FEATURES
Q & A With Plainview-native Tyler Galletti
by Ben Diamond Many collegiate baseball players spend their summers in the Hamptons. They aren’t there to enjoy long days on the beach, and nights at 1 Oak. They head to the east end of Long Island to play in the Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League where top college players from across the country come to compete with and against one another. One player in particular is a Long Island native who got the chance to participate this summer. This player is Sacred Heart catcher Tyler Galletti. Galletti, a freshman, had his first opportunity to play in the Hamptons League this summer. He walked us through his daily routines, on game days and off days. What is your game day routine? T: “Wake up, lift, eat. I go to the cage to get some swings in before heading to the field for warm ups and BP...
Jack Vallario Commits to Fordham
Jack Vallario with an RBI single through the left side. St. Anthony’s leads 2-0 in the second pic.twitter.com/sWITdhcj6t — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 31, 2021 One of the big reasons that St. Anthony’s was able to revive their season in 2019 and make a deep playoff run – rattling off four straight wins in elimination games and reaching the CHSAA Finals was due to freshman Jack Vallario. While they ran into a great Chaminade team, they entered 2020 with a lineup led by Vallario, Marco Ali and Guy Calla as well as a pitching deep as deep as any on Long Island. With the cancellation of the season, they lost out on that great group and returned a very young team in 2021. They struggled, losing in the first round to St. Dominic, but that was to no fault of Vallari...
John Downing Commits to Seton Hall
Final: Chaminade 2, SJB 1 WP: John Downing (CG, 4 H, 1 R, 7 K) pic.twitter.com/2MsfbAhgkf — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 7, 2021 Entering the 2021 season, there was reason to question whether Chaminade could successfully defend their crown in the Catholic League. The biggest reason is that although they possessed a world of talent, they had no players with varsity experience. It seemed like it could present an issue come playoff time when the chips are on the table. In typical Flyers fashion, though, they were able to lean on their coaching staff, pitching, defense and depth to dig deep and sweep Kellenberg in the CHSAA Finals. One of their major contributors all season was junior ace LHP John Downing. The southpaw went 5-0 with a 1.33 ERA. Over 38.2 IP, he struck out 39 and a...
Q & A With Island Trees RHP/SS Vinny Giambona
Island Trees captured the 2021 Nassau Conference V Championship with an exciting 3-2 victory over Clarke. They also had to defeat them the day before, which was an 8-3 victory. It was the third County Championship in their program’s history. A major reason behind their incredible season was their impressive group of juniors Prior to the season when I was writing their season preview, their head coach Joseph D’Auria told me he was optimistic about their chances because of how committed his players are. He stated his players were all the type that “eat, sleep and breathe baseball.” For me as a reporter and scout, that’s a phrase that is very specific to teams that are going to be successful. Coaches won’t say that if they don’t truly believe it. And ...
Where Are They Now: Jack Piekos
In 2013-’14, there was no team more dominant than Bayport-Blue Point and on that team, there was no more dominant player than Jack Piekos. The Phantoms became the first Suffolk County program to capture back-to-back State Championships (that has since been duplicated by Center Moriches). They went a perfect 27-0 in 2013 and followed that up by defending their crown and winning it again in 2014. Piekos was the biggest reason for that success. The menacing left-handed pitcher won every award you can – League VII MVP, All-County, All-Long Island, All-State, Class A Player of the Year, Fred Biangardi Playoff MVP, MSG Varsity Pitcher of the Year, All-Northeast Honor from Perfect Game and 2x Paul Gibson Award winner. With a fastball touching 90 MPH and an unflappable demeanor, he co...
Fordham Ace Matt Mikulski Not Fazed by the Hype
On Thursday, May 16, 2019 Fordham began a crucial three-game series against A-10 rival Dayton needing to win two of the three games in order to qualify for the conference tournament. They sent their Friday starter to the mound hoping to get the first win under their belt and only needing to win one of the next two after that. Dayton had other plans, though. They wound up scoring 7 runs (6 earned) on their way to an easy 17-4 win. It turns out that loss lit a fire under the Rams who wound up winning the next two games to lock up the No. 4 seed in the Atlantic-10 tournament – which they hosted. Now as the host team, Fordham turned their game up another notch. They captured the first game against Richmond, 7-6, in 10 innings. They kept that momentum going into the next game against VCU,...
