s always on your tail. And you know, it’s just unbelievable. Like there were guys coming out of the bullpen throwing 95, throwing 98 and it just doesn’t get easier. You just gotta, you know, stay at it, keep confident and just work with it.
[07:38] Who was your coaching staff that you worked with?
[07:40] We had Scott Pickler who just got inducted into the ABCA hall of fame. Nate Fish. He’s actually gonna be working with the Los Angeles Dodgers this fall we had Roberto Mercado who is a high school baseball coach and then we have Drew Linder, who’s actually the youngest assistant coach to get a job at the University of Pittsburgh.
[08:09] Really? So it’s kind of like a who’s who, everybody is a star in their own right. Now going back to your younger days, who were some athletes that you liked to look up to emulate?
[08:24] I loved watching A-Rod swing. He was a lot of fun to watch, to be like on the field, you know, everyone wants to be like Derek Jeter. Also Ken Griffey Jr. There’s a bunch of them you can name right now.
[08:42] Absolutely. And what are some things that you are looking to improve on for next year? Obviously you already, improved significantly across the board, but I’m sure you know, you’re not content as a ballplayer. What do you feel like you need to work on?
[08:54] Yeah, I got to get more athletic. You know, more agile, you know, work on my catching a little more, solidify my hitting and just, you know, be a leader for the younger guys because we’re going to be pretty young in this year. Just work on my leadership skills and like now I can take that away from like Chris Weiss, Teddy Cillis, those guys were just leaders and you could always look up to them because they were always up there in the big game and they always stepped up.
[09:15] Awesome. Well Vito, thank you very much for your time. Congrats on winning the championship today and best of luck this upcoming season.
[09:22] Thank you so much
[09:23] To our audience, we’re going to take a quick break and we’ll come back. We’re going to have North Babylon Head Coach Steve Corrado on the show.
[09:32] Hello. Welcome back to the podcast. We’re joined here by North Babylon Head Coach Steve Corrado. They had a successful year this year making another postseason appearance and winning 14 games this year. Coach, thanks for coming on the podcast.
[09:46] Oh my pleasure. Thanks for inviting me.
[09:48] Yeah, we go back the last couple of years now. You know, the 2016 team. I remember you guys kind of put yourselves on the map that year. You had an exceptional group of seniors. What do you remember about that group? I know they were a very senior-laden group and you know, you had a couple of guys that are playing in college right now.
[10:05] Yeah, we had a Pat McCabe, Steve Burke and Joe Barbuto, Dylan Towle They’re all still playing in college now. They remind me a lot of my current group going into 2019 that year. We had 13 seniors that year. Next year coming back we have eight starters. And usually when you have teams with that kind of experienced that leads to success.
[10:30] Yeah. Especially when they get playing time as sophomores and juniors. I know you guys had a number of talented sophomores that got playing time and performed and that almost feels like a bonus. Right? Whereas you know, you want to give them playing time but you don’t know exactly how they’re gonna fair. So if they actually go out there and perform well, you feel like you almost got more than you bargained for it. And now you have two more years with them.
[10:53] Yeah. In 2017 we missed the playoffs by two games we lost four one-run games. We were also playing three sophomores and a freshman and we felt really good going into this year. Brian Primm, Nick Burke and Evan Christopher, which was really the core of this team right now. Those guys got invaluable experience as 10th graders in 2017.
[11:18] Now, for our audience that doesn’t know Brian Primm, a kid that’s gotten a lot of attention from Division-II coaches and some Division-I as well. He’s right on that border, and he’s a workhorse on the mound. What makes him so special?
[11:29] Brian has maturity and is just a Bulldog–no pun intended on that deal. But he put it all together in 10th grade and he’s just, you know, he can command the ball on both sides of the plate. He throws, we had him between 85 and 87 this year with the gun and he just, he just never gives in. And he really leads the charge. He’s been batting about .400 his first two years. He was all-county this year and he’s only getting better. And he did not make one error at first base this season either.
[12:06] Bonus that he’s a two-way player. Evan Christopher is a kid I watched throw about a month ago at Tech. Really impressed me. Even though the velocity is not overwhelming, he’s got a heavy ball it seems like. And that’s something that you know, just kinda is conducive to success at this level.
