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Q & A With Jack Turner
It speaks to the depth of a team when they can win the County Championship and still have some young phenoms in the pipeline at the JV level. That was the case with Sayville in 2019 as they captured their first Class A County Championship in program history while still having a hard-throwing pitcher like Jack Turner stashed away. He put himself on the map recently while playing for Team Steel this summer and LI Strong this fall. His fastball touched 90 at Felician University team camp and committed there on Sunday. He should be a big piece of Sayville’s team this season. I had a chance to speak with him and here’s what he had to say… Can you explain your experience with the college recruiting process and why you chose Felician? The college recruiting process was tough at ...
Up Next Powered by The Yard Sports Academy: Brandon O’Neill
(Editor’s Note: This is the sixth installment of the popular ‘Up Next’ Series Powered by The Yard Sports Academy. In this series, we feature the best players on Long Island that have yet to appear in a varsity game. Previously, we featured Andrew Koshy, Josh Knoth, Chris Batuyios, Sebastian Lippman and TJ Bradford. Thank you for your continued interest.) When you’re looking to build a team, it’s important that you have a strong presence up-the-middle. New Mets GM Jared Porter specifically mentioned that in Monday’s press conference when discussing the needs of the Mets. They addressed that need on Saturday with the signing of free agent catcher James McCann. He’s a player that really improved his pitch framing (sixth in the MLB), he throws out 46 p...
C.J. Picone Commits to Adelphi University
Adelphi has adjusted extremely well to the recruiting process during this pandemic. In addition to fielding a strong team in 2020, they now positioned themselves well for the future by snagging several of the top 2021 players on Long Island. They crushed the pitching recruits with John Rizzo, Jordan Falco, Phil D’Aguanno, Zach Rovner, Jacob Pedersen, Kendall Kendrick and John Carver. Now they have added to their position-player group with Kellenberg C C.J. Picone. Our followers may know him from the performance he put on at the Power Showcase in Miami back in December 2019 when he not only finished runner-up for his age group, but also raised $5,395 for charity by doing so. C.J. is the rare teenager that possesses leadership skills of a coach, a selfless attitude and the talent to be...
Lou Bernardi Is Making An Impact Beyond the Baseball Field
by Eric Belyea Published writer, podcast host, baseball coach, philanthropist. When it comes to Long Island baseball, Lou Bernardi has done it all. A former player under the Legendary Bob Hirschfield at NYIT, Bernardi accumulated over 160 innings pitched during his four year career as a member of the Bears. After his collegiate career, Bernardi pitched professionally for the St. George Roadrunners of the Golden League, as well as the New York Federals of the New York State league. Once his professional playing career was over, that is when Bernardi began on a path that would eventually change his life. Bernardi’s first stop of his coaching career began at his alma mater, NYIT, where he was the third base coach, coaching at the Division-I level. He then went on to become the pitching coac...
Up Next Powered By The Yard Sports Academy: T.J. Bradford
When we partnered with Hofstra University to cover the New York Baseball Academy in 2017, the idea came up to present an Axcess Player of the Week Award to the top performing individual at each of the six weeks of the camp. The motivation behind the award was simple – pick the most talented individual that performed exceptionally well over the week. When the coaches were surveyed, there was a consensus No. 1 – T.J. Bradford. At the time, T.J. was just 10-years-old, but he was clearly deserving of the award. His stats match up to the eye test. Over the past three seasons, he has amassed a nearly unfathomable 108 home runs while playing on the small fields. When he was 11, he played 115 games and batted .581 with 116 runs scored 171 RBI over 291 at bats. The Hewlett naive is now ...
Up Next Powered by The Yard Sports Academy: Chris Batuyios
This is the fifth installment of the Up Next 2020 Series which highlights the top underclassmen on Long Island. To read the previous articles, here is Josh Knoth, Ben Cohen, Andrew Koshy and Sebastian Lippman. Mount Sinai is building a powerhouse pitching staff. The Mustangs last captured the Class A County Championship in 2016 in large part to a dominant pitching staff anchored by Sam Kessler and Brandon Bonanno. They have high aspirations entering 2021 as they have numerous high-end pitchers like Miami-commit J.T. Caruso, Ithaca-commit Dan Kellachan, 6’4 Max Reichenbach and another stud 2023 RHP in Chris Batuyios. Chris Batuyios (Mount Sinai 2023) pic.twitter.com/9oqk2wWdvJ — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) March 26, 2020 Over the course of 26.2 IP in the 2020 season, the flam...