Q & A With Jack Halloran
One of the more underrated players on Long Island is Westhampton Beach senior 3B Jack Halloran. The Emory-commit is coming off a stellar summer season in which he batted .554 with 12 HR and 46 RBI playing for the East End Aviators. Additionally PG Tournaments recently named him first-ream All-American for hitters. I had a chance to speak with him and here’s what he had to say… Who are some people that have had a possible impact on your career? I credit my family for instilling the fundamentals of authentic character from a young age, which I pride myself on as an athlete. Without a doubt, our assistant coach at Westhampton Beach, Dan Pulick, has had the largest impact on my playing career. These past few years, we have spent countless hours breaking down the game of baseball to...
Up Next Powered by The Yard Sports Academy: Kevin Schnupp Jr
Defense is critical behind the plate. Just about every winning team has a strong defensive catcher that can lead his pitching staff. And if they can get some offensive production from that player, then it’s a bonus. Comsewogue freshman catcher Kevin Schnupp Jr. is one of those two-way catchers. He has been lauded for his defensive abilities, his leadership of the pitching staff but he also handled the bat extremely well in 2020. Here was his stats. AVG: .413 2B: 19 3B: 3 BBs: 17 Rs: 34 OBP: .540 His father, Kevin Schnupp Sr, is the longtime head coach of Sachem East, where he helped lead the Arrows to the Suffolk County title in 2005. He has been pleased with the progress of his son: “Kevin has really progressed so much over the past year,” he said. He has grown up on the...
Kyle Young Decides To Walk Away From the Game
Phillies prospect Kyle Young (St. Dominic 2016) is coming along well in his rehab from Tommy John. Yes, he is tall (7’0) pic.twitter.com/XI0jBanADh — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) December 16, 2019 Kyle Young stood above the competition on every field he was on. Literally, the 7’0 southpaw is the tallest player to play professional baseball and had dominated at St. Dominic HS in 2015-’16 prior to that. The southpaw was drafted out of HS in 2016 by the Philadelphia Phillies and has been terrific during his minor league career. He compiled a 2.92 ERA, 14-8 record, 166 Ks over 172.1 IP. Despite his long limbs, he displayed amazing control – walking just 27 batters and holding a 1.03 WHIP. He has decided to walk away from baseball. MILB listed it on their minor l...
Some Observations From East Coast Lumberjacks Workout on Sunday
On Sunday I went down to the East Coast Lumberjacks workout at 365 Athletics to get some video on their top players. It was a great day to do so as they had virtually every member of their organization in attendance including some of the 2020 grads that are on break from college and getting their final preparation in for their freshmen collegiate season. Before I get into the notes on them, the Lumberjacks are coming off a wild season in which they were able to navigate through the coronavirus pandemic and still travel all over to top Perfect Game tournaments. Ryan Pembroke and Daniel Pembroke, the owners of the organization, stated that they played in Perfect Game tournaments in Alabama, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia and Ohio. They were constantly on the move, and surely that was tough...
Dylan Johnson: What Christmas Means to Me
(Editor’s Note: Dylan Johnson is a 2021 graduate of Newfield HS. He is committed to St. John’s University. He is expected to anchor the Wolverines rotation once again this season. He really came into his own in 2019 after Newfield lost their ace in the preseason which propelled him into the role of staff ace. He handled the challenge and he will be counted on to lead the charge in 2020.) The importance of Christmas to me is more than just presents and food. Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. That is the reason of the season and I wouldn’t be where I am today without my faith. A tradition my family does is every Christmas Eve we go to my aunt’s house on my dad’s side of the family and celebrate. On Christmas day first thing we do is wake up and go to church and then ...
Up Next Powered by The Yard Sports Academy: Zach Rosenzweig
(Editor’s Note: This is the eighth installment of the popular ‘Up Next’ Series which highlights the top underclassmen on Long Island. None of them have yet to play a varsity game, but we are confident that they soon will. Previously, we have featured Andrew Koshy, Chris Batuyios, Josh Knoth, Ben Cohen, Sebastian Lippman, T.J. Bradford and Brandon O’Neill.) 6’0 190 lb freshman Zach Rosenzweig (Plainedge 2024) pic.twitter.com/ykCGQrE2rF — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) December 22, 2020 When you are watching a middle schooler or JV player take batting practice, it usually features plenty of soft contact and flawed swings. There was nothing soft about the contact that was coming off the bat of freshman Zach Rosenzweig (Plainedge 2024) yesterday. At one poin...
