by Brian Honka
Dylan Banner (Plainview JFK 2022) captured the Axcess Man of the Year last night at our Awards Banquet ! @POBHAWKSbasebll @LITitanbaseball pic.twitter.com/OLKpqZqKB9
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) November 6, 2022
Plainview JFK had a regular season to remember as they won Nassau AA-2 with a 14-1 record – cruising through their competition. In the postseason, however, they lost in the semifinals to a talented Farmingdale team.
The team will be looking to replace Dylan Banner, now playing at Albany, who was a Diamond Award winner, and Axcess Man of the Year. He had a .475 AVG, 7 HR, and 34 RBI at the plate while also being dominant on the mound posting a 7-0 record with a 0.73 ERA striking out 101 batters while only walking 6 over 47.2 innings pitched.
The team will also miss pitcher Tyler Ciulla, who was 5-1 on the mound with 41 strikeouts over 33 innings. Another pitcher the team will miss is Jake Goldfarb, who also had a 5-1 record with 41 strikeouts over 30 innings.
SS Josh Indek (Brockport) had a .433 AVG, a 1.034 OPS, 29 Hits, 19 RBIs, and 31 runs is another player that graduated that the team will miss.
This year’s team will need their pitchers to step up as they graduated all 3 starters from last year. Nathan Sica (Drew), Sebastian Lippman (Georgia Tech), Mike D’Ambrosio and Matthew Hernandez were on the team and got some innings last year and will be asked to step up and fill those innings. Lippman is among the top pitchers in the 2024 class in the country (Perfect Game). D’Ambrosio has a shot to be the No. 1 pitcher.
Sebastian Lippman (‘24, NY) throwing some 🔥🔥 out of the ‘pen. Showing off the heater as he grabbed a 95. Heavy FB dosage in this outing sitting in the low-90s. Explosive down the slope w/ serious arm speed #WreckHavoc commit #NESelectChamp @PG_Scouting @PerfectGameUSA pic.twitter.com/yp3kUpI7nS
— PG Mid Atlantic (NY, NJ, PA, MD) (@PGMidAtlantic) August 13, 2022
Liam Shwom, All-County 2nd baseman had a .456 AVG, 26 Hits, with 14 RBIs last year, and will be a player that the team will look up to as a leader this year. Another player that is becoming a team leader is catcher Andrew Lenski (Iona) who had 25 hits and 21 RBIs last year will be a run producer in the middle of the lineup. Lippman can certainly handle the bat as well. D’Ambrosio is an exciting player as well who possesses some big time power at the plate.
Other players that Coach Givargidze mentioned as potential impact players were Peter Bounougias, Anthony Powers, and Tommy DiLeo.
The Hawks will open up on April 3 against Freeport in a crossover game.
