For the first time since 2015, Division captures the Nassau County Class A Championship! They sweep Calhoun and they will face West Babylon in the Long Island Championship next Saturday!
Division improves to 27-1 on the season and Matt Marino fired a CG with 7 Ks pic.twitter.com/CGkUbiN9Z4
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 29, 2023
Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s season preview series.
Week after week, Division took care of business. They nearly ran the table and completed a perfect season until they were finally defeated in the playoffs by Bethpage. When the two teams matched up again, Division promptly took care of them and kept rolling all the way to a Nassau County Class A Championship over fellow powerhouse, Calhoun.
Division was ultimately upset in the Class A Long Island Championship against West Babylon at Farmingdale State College. Nevertheless, they finished with an incredible record of 27-2 and captured their first County Championship since 2015. It’s been a remarkable run of consistency as they have reached the semifinals or better in each of the last 10 years. They won in 2014, 2015 and 2023 while reaching the finals in 2018 and 2019 so that’s 5 finals appearances in 10 seasons against the best competition in Nassau.
“We have a great culture in our program,” said longtime head coach Tom Tuttle. “We had a tremendous year where we dominated the league and we were 3 outs away from states. I think it left a bitter taste in our mouths, but sometimes you have to be in the big environment to know what it takes to win,” he added.
Division had the Diamond Award winner, James Sill, who graduated and is now at SUNY Old Westbury. Sill had the offensive numbers to be worthy of either Diamond Award, but ultimately he won the pitching award and he was also the recipient of Axcess Baseball’s Cy Young Award. He went 9-1 with a 0.60 ERA over 58 innings in which he struck out 56 batters and allowed just 29 hits. At the plate, he batted .476 with a .596 OBP, 1.000 SLG, 8 HRs and 40 RBIs.
Division now has 12 Diamond Award winners – which is the most in the county
James Sill (left), Coach Tom Tuttle and Joe Yovino (right). Yovino named top catcher in the county back-to-back years pic.twitter.com/Wv3tyURdiF
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 17, 2023
They also graduated the 2022 Diamond Award winner, Joseph Yovino, a catcher who is now at Elon University. Yovino had a terrific high school career, he batted .398 last season with 4 HRs, 9 doubles, 3 triples, 34 RBIs, 39 runs scored, .688 SLG. Those two combined for a lethal middle of the order and they will be missed. It doesn’t hurt that he was among the top defensive catchers on Long Island as well.
“Joe was a great teammate and a very coachable kid,” said Tuttle. “He had a great skillset and that’s why the scouts were on him. He has really good attributes that will help him in college and he has good enough disposition to handle adversity.”
Incredibly, it’s not even the first time that Division has had back-to-back Diamond Award winners – they also held that distinction in 2014 (Mark Martinez) and 2015 (Anthony Papa). They have 12 winners total, which is the most of any school.
Binghamton-commit Matt Bolton (Division 2024) pic.twitter.com/ygg1DOGbXc
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 1, 2023
As is always the case with the Blue Dragons, it’s next man up. They return two-time All-County winner and reigning League MVP Matt Bolton. The CF is committed to Binghamton University and he’ll be on some draft boards. He batted .404 with a .526 OBP, .809 SLG, crushed 7 HRS, 9 doubles, 3 triples, drove in 38 runs and scored 41 runs. He struck out just 7 times while drawing 18 walks. He stole 21 bases in 23 attempts.
They also return junior Isaiah Marino who was All-County as a sophomore. He will play SS once again. He batted .418 with a .473 OBP, .544 SLG, 22 RBIs and scored 31 runs.
His brother, Matt Marino, is a senior and he was arguably just as dominant as Sill on the mound. Marino was on the mound when they clinched the championship, as he threw a 3-hitter against Calhoun. He went an unblemished 10-0 with a 0.95 ERA over 58.2 IP. He allowed just 32 hits while striking out 82. He is committed to SUNY Old Westbury.
RHP Matt Marino (Division 2024) commits to SUNY Old Westbury. He had a tremendous season for the Nassau Class A Champs – going 10-0 with a 0.95 ERA over 58.2 IP pic.twitter.com/7h2XP9CEos
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 19, 2023
Atop the rotation with Marino is RHP Christian Varela, younger brother of former pro pitcher James Varela. Christian is committed to St. Thomas Aquinas. He went 6-1 with a 1.00 ERA over 42 IP. Varela was the winning pitcher against Garden City to advance them to the finals.
When you look at the production their offense, it’s no wonder they averaged 13.5 runs per game. What made them so dominant, is that they also less than one run per game (0.95 ERA).
They also return All-Conference 3B KK Delacruz who batted .296 with a .495 OBP (16 BBs and 6 HBPs). He scored 28 runs and drove in 18 runs. In LF they have All-League senior Cody Brush, who made the all-out diving catch in LF in the LIC to save two runs. Behind the dish, they have All-League catcher Caiden Seigel, who will fill in the big shoes of Yovino.
Wow ! Cody Brush saves 2 runs with a full-extension diving play to end the top of the sixth – Division 2, West Babylon 1 pic.twitter.com/4fBFYYy4cJ
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 3, 2023
“The catching staff feels really confident that he can step in for Yovino. He’s really good defensively, and we don’t feel like we are sacrificing anything defensively with him.”
Coach mentioned three seniors that they are counting on to step up – OF Demetrios Zirogiannis, 2B/RHP Tyler Diez and RHP/DH/1B Mike Roy.
“We expect a big year out of Tyler, he did a lot of good things as a junior. He made big plays in big spots.” In regards to Zirogiannis and Roy, he said “they are two seniors that put in a lot of work to play this year.”
The challenge they will face this season is the new alignment. They are now Nassau County AA-II and they will face Calhoun and Garden City – those are the last 3 Nassau County Champions.
“This year’s league is ridiculous. You have the last three County Champions. My guess is that someone from our league will be playing in the County Finals – I would be surprised if there’s not. The seedings won’t be accurate this year – there will be a really good team that’s an 11 or 10 seed.”
They will open up on March 26 with a non-league game against Oyster Bay. Their first league game will be on April 8 against Carey – another very strong opponent.
“We know this league will be a lot different than last year. Every day will be like a playoff game. The guys are excited for that. Last year doesn’t mean anything.”
