Debates
Friday College Recap Powered by Orlin & Cohen
by Mike Anderson Week 4 is among us in the 2022 NCAA Baseball season, and the local teams were back at it again Friday night. Let’s go around the horn and see how they did. Division I: LIU beat Fordham, 9-4, where the two teams combined for 26 hits. It was such an offensive game that 17 of the 18 starters between the two lineups recorded at least one hit. All of LIU’s starters hit safely, while eight of nine Fordham starters hit safely. Second baseman Jack Harnisch led off the game with a home run for Fordham, but that lead was lost in the top of the third when shortstop EJ Exposito crushed a three-run homer to left field. LIU took a 3-1 lead, and only added to it later. An RBI single in the bottom of the third made it just 3-2, but LIU scratched across three more in the fourth and two mo...
Batting 1.000 defeats LI Storm 11-1 on first day of East Coast Columbus Day Tournament
by Matthew Cataruzolo Westbury, NY — Batting 1000 made a strong first impression with a victory over the LI Storm at Eisenhower Park on Friday night. A rout of offensive firepower combined with a strong pitching performance gave Batting 1000 the advantage and eventually emerge victorious. Back-to-back one-two-three innings for both teams indicated the possibility of a low scoring game. Batting 1000 starting pitcher Chrish Patel remained virtually unhittable throughout the game, and his offense provided him with plenty of run support. The bottom of the second inning saw a barrage of offensive firepower from Batting 1000. Starting off with a scorching double off the bat of catcher Niko Koutsoftas, followed by a single by Jake Maxwell, Batting 1000 had first and second with one out. S...
LIB True Diamond Cruises Past LI Storm, 10-4
by Gabe Zoda Spoke with coach Brandon Stein for the LIB True Diamond squad after their 10-4 victory over the LI Storm. pic.twitter.com/DKWKLgOzZE — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 3, 2021 Yesterday kicked off the 4th of July Stars and Stripes Tournament. In the 15u section, the LI Storm played against the LIB True Diamond. On a rainy day, these two squads seemed to find the perfect spot to play at Plainedge HS for their matchup. At the end of the day, LIB True Diamond would take the game by a score of 10-4. For most of the game, though, it was very close. One inning would end up changing all of that. The first inning would go by without any runs being scored. Starting Pitchers,(LP) Jimmy Stroehlien for the Storm and (WP) Danny Onorato for LIB True Diamond were able to make batt...
Podcast: Discussing the Mount Rushmore of Long Island Baseball Players
We had two very special guests on the podcast today discussing the best seasons in Long Island baseball history. Gregg Sarra, 32-year veteran reporter for Newsday and Sal Mignano (583 career wins) together have seen plenty of talented players on the diamond. We discussed who the best of the best are.
Analyzing the Incredible Class of 2017 Crop of Shortstops
It’s not often that an All-Star Game involves intriguing decisions as to who will start or even make the roster. The 2017 Grand Slam Challenge will require those decisions. And that has everything to do with the amount of superior talent on the island at the shortstop position–specifically the class of 2017. In a typical year, any one of the following players would probably be starters–but obviously the decision will be much harder when you consider all the Div-I talent. Try this one on for size. Here’s a rundown of the top guys in alphabetical order with their college commitment in parenthesis: Joe Barbuto, North Babylon He hit .306 last year with an absurd .521 OBP. His Head Coach stated that he provides stability from the SS position that the team has not had in ...
Why Pitch Counts in Youth and High School Baseball Are Important
By Luga Podesta, MD Podesta was the team physician for the Los Angeles Dodgers (1990-’06) and Los Angeles Angels (2010-’13). He is currently the Director of Sports Medicine at St. Charles Orthopedics and he is our Injury Prevention Expert. It’s March and another baseball season has come. The difference this year however is that the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) and specifically, New York State’s (NYSPHSAA) new pitch restriction rules for the spring 2017 baseball season take effect. Each member state association has been required to develop their own policy on pitching restrictions based on the number of pitches a player can throw during a game and the rest required after pitching. These new pitch restriction rules are designed to provide players’ ...
Home Run Derby: Who Would Win a Long Island Showdown?
by Vinny Messana With the 2016 MLB Home Run Derby set to take place tomorrow night in San Diego–it got me thinking: who would win if only current Long Island players took place? Assuming the game took place on a typical college field with dimensions of 330 ft down the lines and 400 ft to center with 375 in the gaps, here are a few names of participants (with their schools and their next academic year) that would put on a show… Nick Balfe-Freshman, SUNY Old Westbury Here’s a player that has received less publicity than the others but he had a breakout senior season for North Babylon this year and he smacked five HR for the Bulldogs. He is staying on Long Island to play his collegiate ball at Old Westbury. He fits the profile of a power-hitting corner infielder. He is a pur...
Assessing Each Recruiting Class
by Vinny Messana Div-I: NYIT- Brendan Dowd Brandon Fanizza Ryan Kuskowski Ben McNeill DJ Masuck Kevin Tabares Nick Vitale Zach White Analysis: This is another example of how the program is moving in the right direction. Dowd is a terrific backstop that can completely negate the running game and their opponents will find that out immediately. Vitale is a winning player out of Ward Melville–he won the Long Island Championship with them as a freshman. Players like him tend to overachieve in college because he has been playing top-tier talent for the past four years. Zach White is a big RHP from Shoreham-Wading River. He has been overshadowed on his own team by Brian Morrell, but he is every-bit the big-time pitcher. McNeill is a very smooth SS from Commack. He’s the type of player...
Who are the Top Unsigned 2017 Graduates?
5. Nicholas Trabacchi, Smithtown West [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXM0fwzWjuU] Trabbachi had six wins this year and plays a smooth shortstop/second base while handling the bat well. He is a borderline Div-I player but in my opinion, he will be most successful at a high-end Div-II school. Towards the end of the season, many of the local schools were in attendance to watch him and I know for a fact they were all high on him. Adelphi is a good fit, and there appears to be mutual interest. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdBc737zuzA] To Continue Reading this Article, CLICK HERE!
MLB Draft 2016: Which Long Islanders Will Get Selected?
by Vinny Messana, Editor-In-Chief After watching every local college team multiple times and every elite high school senior at least once–along with talking with people in the know– I feel comfortable making this list. It will be listed in alphabetical order because there are other factors that play into where a player is selected; signability, character and health being the three biggest ones that could drop a top-talent into Day 3 of the draft. Here’s my guess as to who are the pro-caliber players that are draft-eligible this year with Long Island roots. Joe Daru, NYIT The knocks against Daru are unfair in my opinion–he’s a fifth-year senior and he’s too short. He can simply play and he certainly used those critics as fuel for his 2016 season. He was u...
