Final: Center Moriches 3, John Glenn 0
WP: Jordan Falco (CG, 2 H, 3 BB, 11 K)Playoff picture still to be determined depending on result of Babylon game pic.twitter.com/12hqVIP4cC
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 11, 2021
When a small-school team has a talented class of players, it’s always important to make the most of it and try to get a league title or, hopefully, a county championship. In the case of Center Moriches, they certainly maximized their window of success, and squeezed a little extra out of it too.
The 2018-’19 Red Devils won back-to-back NYS Class B Championships including an undefeated 26-0 record in ’19. From that group, here are where the players wound up:
Alec Maag: Adelphi
Jordan Falco: Adelphi
Matt Alifano: Adelphi (reigning Axcess Player of the Year)
Andy Auffant: Franklin Pierce
David Falco: Maryland
Brad Sakellarides: Queens
Liam Pulsipher: Queens
Rob Copozzi: Marist
David Franchi: Molloy
Leyton Pulsipher: Central Connecticut-commit
So while you can make the case they faced inferior competition, I would make the case that they were the best team on Long Island from the 2010s.
Of that group, they only have one current player on the roster, and they only had one in 2021. Essentially, they had an excellent group of players and they didn’t miss their chance to leave their mark.
Coach Paul Gibson, who took over for Dennis Donovan in 2020 but the season was cancelled – knew that last year wouldn’t be the same.
“We operated differently last year than I’ve would’ve in the past,” said Gibson. “We had such a mish mosh of ages that we had to spend a lot of time working on the basics,” he added. They entered the season with a long winning streak and they were able to win their first few games capitalizing on the soft-spot of their schedule but ultimately it was ended at 32 games against Babylon.
After that, they hit the skids for a bit. Despite the struggles, they qualified for a postseason berth thanks to a three-way tie with Babylon and John Glenn. They clinched the berth on a CG shutout by their ace, Jordan Falco.
“He was instrumental piece to last year’s team specifically. He was the only voice that was around for his brother’s group of ’18 and ’19. Jordan was really good with the younger guys. He was patient – even when he was pitching and there was 8th and 9th graders making errors behind him. He would teach them about the speed of the game and what it took to play at that level,” he added. Falco wound up finishing with an ERA of 2.48 and a team-high 45 strikeouts. He is now at Adelphi University.
Incredibly, Falco was the only senior on the team, and they only had a few juniors. One of them – Leyton Pulsipher – missed the season due to a football injury he sustained. He has been playing since the summer and is back to full strength. Leyton was a starter on the undefeated team as a freshman and is now the lone player remaining from that squad.
“He’s definitely stepped into a leadership role,” said Gibson. “He grew up in a baseball house and has a good understanding of the game. He’s not the most vocal, but he’s stepped up when we’ve needed him to,” he added. Pulsipher will be crucial for them – as he will start at SS and pitch on the third game of each series.
They also return a pair of seniors; Plattsburgh-commit Louie Iannachino and Dominican-commit Jack Rupe.
Iannachino crushed the go-ahead HR to clinch their playoff spot in the aforementioned game. He led the team with 4 HRs and 25 RBIs. He will be counted on to provide punch in the middle of the order again. Additionally, he pitched 8 innings with 3.50 ERA and will pitch more this year. Rupe led the team in hitting at .371, compiled a terrific .451 OBP and .951 OPS. His bat will be huge for them as well. He was second on the team in IP (22.1), ERA (3.13) and led the team in wins (3).
Riley Morris is a junior that will pitch and play second base for them – he drove in 12 runs and pitched 16.1 innings.
Gibson noted that while he is a traditionalist when it comes to setting roles for his pitching staff, this year is different in the sense that “we have about 10 or 11 guys that can throw. Leyton will start the third game of each series that’s the only thing that’s set. We’ll probably Johnny Wholestaff it a lot and move it around.”
In addition to their older players, they also started two eighth graders every game last season which is incredible for any varsity team let alone the back-to-back reigning state champs. Those players are catcher Brayden Hromada and infielder Joey Hiller – who did an admirable job filling in for the injured Pulsipher as a 13-year-old.
Gibson is really excited about Hromada who is only a freshman and already 6’2 215 lbs and started on varsity as the QB this past season. He said that he will likely hit cleanup and he has “Rob Copozzi type of power” which is high praise.
Gibson noted that the team learned a lot last year – and they played in some tournaments in the fall to further develop as a team. He noted that there’s only roughly two dozen players in the program between JV and varsity but that they are all at every off-season workout and they are as committed as can be.
“These kids have really come together despite their disparity in age which is nice to see.”
They will compete in one of the only split leagues -which means some schools are Class B while others are Class A. This can present a challenge as they will face Babylon, Southampton, John Glenn, Matittuck, Bayport-Blue Point and Shoreham-Wading River.
They will play in a TOB Preseason Tournament before facing Hills West in a non-league game on March 29. Their first league game is April 4 against Babylon at home – a rematch of their playoff game.
