Author: Vinny Messana
Division Will Be Counting Heavily on Last Year’s JV Team to Protect the Nassau ‘Class A’ Crown
After defeating Bayport-Blue Point in the Class A Long Island Championship last season, the Blue Dragons of Division HS will enter the 2016 season with the target on their backs again. Under Head Coach Tom Tuttle, who is now in his ninth year, the program has won four County Championships and two Long Island Championships. They are clearly one of the perennial powerhouses on the island. This seaso...
Battle of the Border Roster for Nassau is Set
With Deilyn Guzman‘s commitment today, that finalizes the Nassau County roster for the Battle of the Border. Mike Gaffney will be the Head Coach and he will be assisted by Lou Bernardi. Suffolk is just missing a second catcher and a shortstop. Here’s how the roster will look for Nassau County… Pitchers Joey Arena, LIU Post Rd-Sr. Vinny Caputo, Old Westbury Rd–Sr. Jeremy Cha...
What’s On Tap For This Week
by BOTI Staff This week the high schools will kick off their scrimages and non-league games. Additionally, here’s what’s on tap for the week of March 21, assuming the snow melts and the games can be played… Division-I: Stony Brook will travel to Sacred Heart tomorrrow to play at 3pm. They will travel to Omaha, Nebraska this weekend to play Creighton in a three game series at the ...
March 19 Recap
By Nakeem Grant Division-I: Stony Brook had their DH at UMBC cancelled due to inclement weather. They will be back in action on Tuesday at Sacred Heart. Hofstra lost the middle game of their series at Ohio State by the score of 4-2.They held a 2-1 lead entering the bottom of the eighth inning, but the Buckeyes put up a three-spot off John Rooney. Chris Weiss threw seven terrific innings, allowing ...
Sayville Looks to Keep Postseason Streak Alive
by David Moskowitz Sayville looks to improve upon their 2015 record of 11-9 and continue their playoff streak– they’ve qualified for a postseason berth in 12 consecutive seasons. This will mark the 14th season as head coach for Ryan Cox. In addition to the steady leadership from Cox, Sayville has added Pete Blumenauer to its coaching staff. Pete’s coaching experience includes serv...
March 19 Preview
Today is a crazy busy day for Long Island teams with 10 of the 12 local teams in action. Yesterday was not a very good day for the local teams. Only St. Joseph’s was victorious, and that was an impressive 8-5 win over the Washington Nationals’ Dominican Summer League team. Here’s the game times: Division-I: Stony Brook will take on UMBC in a DH beginning at 12. Hofstra will take ...
Ray Ligouri K’s 10, Outduels Jeremy Charles 5-1
The Old Westbury Panthers felt good about their chances heading into their home opener today against NJ City with their ace Jeremy Charles on the hill. Unfortunately, the Gothic Knights scratched across a run in the sixth and seventh inning against him and that was all their freshman Ray Ligouri needed to record the 6-1 victory– his first collegiate win. The NJ native fired a complete game, ...
Jagiello, Andreoli Lead Pioneers to 6-1 Win over Bloomfield
by Vinny Messana After a couple less-than-stellar outings, Dan Jagiello appears to have righted the ship. The hard-throwing RHP for LIU Post–who has generated a great deal of buzz due to his sizzling fastball–threw seven stellar innings to defeat Bloomfield 6-1. He did so throwing primarily fastballs, which accounted for seven of his nine strikeouts. “I feel like I didn’t r...
In-Season Pitcher’s Recovery Program
The RECOVERY SERIES is an essential component to training and follows proven protocols that facilitate recovery. Maximal progress in any training program is jeopardized without adequate recovery. This program returns balance to the fatigued body and enhances the athlete’s response to the training stimulus. Movements in these sessions focus on muscular tension release techniques utilizing foam roll...
Farmingdale Defeats Kean for First Win of Season
by Vinny Messana It hasn’t been a great start to the season for the rebuilding Farmingdale State Rams, but tonight was a landmark win and potential building block for the team. They defeated Kean University, 10-5, to end their six-game losing streak to the season. It also ended their five-game losing streak to the Cougars which dates back to 2011, when I was a member of the Rams. They scored...
LIU Post Drops Home Opener 7-2 to AIC
by Vinny Messana It was not the type of home opener that the LIU Post Pioneers had in mind. With the reigning ECC Pitcher of the Week, Jake DeCarli, on the hill, the Pioneers were defeated 7-2 by American International College. DeCarli struggled out of the gate, allowing two first inning runs and another in the third and fourth innings. He went 4.0 IP, allowed seven hits, four runs (three ER) with...
Facing a Scary Diagnosis, Brennan Strovink Re-Invents Himself
(Photo Credit: Marison Topinio) by Vinny Messana If there’s an adjective to properly describe the level of commitment that Brennan Strovink has towards the game of baseball, I haven’t heard it yet. It would’ve been understandable if he would’ve walked away from the game of baseball after fracturing the L5 Vertebrae in his spine–for the first time–prior to his se...
