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Photo Credit: MLB.com Baseball players love routine–it’s human nature. Once the routine is set, you can get comfortable in your surroundings, no matter where you might be playing your games. That get thrown into disarray when you are forced to relocate more than once. For someone like Joe Daru, outfielder for NYIT,  change is something you are forced to embrace. “I was born in Bangkok, Thailand,” he said. “My mom is Thai and my dad is American. He is a retired US Diplomat, so we moved every couple years to a new post,” he added. Those moves were not measured in miles but time zones. “Born in Thailand, moved to Washington D.C., then Lasos, Hawaii; Barbados, back to Hawaii, then Ft. Lauderdale, Fla; then Bangkok, Thailand, then high school at IMG bas...

Photo Credit: Stonehill Athletics Yesterday set the wheels in motion, but day 3 featured numerous Long Islanders selected in the MLB Draft. In addition to the traditional stats, I’ll try and provide some insight on the players that I have played with or against. It got started in the 17th round when Tampa Bay selected Cutchogue native Steve Ascher (SUNY Oneonta). They had also selected Chris Pike on Saturday and Stephen Woods of Hills East last season. Ascher is a graduate of Mattituck HS. He led the Oneonta Red Dragons in several pitching statistics this year including a 1.69 ERA in 69.1 innings. He fanned 82 batters against only 20 walks. He held batters to a paltry .193 average on his way to a 6-4 season. Next was Ronkonkoma native James Lomangino (St. John’s University). He...

Although there was no Long Islanders selected on the first night of the draft, the wheels began to go in motion yesterday. Three players with Long Island connections had their names announced–all in the ninth round–Brian Hunter, Chris Pike and Kevin Krause. We’ll start with Krause, because he is the only one that plays college on the island. Krause, a junior at Stony Brook, was selected with the No. 281 overall pick in the ninth round by the Pittsburgh Pirates. He had a tremendous season, which caused him to be named the MVP of Long Island by us. Krause, a native of Staten Island, led the Sea Wolves in virtually all offensive categories this season. He hit .354 with eight home runs and 51 RBI in 52 games. He compiled an OPS of .991 with terrific plate disciple; 26 walks a...

We are coming off another wildly entertaining season in Long Island baseball. Here are my picks for the best player at each position. MVP: Kevin Krause, Stony BrookCy Young: Tyler Badamo, DowlingRookie of the Year: Ron Bauer, Molloy C: Robbie Cafiero, Hofstra .331 AVG, 23 R, 47 H, 15 2B, 21 RBI, .900 OPS 1b: JC Brandmaier, Dowling .323 AVG, 30 R, 63 H, 23 XBH, 44 RBI, .925 OPS, 17-27 SB, .993 Fld%      Kevin Courtney: Stony Brook: .341 AVG, 44 R, 71 H, 41 RBI, .883 OPS, 5-5 SB .996 Fld% 2b: Andrew Abreu, Dowling .321 AVG, 38 R, 62 H, 10 XBH, 20 RBI, .782 OPS, 21-22 SB, .957 Fld% 3b: Rich Mejia, Adelphi .395 AVG, 23 R, 64 H, 17 XBH, 40 RBI, .969 OPS, 15 BB, 10 K      Tom Tolan CW Post: .361 AVG, 26 R, 44 H, .853 OPS, 19-22 SB, .955 Fld% SS: RJ Going, Dowling .302 AVG, 61 H, 37 R, 18 XBH, 39...

Photo Credit: Massapequa Patch Playing for Massapequa isn’t always easy. After all, you are basically expected to continue the winning tradition that has been in place for decades. This year, however, the football and the basketball team came up just shy of the ultimate goal. Alex Cosenza, who was also a pivotal part of the basketball team, made sure the baseball team would not follow suit. In fact, he has now led the Chiefs to consecutive Nassau County AA title on the diamond. “Winning back-to-back county titles is one of the best feelings in the world,” said the All-State left-handed pitcher. “Especially because of all the work we put in as a team. It feels good when it pays off,” he added. That is spoken like somebody who is accustomed to winning. Massapequ...

Photo Credit: Newsday For the first time since 2008, West Islip has been crowned Suffolk County AA champs. They defeated Half Hollow Hills West 5-0 in a winner-take-all game. Just like 2008, they had a dominating pitcher lead the way. Back then it was senior Nick Tropeano, who is currently playing with the Houston Astros Triple-A affiliate. This time it was sophomore sensation James Kory, who threw a complete game shutout five-hitter to improve his record to 8-0 on the season. “I was just focusing on getting the last three outs,” said Kory. “I kept telling myself to attack the hitters,” he added. Kory certainly attacked the hitters as he has done all season–his first on varsity. It is rare to see a pitcher this young dominate to this extent, but Kory is no ord...

