Game Recaps
Long Island Baseball Tops Team Steel 2-1
When the weather dips below 50 degrees and there’s high-end pitchers on the mound pitching to batters with wood bats, you can expect offense to be at a premium. That’s exactly what happened in the first game of the Antonia Agostinelli Memorial tournament tonight at Baseball Heaven, in which Long Island Baseball topped Team Steele 2-1. With Team Steel clinging to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth and runners on second & third with two outs, the third-place batter lofted a fly ball to right field which was dropped and allowed the tying run to score. The next batter smacked a single to right field to score the go-ahead run which proved to be the winning run. Both starting pitchers battled through command issues but allowed zero runs through four innings. Each team stranded...
Coltrane Calloway Smacks HR, Throws CG in 3-2 Win over Titans Gold for Championship
by Vinny Messana, Editor Going into the game, Coltrane Calloway knew the opposition would soon be his teammates. The 13-year-old will be playing with the Long Island Titans during the 2017 season, but for tonight he showcased what makes him such a terrific player. He went 2-for-2 with a walk and the go-ahead solo HR in the top of the fourth which ultimately was the deciding factor in Team Beast’s 3-2 victory over the Titans Gold in the championship of the 12U summer league at Baseball Heaven. Team Beast took an early 2-0 lead off starting pitcher A.J. Joya with a bases loaded two-run single by Jack Vallario to right field. Joya got the runs right back with a two-run shot off Trane to left field. Calloway noted that Joya is the one player he really feared in the lineup. “I was m...
Recap of Week 6 of the New York Baseball Academy at Hofstra
by Vinny Messana This week concluded the 41st year of the New York Baseball Academy. The annual camp was a tremendous success highlighted by special appearances from former professional players (Pat Lennon, Matt Giuliano, Dave & Matt Lemanczyk, Mike Gaffney, Brian Dorsey, Reid Gorecki, etc.) with Long Island roots. Just as importantly, however, was the experience for the young ballplayers who were able to improve their ballgame while having a great time in the process. This week the morning clinics were run by current LIU Post Head Coach Mike Gaffney, current Hofstra Head Coach John Russo and legendary NYIT Head Coach Bob Hirschfield. As always, a bevy of different awards were handed out. Below are the winners of the coveted “Super Hustler Award”–given to the players that...
Recap of Week 5 of the New York Baseball Academy at Hofstra
by Vinny Messana, Editor Long Island baseball has never been better represented across Major League Baseball than it is right now. The bar has been raised high to become a great player and if you don’t want to fall behind you have to put the work in. Over the past five weeks, close to 1,000 players have walked onto Hofstra University’s baseball field and taken part of the famous New York Baseball Academy–which is now in its 41st year. It was another tremendous week of baseball, filled with 210 players–headlined by some of the brightest baseball players on the island, including Matt Pelcher of Calhoun and the younger brother of Marcus Stroman. This week featured morning clinics from Hofstra’s Head Coach John Russo, Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator Tyler K...
Recap of Week 4 of the New York Baseball Academy at Hofstra
by Vinny Messana It was yet another fun-filled week of baseball at the New York Baseball Academy. There were 210 kids eager to learn from a coaching staff that has decades and decades of experience and have taught some of the top players this region has ever seen. The players had the fortune of learning from a couple of special guests. Dave Lemanczyk (1979 A.L. All Star) imparted his wisdom on the young men in an insightful morning clinic and also gave batting instructions at the cages all day on Wednesday. Former Long Island Ducks pitcher and LI native Brian Dorsey was in charge of the pitching specials on Tuesday and also gave a fascinating speech during his clinic. In addition to learning a great deal, many of the players had awards bestowed upon them. More important than the skill-base...
Recap of Week 3 of New York Baseball Academy at Hofstra
by Vinny Messana The New York Baseball Academy has been home to some of the top young talent in the northeast over the past 40 years. That–combined with a coaching staff that features former professional players and some of the most recognizable and respected baseball minds–has allowed the NYBA to be named one of the top five baseball camps in the country. This week just concluded Week 3 at Hofstra. The camp had over 200 kids between the ages of 7 and 17. They were fortunate enough to get coaching from 12-year big league veteran and Long Island native, John Habyan. After building up the St. John the Baptist program to being one of the elites on the island, he became the pitching coach of Hofstra this past year. Another special guest was Kellenberg-grad and former big leaguer Re...