Up Next Powered By The Yard Sports Academy: Ben Cohen
(This is our fourth installment of the 2020-’21 “Up Next” Series Powered by The Yard Sports Academy. Previously we featured Andrew Koshy, Sebastian Lippman and Josh Knoth. Thank you for your continued interest and Happy Thanksgiving) Thanks to our partnership with East Coast Youth Baseball, we covered a lot of games involving LIB Prime 12u. When it comes to youth baseball teams, they are as good as it gets. Many games did not get past the third inning, as their offense was often putting up 15+ runs in those innings and winning via run-rule. Ben Cohen hits a walk-off grand slam to send LIB Prime into Think Pink championship pic.twitter.com/EBFXiyS37s — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 5, 2020 Much of that damage involved power-hitting Ben Cohen. The Massapequa ...
Q & A With Colin Ruddy
Playing on the east end of Long Island could present some inherent challenges for athletes as they fight to get the recognition they deserve over players more centrally located on the island. Aside from the geographic challenge to get college coaches at schools, there is always the question of the quality of the opponent so it can be tough to look at statistics and see what’s real. A big way to overcome that is through sheer hard work. Eventually, the cream rises to the top and when you get recognized or invited to major events – it legitimizes the hype. So when East Hampton RHP Colin Ruddy was invited to the Area Code Underclass Tournament this summer, it certainly made some waves. Ruddy committed to George Washington University this week, proving that Division-I athletes are ...
Nick Ungania Commits to SUNY Binghamton
Nick Ungania (Chaminade 2022) pic.twitter.com/91vb7zALKH — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) September 3, 2020 When the news was released last year that a Long Island-native gifted SUNY Binghamton baseball with a $60 million donation – the largest in university history – it had a few tangible effects. Besides bringing some additional credibility to northeast baseball, it also immediately became a destination for high-end players. Getting recruited by Binghamton had gotten a little more competitive. The school is already ranked No. 88 in the U.S and now they are about to have arguably the second best baseball complex in the nation. Justin Rosner is a 2020 Farmingdale graduate that is currently at Binghamton, and he will be getting joined by another Long Islander in the fall o...
Who Is JT Raab?
Raab topping at 88 MPH today pic.twitter.com/PVdE6H91mx — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 18, 2020 When you are pitching on the same staff as other established arms like Rafe Schlesinger, Tommy Ventimiglia, Dylan Johnson and Jacob Steinmetz, it can be hard to garner all the attention. But 6’5 RHP J.T. Raab (MacArthur 2021) has certainly turned heads with his performance this summer and fall for the Long Island Titans-Quattrini. The No. 1 ranked 2021 team in the region had an outstanding summer, and finished off with a bang at the Northeast Elite Tournament. For the year, Raab posted an unblemished record of 9-0 with a 0.49 ERA. As if that’s not impressive enough, his peripheral numbers were even more astounding. He struck out 12.7 batters per 9, allowed 2.6 hits pe...
Up Next Powered by The Yard Sports Academy: Sebastian Lippman
(This is the third installment of the “Up Next” Series Powered by The Yard Sports Academy. Previously we featured Andrew Koshy and Josh Knoth.) Young stud alert 🚨 Sebastian Lippman (Plainview JFK 2024) sitting 84-86 MPH pic.twitter.com/U9tkENfQ4h — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) November 8, 2020 Often times as a scout or reporter you attend a showcase or tournament and are underwhelmed with the product on the field. As a scout, it’s easy to stay quiet and walk away if you’re bored. As a reporter, you have to try to make something out of nothing. Being that I am both, I have to walk that fine line of telling the truth as a scout but generating buzz as a reporter. Other times, it’s really easy. An example of this was on November 8 at Prospect Sports for a ...
Fuel To the Fire: How Justin Dunn Made It From Freeport to the Majors
(Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in November 2019. Justin Dunn pitched well in 2020, compiling a record of 4-1 with a 4.34 ERA over 45.2 IP. He struck out 38 batters.) (Photo Credit: Getty Images) When you’ve been doubted since age-14, you develop some thick skin. Freeport-native Justin Dunn has developed that and then some over the years, as he carved a path for himself from the football-rich town of Freeport, NY all the way to his Major League debut with the Seattle Mariners on September 12, 2019. When Justin was a freshman in high school, his parents made the decision to send him to rural Connecticut to The Gunnery School, a college-preparatory school for high school aged kids, which Justin described as essentially college for 14-year-olds. His father, who is the ...
