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Last week we debuted our Power Rankings for college programs on the island. This week will be our second edition. There is a bit of a shake up as the number dwindles close to one…10. NYIT: The Bears actually have been playing well lately. Although they went 1-3 this week, that is an improvement on the direction they had been trending. Louis Mele and David Plotkin have been the bright spots for them. 9. Hofstra: The Pride went 2-3 this week and will take on Northeastern this week. They can still crush the ball, especially with a red-hot Steven Foster and Brian MacDonald, but the pitching has just been non-existent for the most part. They have one starter, Adam Seibert, with an ERA under 5.40. In this age of decreased offense, that is hard to believe. With a 3-12 conference record, the...

Photo Credit: Farmingdale Athleitcs Every year there is usually one player that has an absurd season–something in the neighborhood of a .415 AVG with 30 runs scored–and runs away with the Player of the Year honors. Photo Credit: St. Joseph’s Athletics This season, there are actually a handful of players that fit that bill. It’s going to be nearly impossible to decide who deserves the awards.Here’s a rundown of the top candidates in alphabetical order and their key stats…Nick Girardi, St. Josephs: .418 AVG, (38-for-91), 18 R, 17 RBI, 7 BB, 5 K, .470 OBP, .549 SLG (1-1 W-L, 2 SVMike Marino, Farmingdale: .508 AVG (39-for-77), 23 R, 1 HR, 19 RBI, 13 BB, 15 K, 20-22 SB, .576 OBP, .688 SLG Photo Credit: Old Westbury Athletics Brendan Sullivan, St. Joseph’...

Farmingdale’s Fourth Consecutive Skyline Title in 2011 For the past seven years, the Farmingdale State Rams have ruled the Skyline Conference. Teams have come close to knocking them off the pedestal, but to this point nobody has been successful. In fact, for the past four seasons, Old Westbury has had them on the brink but they were unable to close the deal.Here we are in 2015, and it is one week before the Conference playoffs. Farmingdale sits in third place in the Skyline, and it’s hard to make the case they are better than St. Joseph’s or Old Westbury.But, I’m only interested in starting a debate that is backed up with numbers.Let’s take a look at some of the critical stats: Offense: Batting Average: 1. Old Westbury- .3302. Farmingdale- .3243. St. Joseph...

There should be more cool events like this. Newfield and Centereach will play today at Bethpage Park, home to the Long Island Ducks, today at 4 pm. Newfield is 5-2 and in third place in League IV while Centereach currently sits in last place at 2-7. Brandon Alberto is expected to throw for Newfield. He will be playing at NYIT in the fall and is having a tremendous season for the Wolverines. He already has three wins on the season. He will be matched up against Greg Marino of the Cougars. He is coming off a complete game shutout last week. The 6’7″ fireballer will be pitching for the Stony Brook Sea Wolves in the fall. Tickets are free for this event.

Photo Credit: Molloy Athletics It’s rare that a player can make as much noise with his voice as his bat when he’s hitting .349 with a .433 OBP, 23 RBI and 23 runs scored through 35 games in the East Coast Conference. Molloy’s John Galanoudis is one of those rare cases. He has released two country albums on iTunes; “Between the Sound and Sea” and “Fire Still Burning”. Music has always been a big part of my life.  My entire Greek side of the family is musical and I pretty much grew up around it.  I taught myself how to play guitar when I was 12 years old and it has been my side thing ever since.  I am blessed to have released two country album on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and other digital stores.  It is always something I can go to in order to unwind ...

Photo Credit: Vinny Messana Losing your starting pitcher to injury in the second inning is never an easy storm to weather for a team. Losing his reliever to an injury the next inning? Well, that’s just cruel. Still, the Farmingdale Dalers were powered by a five-run fourth inning to defeat Hicksville 9-4 in a Conference AA-I/II crossover. “I told the guys after that injury ‘this is the time to overcome adversity,” said Farmingdale Head Coach Frank Tassielli.                    Farmingdale’s starter Vinny Rice threw the first inning under the watchful eye of a handful of college coaches. After allowing a leadoff single and a walk, Hicksville shortstop Conor Reilly successfully bunted the runners into scoring position. Rice struck out the next batter and induced an infield popup to avoid any ...

When you factor in all the cancellations, the season is a little more than halfway complete. Here is our first installment of the Power Rankings… 10) NYIT To their credit, they have surpassed last season’s win total by the middle of April. On the flip side, they are still 8-15 with a 6.88 team ERA. Elias Martinez has been the bright spot on the mound, with a 2.73 ERA over 29 IP. At the plate, Louis Mele has been tremendous, with a .431 AVG through 73 AB with 22 RBI and 11 XBH.  9) Farmingdale It has been a tough start for the 7-time defending Skyline Conference champs. They are 10-12 and 4-4 in conference play. I still expect them to get hot because of the presence of Mike Marino, Dalton McCarthy, Anthony Alvino and Tom Rydzewski in the lineup.They have four winnable games this...

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Photo Credit: Hofstra Athletics There’s a great saying when it comes to baseball–“you can’t run the clock out.” In juxtaposition to sports like football and basketball, it’s especially poignant because big leads late in baseball games guarantee nothing. Towson learned that the hard way on Sunday. Up 16-3 in the ninth inning, they needed three more outs to walk away winners against Hofstra. Those three outs never came. Here’s a play-by-by of the ninth inning. –Brett Johnson singled to CF–Chriss Weiss singled to left. Johnson to second.–Jake Fallon singled to right field. Johnson scored, Weiss to third. (Fallon stole second, Weiss stole home).–Steven Foster walked.–Louis Carrafiello walked. Bases loaded.–Dalton Rou...

Photo Credit: Newsday Here at Baseball on the Island, we don’t believe in the adage ‘out of sight, out of mind’. After all, there were some players whose names were primitive fixtures on this website for months. We’re going to check in and see how the top prospects from last year are fairing in their freshman year at college. (Editor’s Note: This list will not include those who chose to red-shirt this season) Jesse Berardi-St. John’s University: The reigning Carl Yastrzemski Award winner is struggling so far in his transition to Division-I baseball. Through 39 at bats, he has nine hits, six runs scored and seven RBI. He has started eight games for the Red Storm, but has failed to hit an extra-base hit to this point. He’s committed two errors in 39 ...

Photo Credit: Vinny Messana After just two weeks of high school games, it’s clear already who are the teams that will be making the most noise. Here is a list of the remaining undefeated teams: League 1: Patchogue-Medford 5-0, Ward Melville 4-0 League 2: Sachem North 4-0 League 3: Half Hollow Hills East 4-0 Photo Credit: Vinny Messana League 4: East Islip 3-0 (2014 Suffolk County runner-up Hills West is 4-1) League 5: (none) League 6: Comsewogue 4-0 League 7: Bayport-Blue Point 5-0 League 8: Babylon 5-0, Matituck 5-0 League 9: Port Jefferson 4-0

Photo Credit: Eric Moskowitz Written by Eric Moskowitz It may be early but today’s win was a huge win for Harborfields.  Entering the game with a record of 0-4, Harborfields simply could not afford to fall back anymore in the standings.   Down 3-0 in the fourth inning, Harborfields had their backs against the walls, but chipped away. By moving people over with bunts and driving people in with timely sac flies and with some help from the Islip defense, Harborfields was able to tie up the game 3-3.   In the bottom of the last inning, with bases loaded Jesse Lankeaux got up to the plate with the infield in and hit a ground ball to second base.  The second baseman did not field it cleanly and Robert Dluginsky scored the game winning run scored on the error. Harborfields starter Dillon Schaefer...