[12:20] Evan’s not a thrower. He’s a pitcher. He mixes up three pitches. He throws off speed for strikes and especially at this level that’ll help you win games. Haven’t actually had an anomaly this year during the playoffs he won back-to-back playoff games because he came in and relief on a game that was suspended. He threw less than 20 pitches we brought him back the next day and he pitched a gem against Hills West on the next day to get us to the next round.
[12:48] Now, one of the special days I remember the season was when I watched you guys played at the Moriches Complex, you had that walk off and it was a rare instance because all the games the day before got rained out. So everybody was playing on one field at one time. What do you remember from that day and what was that atmosphere like in the dugout? You know, you guys came back in the last ending and won walk-off style victory.
[13:09] You’ve given me chills! For me it was special as my first playoff went as a head coach, I’m walking up to the complex. We were the second set of game, so there were four games going on before us, there was four games going on when we’re playing, if you’re a high school baseball fan, this was a perfect setting to get a lot to watch, a lot of good baseball was going on. We had a lead early in that game we let slip away and one thing we learned that day and that week in the playoffs is that League 4 this year has some real good pitchers and we felt like after seeing some of the pitchers we saw in the playoff rounds that we came out of a really tough league and I think our kids recognize that and we just had a feeling that we were going to come back in that game. And we got fortunate, we got a couple of seeing eye hits. And then Zach Kolano had a big sac fly to help us walk it off and we got lucky enough to move on.
[14:01] Now one of the things that I remember most about this year was a charity game you did for Sargeant Tuozzolo. We covered that game. And that’s something that obviously you don’t have to do, but I’m sure it’s something that you guys take great pride in. What is it about the community that seems to rally behind a family tragedy like that?
[14:21] We’ll call it a charity scrimmage so I don’t get in trouble because that was actually a scrimmage, but North Babylon is a tremendous community, about six or seven years ago, we had a player, his dad was killed by a drunk driver and the community rallied around it and we raised money for mothers against drunk driving. Officer Tuozzolo’s wife was North Babylon alumni and when I approached the kids about doing something, they just put their heads down and went to work. And we had great support from our, from our parents, from our staff and building. And it just shows to me, North Babylon’s one of the hidden gems on long island. The people in that community, they’re amazing. They’re supportive. And it just, that whole thing just signifies ‘once a Bulldog, always a Bulldog to kind of steal from the football team.
[15:08] Absolutely. and now going back to the baseball side of things League 4, you mentioned incredible amount of pitching–West Islip again with the suffolk county championship. I mean, I don’t know what else there is to say about them, but what is it about league four maybe that our audience might not know about some of those teams, some of the talented players?
[15:28] So League 4, everyone knows about West Islip. It’s well chronicled, their powerhouse. They don’t restock, they just reload and they move on this year. That lineup was deadly one through nine. And just when you think, you know, maybe they might not have the pitching out comes a kid named Bobby DiCapua who leads their staff down the stretch and they are going to be good every year except you know that going in. Newfield had three division one arms on that staff. The irony of that series is the game we won we only had one hit and struck out 18 times, but we just happen to score, run and Primm made it hold up for us. What people don’t know is that Centereach is a dangerous team, you know, they kind of put it together late and I think they kind of dug themselves in a hole, but they had a real talented junior class. The Schnitzer pitcher was fantastic. One of the better pitchers in the league that we saw and you know Luke Idly from huntington, you’re look at a team like Huntington they only had a couple of wins, but Idly beat west islip ’17. He beat us last year. He had Parra get drafted out of that league. You had teams that didn’t make the playoffs with some high-level arms and arms that on better teams would’ve got a lot more recognition.
[16:41] Absolutely. Now you stole my question that I was going to mention. Franklin Parra You guys faced him and I know the pitch count was an issue, but what did you see from him from the outsider’s perspective?
[16:50] We saw two different Franklin Parra’s. The first game we played, it just wasn’t fair. It’s not fun to be on the mound in 39 degree weather
[17:00] Especially for him who hasn’t played in the cold.
