NEWS
Game of the Week Powered by Ken Kortright State Farm: Jacob Schmutz Has Big Game, St. John the Baptist Wins 4-1
Final: St. John the Baptist 4, Holy Trinity 1 WP: Joseph Randello S: Ryan Audette Jacob Schmutz went 2-for-2 with a walk, HBP and RBI pic.twitter.com/K6Rx4Am4nc — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 2, 2025 The season is just a week old, but St. John the Baptist has already faced their share of adversity – losing their top two starting pitchers to injury that will have them on the shelf for much of the season. Good teams, however, can find a way to overcome injuries especially during the sprint of a high school season. “We’ve talked about adversity a lot, getting knocked down and getting back up, and it’s been part of our motto this year and the guys have done a great job of fighting through it and battling each game,” said head coach Ryan Dalton. On We...
GAME RECAP: Matt Podesta Bat, Ryan Palm’s Arm Leads Sachem North to 8-1 Win
Final: Sachem North 8, Sachem East 1 WP: Ryan Palm (5 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 7 Ks) Matt Podesta: 3-3, BB, R, 2 RBIs, 2 doubles pic.twitter.com/HaS8i91osD — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 1, 2025 Both fan bases were fired up for the season opener between district rivals, Sachem East and Sachem North. After an eventful first inning, it was all Sachem North as the 2024 Suffolk County finalists came away with an 8-1 win. It was a terrific pitching match up between Iona-commit Jake King of East and Staten Island-commit Ryan Palm of North. In the first inning, both offenses made the starters work. Palm allowed a leadoff single to Ryan Margolis and back-to-back walks to Chris Ragona and Ryan Lane to lead the bases. Aron Brown ripped one down the line but third baseman Travis Szober made a grea...
Islip Enters 2025 With Senior-Laden Roster
Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s series by Vin Messana Islip finished 2024 with an overall record of 8-12, as they had an extremely young team which featured just two seniors. It should be considered a positive that they will now be led by 11 seniors on this year’s squad. Head Coach R.J. Going, who is entering his 7th season at the helm, will have a much more experienced roster, albeit a smaller one with 13 players. Dylan Ruland (Islip 2025) looking sharp through three innings pitched Crew 5 – Phenom 2 Mid third pic.twitter.com/lONIwnZ3sq — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) September 8, 2024 Leading the way is RHP/1B Dylan Ruland who will anchor rotation, he won four games last year, and man first base when he’s not pitc...
GAME RECAP: Gelling’s Gem Lifts Bayport-Blue Point to Season Opening win
by George Caratzas Our first @GetGameChanger Player of the Game is Brady Gelling of Bayport-Blue Point who struck out 10 over 5 shutout innings in an 11-0 victory pic.twitter.com/poJn4Cs5Zh — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) March 31, 2025 On the back of a great start from their ace and 11 total hits, the Bayport-Blue Point Phantoms claimed a win on opening day. Welcoming the John Glenn Knights for the season-opener, Bayport-Blue Point head coach Victor Manzella sent Brady Gelling to the mound to start the year. Gelling set the momentum quickly, striking out a pair in a scoreless first inning. In the bottom of the first, the Phantoms broke out, scoring a pair. After a hit batsman and a walk opened the inning, second baseman Cooper Fuller lined a single up the middle to bring home the g...
Carle Place Baseball Aims for Championship Glory in 2025
Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s series by Adrianna Armani After a strong showing in 2024 that saw the Carle Place baseball team reach the county semifinals, head coach Steve Laurino believes his squad is poised for a championship run this season. With a talented core of returning players and a rigorous offseason training program, the Frogs are determined to bring home their first county title in 22 years. Carle Place pushed Wheatley to three games in last season’s semi finals before falling short. Wheatley ultimately went on to win the County and Long Island championships. However, Laurino sees that playoff battle as a key stepping stone for his team. “We had a lot of young players step up last year, and the good news is most of them are ba...
Brentwood Looking to Bounce Back after Difficult 2024 Campaign
Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s series by George Caratzas In Rich Gonzalez’s seventh year leading the Brentwood Spartans, they went 5-13. Now in year eight, Gonzalez is looking to a group consisting of four captains to lead Brentwood to success “Experience helps us dramatically,” Gonzalez said in an interview with Axcess Baseball. “We needed that spark last year to help us extend our lineup. Now, we feel more comfortable with ourselves being a year older and more experienced.” The Spartans have four captains: Ezekiel Hernandez, Luiyi Gomez, Nathaneal Alvarez and Rylain Vega. Hernandez figures to head Brentwood’s rotation as a senior. Of the Spartans five victories last season, Hernandez was named the winning pitcher in three of them as the...
