Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s series
by Vin Messana
St. Anthony’s is your 2024 Catholic League Champion! It is their first title since 2000
pic.twitter.com/uW9Vmfbksp
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 27, 2024
When Paul Parsolano took over as head coach at St. Anthony’s, they were in the midst of a championship drought that dated back to 2000. After a few years of knocking on the door, including an appearance in the finals in 2019 against Chaminade, they were finally able to take that next step and break through in 2024.
They did so in dramatic fashion, winning a thrilling, 4-3, in 9 innings against Holy Trinity – who were the reigning NYS Catholic League Champs.
The Friars were sluggish getting out of the gate, starting with a record of 2-5, before catching fire leading up to the postseason to earn the No. 3 seed. They defeated Kellenberg, before losing to Holy Trinity which put them on the verge of elimination. They were able to stay alive, defeating St. Dominic to punch their ticket to the finals where they won both games of the best-of-three championship series.
“The program is where I envisioned it,” said Paul Parsolano. “One of the blessings of coaching at St. Anthony’s is the amount of talent that rolls through here. This group in particular is very solid. We have legitimate players all over the diamond and on the mound. The part that we need to learn, is how to consistently be that player and always be on. Motor has to run from first inning to last inning. Last year’s group found their identity after a slow start. This year’s guys, we shall see.”
From last year’s team, they graduated two starters – Brendan Howard and Kevin Baez Jr (Thomas Jefferson). Both played key role’s in their title winning season. Baez went 6-0 on the mound with a 1.61 ERA.
The program has come a long way over the last few years – they not only have talent up-and-down the roster, but they’ve meshed well. As Parsolano said, they also have the benefit of a large talent pool – as 110 kids showed up to tryouts between the three teams in the program.
In addition to the varsity team capturing the title, the JV team did as well.
“Every player on this team has won a championship either on JV or varsity,” said Parsolano. “They get along well, they are relaxed, they play and they don’t complain.” He believes that has engrained a winning mindset into the culture, and it starts with the captains.
Their four captains are CJ Alfano, Luke Coats, Anthony Carlo and Phil Mazzola.
Alfano, who was named Most Valuable Player of the playoffs is committed to West Virginia. He is already arguably the top player in the talent-laden league. In Game 1 of the finals, he doubled twice, homered, scored two runs and drove in four runs.
There he goes again
CJ Alfano (St. Anthony’s 2026) crushes his second home run of the weekend pic.twitter.com/3mI2S8sRMl
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) September 29, 2024
“He’s made that jump from being a talented sophomore. He kind of understands what his talent is and the game has slowed down for him. He can perform at a high level while also leading. He understands that his last name means something now.” Alfano, who is also a hard-throwing southpaw pitcher, will strictly play first base and hit in the middle of the order.
Coats, who is also a junior committed to West Virginia, is a 6’3 power arm that has already proved his mettle, winning the crucial elimination game to advance the Friars into the finals. For the season, he went 5-2 over 8 games started. He pitched 42.1 innings, allowed 30 hits and struck out 54 with a 3.14 ERA.
West Virginia-commit Luke Coats (St. Anthony’s 2026) with a nasty breaking ball to end the first inning pic.twitter.com/c3i1u7MEd6
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) September 29, 2024
“I keep using the DeCaro model when talking about Coats. Luke came up as a freshman but didn’t pitch much. Talent wise, he’s eerily similar to where Jason was as a junior. They were both in the low 90s, his breaking ball is rounding into shape. He should DH for us like Jason did. I was going to wait until his senior year to do that but he’s showed us he can handle both.” Coats will anchor the rotation for St. Anthony’s and be joined by Union College-commit Lucas Miller, who missed last year’s regular season with an injury and made his return in the finals, pitching extremely well.
“He’s been dominant every time we’ve seen him so far in workouts,” said Parsolano.
Carlo, who is committed to SUNY Cortland, drew extremely high praise from Parsolano.
Congratulations to St. Anthony’s junior Anthony Carlo who is the recipient of the Axcess Baseball x BK7 Brand Player of the Week. Over 5 games, he went 11-for-16 (.688) with 2 doubles, 2 triples, 1 HR, 7 RBIs and 3-for-3 on stolen base attempts.
Previous winners
Week 1: Matt… pic.twitter.com/M8lvQ4Jm1E
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 21, 2024
“He’s basically the perfect high school player. He’s fast, he’s an excellent defender, he can hit and hit for power. His only flaw was injuries but he’s over that – knock on wood. Last year, he started the year as our courtesy runner. He never complained. We gave a senior a chance over him, we threw him out there and put him in left. He started hitting and moved to center and never stopped hitting. He did whatever his job was, as you gave him more responsibility he turned into that guy. It’s very impressive to go from courtesy runner to the Team’s Offensive Player of the Year.”
Carlo’s numbers during the regular season were downright ridiculous.
- AVG: .529
- OBP: .628
- SLG: .971
- OPS: 1.598
- Hits: 18
- Doubles: 5
- Triples: 2
- HRs: 2
- RBIs: 15
- BB: 7
- Ks: 6
His average ranked second behind Kenny Noe of Kellenberg, who finished at .532. Noe also edged him in regular season homers, 3-2. His 18 hits in the regular season ranked 8 behind Matt Cruz of St. Dominic. His .971 slugging percentage was by far the tops in the league.
Mazzola will handle the pitching staff. He is one of five catchers on the roster. He’s a fourth-year varsity player. When he was a freshman, he was their DH and has been the regular for the past two years. They’ll count on him to be the primary catcher and drive in runs. He batted .329 last season with a strong .925 OPS, compiled 28 hits, five doubles, 1 triple, 2 HRs, 19 RBIs, and walked (14) more times than he struck out (11).
At SS, they have Stony Brook-commit Jacob Vaccariello and Catholic-commit Christian Mugno. Both are slick fielding infielders. Vaccariello can also run it up to 91 MPH on the mound, so Mugno will man the position when he’s pitching.
Another impact senior for them is OF/LHP Alex Bono. Coach noted that he led the team in triples (5) and he compiled a .787 OPS. He will be a key piece in their lineup and a reliever. He’s been up to 85 MPH this winter.
Top 6: Alex Bono comes through with a clutch, 2-out RBI single to tie the game at 2-2. Holy Trinity calls on Tyler Cook to put out the fire pic.twitter.com/wZTtClrC8u
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 27, 2024
2B Adrian Tavarez batted .275 with an .801 OPS. He provides steady defense and that was evident in their playoff game against Kellenberg when he made a leaping catch to win the game.
Mikey Carr is a versatile player that will see plenty of time as well. Brady DiMitrio is committed to St. Joseph’s LI and is another senior position player. He can catch and play the outfield.
The Friars will play a challenging non-league schedule with matchups against Poly Prep, Kennedy Catholic and Commack. They will also play their annual fundraiser non-league game against Plainview JFK in honor of the late Corey Phelan. This year, they will also play a scrimmage against West Babylon in honor of the deceased students from the tragic car crash last September. One of the passengers in the vehicle, Anthony Pagliuca, suffered severe life-threatening injuries. Not only was he able to survive, but he’s made a full recovery and pitched a scoreless inning during an inter squad game. He is expected to get the start in that game.
St. Anthony’s not only was able to get the proverbial monkey off their back in 2024, but they have a very talented freshman crop. Parsolano even noted that the freshman class is on par with the current senior class in terms of pure talent at that age.
It should be an exciting few years for the Friars who enter 2025 with the target on their backs and a roster full of players with championship experience.