[17:02] Our kids were able to foul off some pitches, work some walks and make some things happen. We had a couple of hits and and the coach wisely pulled him out in a certain count. You don’t want to risk him. The second time when we faced him, I saw why the kid was drafted. We couldn’t touch him. We were actually down 1-0 when they took him out after five, you know, again, credit to our guys that worked, the counts they got his pitch count up and when they pulled them out we were able to score some runs off the bullpen, but you can see the second time around when he had that slider working and he just was a different level of kid that we saw all year.
[17:35] Absolutely. As long as I’ve been doing this probably the most advanced arm. You don’t get too many lefties in the low nineties with command. I mean, he kind of just put it all together there, but on a personal standpoint for our audience who might not know, tell us about your path to becoming the head coach at North Babylon.
[17:51] I’m an alumni of North Babylon. I didn’t grow up there, but I moved there in high school. I went on, I played suffolk soccer and baseball. I went on to Albany and they made me choose a sport. I chose soccer because they don’t throw curve balls. I was lucky enough to come back after a couple of years in Albany and I got a job at North Babylon and the freshman job opened up. I jumped on it and I’ve just kind of worked my way up the ladder. I was the assistant coach there for seven years. So I know all the players (from ’09 championship team). We knew they were talented. Again, another team that was very senior laden, which you know, next year is a 10 year anniversary of that team and you know, we’re getting a new field that we’re really excited about.
[18:34] Don’t remind me that means 10 years for me.
[18:37] We’re hoping to do something special for them at some point next year. I coached a year with Coach Molinaro at Suffolk West and then I was in Babylon for a year doing their jv and then I came back. An opportunity came up. I came back and did the jv for a year. Coach Mango retired and I was fortunate enough to get the job and I’ve been there since.
[18:59] So you’re a baseball junkie– I always see at games, at camps. What did you do this summer to stay involved with the game?
[19:06] North Babylon closed down. We usually run our own camps. I took a job at the New York Baseball Academy at Hofstra. What a great experience. What a bunch of great coaches. What a well run academy You can see why they’d been in business 43 years and they get 200 kids a week. It’s one of the best operations you’ll ever see. As you know. I saw you down there and you worked there in the past and for me, I love being around the game. I love teaching and I just love learning from other cultures as well as I’m coaching the kids. I’m learning by listening to you guys. You know, my whole thing is if I can learn one thing and keep moving on, I’ll make me a better coach in my program.
[19:44] Now, I think what makes that camp so awesome is, you know, you’re getting kids at such a young age and there’s structure involved. It’s not like it’s just babysitting and I think that’s probably why, you know, people that go there tend to probably go on to play at the high levels.
[19:57] Well, if you look at the name, it’s called a baseball academy. I don’t really think it’s a camp I really think is a place where you’re looking to develop young kids as baseball players and I saw it firsthand the summer. I’ve watched kids grow throughout the summer. I’ve been there five of six weeks and I can see the difference in kids that started the beginning of the summer up until now and like anything as a teacher and an educator you just love to see growth in someone in such a short amount of time and there are some fabulous, amazing guys that work in that camp. There really are. And that’s what makes it what it is.
[20:31] Absolutely, Coach. So we’ll leave our audience with this. What do you guys expect from the 2019 season? What are your hopes?
[20:38] I’m looking to get started tonight. We’re really excited. We have eight guys coming back. Eight starters coming back. We had 157 innings pitched last year, we have 142 of those are coming back on the mound. You know, I’ve already mentioned Primm and Burke and Evan Christopher. But I have a 10th grader, going to be a junior who has an era under 1.00 as a relief pitcher excited about him and um, and we’ll, we’ll be looking to compete. We’ll look into trying to unseat the guys at the top of the league. Our kids are hungry and they’re ready to prove that you know, that the two playoff wins meant a lot to our program. We wanted to give them a taste when they won those two games. You can see a big difference. Big difference on the play on the practice field and our guys are already adopting next year.
[21:28] Well, you got me ready to go right now. Unfortunately we have to wait a few more months for that, but coach, thank you very much for your time. I really appreciate it. Best of luck this year.
[21:36] It’s been my pleasure. Thank you for having me. My pleasure and to our audience. Thank you for tuning in and thank you to the Turning Point for hosting us once again. Tune in next week for another edition of Axcess Baseball Weekly.
