Matt Minio fires a complete game gem – Massapequa shuts out Plainview JFK 3-0 to capture the Nassau I Championship !
They will face the winner of Commack-Sachem East in the Long Island Championship on Sunday pic.twitter.com/jzh9xlLFC4
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 17, 2021
It’s been mentioned ad nauseum but the cancellation of the 2020 high school season impacted teams in many ways. Obviously, the teams that were loaded with seniors and were hungry for a championship felt the most spurned.
At the very top of that list is Massapequa who had already been riding a stretch of back-to-back-to-back Long Island Championships. Fast forward to today – and while that streak was ended by Commack last June, they did win their fourth consecutive Nassau County title. The reason I bring this up is because the 2021 Massapequa seniors would’ve been on that team as juniors. When you add that into the 2020 group which included Wade Kelly (Coastal Carolina), Travis Honeyman (Boston College) and Johnny Castagnozzi (North Carolina) – all high-end Division-I players – you get the potential for an undefeated season (which the Chiefs accomplished in 2006 as well).
In speaking with Massapequa’s legendary coach Tom Sheedy, this much is clear – he was just as excited to watch that team as anybody.
“It COULD have been our best team ever. And that’s saying something,” said Sheedy. “I was prepared to just sit back and watch. My 1-2-3 hitters would’ve been going to Coastal Carolina, Boston College and North Carolina.”
Sheedy noted that he likes to keep in touch with his past players, especially the recent graduates that go onto play college. That is no easy task. There are currently 30 active college players that are Massapequa graduates. Read that again. That is active players since 2017 – which was Chris Wasson (LIU) and Adam Mosca (Maritime).
He also mentioned that during the tryouts in 2020, one player really stood out. He wound up playing a pretty significant role last season.
“I said to myself, Vinny Mallon, look at this kid. I just gotta find a spot for him,” he said. Mallon wound up exploding onto the scene in 2021 capturing the Axcess Silver Slugger Award, batting .600 with 11 HRs, 34 RBIs and a ridiculous 1.895 OPS. Mallon is now at UNC-Pembroke.
Massapequa 10, Farmingdale 2
WP: Liam CarrollHRs: Vin Mallon (eighth of season – in video), Bobby Stang (5th), Jordan DeStefano pic.twitter.com/b7Uc4kQrs4
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 31, 2021
They had a number of other standpoint performers, such as LHP Liam Carroll (New Haven), RHP Matt Minio (New Haven) and catcher Bobby Stang (now at P27 Academy).
When asked which players won postseason accolades such as All-Conference, All-County, etc, Sheedy said:
“We’re not big on awards or stats. Obviously, they have talent but we try to get them to buy into team. If you can do that, they are that much more successful and it helps the team. That’s the benefit of going to Florida for 5-7 days. Kids root for each other, they develop a bond and it’s such a powerful thing.”
Sheedy noted that this year’s trip will be only 3 days from March 26-28 due to the late timing of Easter.
Stang in particular earned some praise from Sheedy. He said that he has “pro size, might be a little quicker to second than Nick Schwartz and was consistently in the 1.9 range in games,” he said.
In terms of the current roster, there are plenty of exciting players.
Anchoring the rotation is Hofstra-commit Matt Hannon. The hard-throwing righty sits in the upper 80s but there’s more to him than the velo.
“He’s our ace and he throws three pitches for strikes. He’s not just a kid that rears back a fires. He’s learned how to pitch and not just throw it past people,” he added.
Behind him is where it gets interesting. The Chiefs have standout junior Erik Paulsen Jr. (Stony Brook-commit) who is a legit two-way threat. Sheedy noted, however, that they strongly prefer to not have their position players pitch. So the answer isn’t clear yet, but he said:
“Not sure if he’ll pitch. He’ll play first base but we don’t like our position players to pitch. Usually we have enough depth where it’s not a problem, I told him we’ll re-assess after tryouts. I didn’t want to even entertain it, but I thought about it. He’s being recruited as a two-way guy. And if he doesn’t pitch, it’ll hurt him. Our #1 priority is to develop. I re-considered it this week and he was thrilled. He’ll probably be one of our top three. Maybe a weekend guy. But the goal is to keep the arm fresh.”
Stony Brook-commit Erik Paulsen Jr (Massapequa 2023) up to 88 today. Also 16 inches horizontal movement on 2 seamer pic.twitter.com/Qgj0MOiPTG
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) February 1, 2022
They have a number of other pitchers, he mentioned three specifically that have impressed; Ryan Annunziato, Tim Dorman and Michael Vilardi. In the case of Vilardi, he is also a two-way player that they’ll have to decide on. He said, “he’s very talented – will probably start in the outfield. I don’t want to see him do both, but he’s raised our eyebrows throwing 88. I love him in the outfield. He’s the most humble kid you’ll ever know. I told him he’s going to be an absolute star and that he could’ve started for us last year. But he’s the type of the kid that’s just worried about making the team.”
Two other players coach mentioned as talented players are OF Carter DeSousa – who had a walk-off in the playoffs last season and is “penciled into the outfield” and catcher Paul DuLanto, who is a sophomore that spent the past year getting tutored by Stang and getting time on the freshman team. Coach stated that he’s already on the radar for local Div-I teams and “he’s a physical kid, he’s got the mental, the psychological, he’s got it all,” and his father helped the Massapequa football team win the championship in 1998 so he’s got the genes.
Massapequa will open up against Port Washington – who they defeated in the 2019 Class AA Finals – on April 11.