Photo Credit: Stony Brook Athletics Here is the second and final power rankings for the Long Island NCAA-affiliated teams. 10. NYIT: 4-46 Poor year all around. They will be looking for an infusion of talent coming in. 9-St. Joseph’s: 17-20 They have regressed the past few seasons after nearly winning the Skyline in 2011. Dan DiBlasi had a standout year as a two-way player. He had a .342 average with 24 RBI, 11 walks and only 7 strikeouts at the plate and a 2.38 ERA on the mound. 8. Old Westbury: 20-22 They have been on the brink since 2010, but just can’t get over the mountain top. Terrific seasons from Nick Yip, Jake Coners and John Angelino at the plate. Yip exploded in the power department in the second-half of the seasons. Coners and Angelino were clutch all year. On the mo...

Déjà vu all over again, as Yogi Berra used to say. One week after losing two games to St. Thomas Aquinas in the ECC tournament when they only needed one win, lightning struck twice. They easily won the first three games of the tournament, with their starting pitcher going the distance each time. In the potential clinching game against STAC, they were defeated 4-2. In the season finale, they were shut out 3-0. They sent freshman Cody McPortland to the mound. It was only his fifth start of the season but he compiled a 20:5 K:BB ratio in 26 innings and a 3.81 ERA. He threw five shutout innings, before being removed in the sixth inning after allowing the lead off runner to reach base. Problem was, the Golden Lions offense was stagnant. They were limited to six hits, with no players recording m...

Photo Credit: St. Thomas AquinasThe Spartans Forced a Deciding Game against Dowling “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch”, is the old saying. Well, perhaps Dowling prematurely celebrated the East Region title because they came out flat this afternoon, and now will be facing the pressure of not squandering a golden opportunity to qualify for the College World Series. Neither offenses were not sharp today, as both Kyle DeMeo and Mike Gonzalez were crisp on the mound. The Spartans broke through first with back-to-back RBI singles in the fourth inning to build a 2-0 lead. In the bottom half, Dan Parisi was caught stealing, but Andrew Abreu scampered home to get the Golden Lions on the board.  The score stayed that way until the seventh when JC Brandmaier clobbered a s...

Photo Credit: Hofstra Athletic Communications The Hofstra Pride were eliminated from postseason contention when James Madison University won their game early Saturday afternoon. The Pride went on to split a double header with UMass-Lowell to finish the season with a record of 20-24, including 7-11 within the Colonial Athletic Association. They finished the season with a bang—an 18-11 win in which Ryan Donovan hit a go-ahead grand slam in the sixth inning to give the Pride a 13-10 lead they would not surrender. Both teams got off to a fast start, scoring five runs each in the first inning. UMass scored two runs in the third, but the Pride tied it up in the fourth. They fell behind by three in the fifth but got one in their half of the fifth, before erupting for sixth in the sixth to t...

When Stony Brook started out 0-6 on the season, it was hard to believe they would be playing meaningful games in late May. But then they won a game. Then they continued it. Now they can’t lose. The Sea Wolves defeated Hartford 4-2 to capture their third regular season America East title in the past four seasons. They will enter the tournament as the No. 1 seed and be looking to win their fifth conference title since joining in 2002. Tyler Honahan started and went 5.1 innings, allowing three hits and two earned runs. He was relieved by Bryan Tatelman, who threw 1.2 shutout innings. The score was tied at 2. In the bottom of the eight, Robert Chaverria reached on an error to start the inning. The red-hot Kevin Krause–who hit his league-leading eighth homer of the season earlier...

Photo Credit: Farmingdale Athletics For the entire season, Farmingdale was the team that found ways to escape jams, created runs from a hat and relied on a hint of magic. Tonight, they were on the receiving end of a torturous way to lose a baseball game and end a season. They lost 6-5 to Kean on a wild pitch by Alex Pangourelias in the bottom of the tenth. He nearly escaped the jam after coming on in relief of Alex Weingarten with first and third with none out, but after retiring two batters, he uncorked one to end the game. It was quite a wild ride. The Rama had leads of 1-0, 3-2 and 5-3 but the Cougars fought back each time. The starting pitcher for the Rams, Matt Seelinger, was pitching on one day rest after starting Thursday night against Cortland. He was effective in escaping jams, bu...