Recap of Week 2 of New York Baseball Academy at Hofstra
by Vinny Messana For 40 years, kids ages 5-15 have made their way to the New York Baseball Academy to develop their skills and learn from some of the brightest minds and most recognizable names in the Long Island baseball community. The director of the academy, legendary former NYIT coach Bob Hirschfield, has recently moved the camp to the beautiful campus of Hofstra University. The 240-acre campus is the perfect environment for young baseball players to hone their craft of the game they love. This week was a tremendous success once again. Former MLB slugger Patrick Lennon and longtime Mineola Head Coach Helms Bohringer were the special instructors along with the usual Head Coaches, who all have had successful playing careers and combine for decades and decades of experience between them. ...
Recap of Week One of New York Baseball Academy at Hofstra
by Vinny Messana For 40 years, kids ages 5-15 have made their way to the New York Baseball Academy to develop their skills and learn from some of the brightest minds and most recognizable names in the Long Island baseball community. The director of the academy, legendary former NYIT coach Bob Hirschfield, has recently moved the camp to the beautiful campus of Hofstra University. The 240-acre campus is the perfect environment for young baseball players to hone their craft of the game they love. This week concluded week 1 of the academy, and it went as well as expected. There were special insructors; Matt Giuliano (Connetquot grad, Owner of Play Like a Pro, seven years Pro player), Eddie Waters (St. John’s University Hall of Fame, played professionally with New York Yankees, St. Thomas...
Dylan Rooney Named MVP in 1-0 Victory for Suffolk
By Nakeem Grant The 12th annual Grand Slam Challenge between Nassau and Suffolk was a pitcher’s duel through-and-through as Suffolk defeated Nassau by a score of 1-0. Both teams made remarkable defensive plays, turning several double play balls, and flagging down pop-ups and fly balls in Farmingdale State College’s spacious foul grounds. Dylan Rooney was named the Rawlings MVP for the Grand Slam Challenge. He drove in the game’s only run with a sacrifice fly to left field in the top of the 6th after fighting off multiple curveballs from Nassau’s Joe Minucci. “He threw me three straight curveballs and I fouled them off,” Rooney said. “I said to myself that if he throws me one more, I’m going to sit back and try to get this run in and that’s exactly what I did.” Rooney, senior from Bayport-B...
Wantagh Wins the Class A NYS Championship
by Vinny Messana Being the No. 7 seed entering the postseason? No problem. Not having a two-time All-State pitcher available in the postseason? No problem. Facing an undefeated Queensbury team in the NYS title game? Psh. The Wantagh Warriors defeated Williamsville East to capture their first Class A NYS title since 1998. Starting pitcher Bobby Hegarty, who fired a one-hitter against Mount Sinai to capture the Long Island Championship went the distance, although he did struggle in the early going putting the Warriors in a 5-1 hole. They clawed back with a three-spot in the fourth inning and tied the ballgame in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Anthony Fontana that scored Jimmy Joyce. The game was tied going to the ninth inning when Joyce smacked the go-ahead home run to left field that put ...
Suffolk Tops Nassau, 5-0, in the Inaugural Battle of the Border
by Vinny Messana After seven months of planning, the inaugural Battle of the Border finally went down. I’ll get to the timeline of how it came about and all the difficulty that went into planning it shortly–but first, here’s how the game went. Suffolk won 5-0 behind the stellar pitching of Matt Kostalos (ECC Pitcher of the Year from St. Thomas Aquinas), Nick Girardi (St. Joseph’s), Dylan Mouzakes (Pace), Kevin Martinez (Farmingdale), Matt Leach (St. Joseph’s) and Peter Vath (Molloy). They allowed only three hits as a staff. The game was scoreless until the fifth when Suffolk broke through with RBI hits by Nicholas Gargan (St. Thomas Aquinas) and Joe Calabrese (St. Joseph’s). They added a run on a wild pitch. T.J. Riccio (New Haven) added an RBI single in...
West Islip Cruises to Its Second Long Island Class AA Title in Three Years
By Nakeem Grant If there was any doubt that there would be a letdown after their tooth-and-nail series victory over Northport, that was put to rest right away. West Islip dominated in the Class AA Long Island Championship– defeating East Meadow 16-0 at Farmingdale State College. West Islip’s offense and pitching left the game in no doubt as they kept their foot on the pedal throughout the game. Twelve of West Islip’s 16 runs came in the first three innings of the ballgame with most of the damage coming from the core of their lineup. Jake Guercio, James Kory, and Jimmy Mattera each had multi-RBI games and as a team, they racked up 12 hits. According to today’s winning pitcher, Ray Weber, this is another typical game for their offense. “All year we’ve been great on offense putt...