Levittown: How Do They Do It?
(Editor’s Note: This is the sixth of a multi-part series in which we break down the best baseball towns on Long Island. You can read them all here.) by Patrick Duryea There’s not many more exciting spectacles then when a large crowd gathers at a high school sporting event. Baseball games will have a tough time rivaling football unless it’s a championship or the crowd consists of scouts watching the next draft pick. But in Levittown, when two of their high school’s square off, “sold out crowd” is an understatement. The storied history of the town is matched evenly with a rich tradition of baseball success at their three schools: Division, MacArthur, and Island Trees. The history of all three schools is filled with winning coaches, championships, and Long Island baseball he...
Friday College Recap Powered by Orlin & Cohen
by George Caratzas It was an action-packed weekend for these six local teams as the college season rages on. Let’s see how it all went down on Friday. Division I: Northeastern 10, Stony Brook 4 The Huskies pounced on Eddie Smink early, getting a solo homer from Harrison Feinberg in the second inning. While Smink settled down from there, Northeastern scored another four in the fifth, courtesy of three long balls. Stony Brook fought back as RBIs from Scott Gell, Brett Davino and Matt Miceli got the Seawolves within one at 5-4. However, the Stony Brook bullpen struggled, surrendering five combined runs in the eighth and ninth innings to cap off a 10-4 loss. Jack Doyle led the way for Northeastern, hitting a pair of home runs as part of a 3-for-5 day. Jack Goodman also had three hits and a ho...
Northport Has High Expectations Led by 15 Seniors
Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s series by Tucker Terranova Northport 1, Newfield 0 Northport clinched playoff spot WP: Max Donecea (CG, 4 hits, 7 Ks including last out of game w runners on 2nd and 3rd) pic.twitter.com/c8zSSvH3Ad — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 2, 2024 Two pillars of a successful high school baseball team are an experienced senior class and a strong pitching staff. Fortunately for Northport head coach Sean Lynch, the 2025 Tigers check both boxes. Entering his sixth season at the helm, Lynch has the luxury of a 15-player senior class, a battle-tested group that has reached the postseason in consecutive years. With that experience comes motivation; this team is hungry to take the next step and make a deep run for a ...
With Schneider Entering Third Season at the Helm, Harborfields Tries to Flip Record
Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s series by George Caratzas After three straight losing seasons, the Harborfields Tornadoes are looking to turn their fortunes in 2025. In year three with head coach Ian Schneider, the club will rely on a roster heavy on upperclassmen. This year, 16 of the 18 roster spots are occupied by juniors and seniors, with 10 of them in the junior class. “Last year our core was definitely much younger,” Schneider said in an interview with Axcess Baseball. “We had a lot of sophomores and juniors and now we’re much older and more experienced. We brought back a majority of the guys that got ample playing time last year.” The one major missing piece in 2025 is pitcher Max Hilsenroth, who re-classed and will eventually conti...
Oyster Bay Hopeful to Return to the Top
Final (Game 1): Oyster Bay 9, East Rockaway 8 WP: Chase Lordi (4.2 IP in relief, 6 H, 2 ER, 4 Ks) Alex Karpavicius: 3-4, 3 RBIs pic.twitter.com/CXdoK8nvsp — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 15, 2024 Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s series by Max Edelman Jeff Schiereck is entering his ninth season in charge of the Oyster Bay Baymen. Schiereck has created a consistent winning culture in Oyster Bay, and his 2024 season proved just that. “We went 14-1 in the league last year.” Schiereck said. “We ended up making it to the County Finals, but unfortunately we lost there. It was a good team. We had some very good senior leadership and a lot of young guys stepped up. We hope to see a lot of the same things this year.” Backed by a talented s...
GAME RECAP: Danny Anicito Hits Walk-Off Single in 10th For Dramatic Victory
What a game ! Danny Anicito comes through with a walk off single in the bottom of the 10th Chaminade 4, Holy Trinity 3 pic.twitter.com/BpVTK7wBjx — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) March 26, 2025 The calendar might still say March but there’s already a contender for the Game of the Year. What started as a mundane afternoon affair in dreary weather at Cantiague Park, turned into a thrilling, edge-of-your-seat extra inning battle between two Catholic League rivals. Here’s the game-tying blast by Kentucky-commit Michael Gardner of Chaminade pic.twitter.com/jeWR9sqrq0 — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) March 27, 2025 The Chaminade Flyers erased multiple late-game deficits – a dramatic game-tying two-run shot by Kentucky-commit Michael Gardner in the 9th inning and ultimatel...
