NEWS
East Rockaway Excited About 2024 Season Coming Off Postseason Appearance
by Aaron Diaz Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’ season preview series. The East Rockaway Rocks made a playoff appearance in the 2023 season after being absent from the postseason since 2019. The Rocks finished with a 8-14 overall record and 6-11 within B league games. East Rockaway was bounced in the first round of the playoffs by Wheatley to end 2023 but Head Coach James Hickey relishes his excitement for the upcoming season. “We’re very excited about the upcoming season.” Hickey said. “The guys that are returning worked very hard this winter, especially our pitching staff. That’s probably the thing we’re most excited about. We have a very small team this year but are excited about how athletic the team is.” The team turned small after East...
GAME RECAP: Dean Ennis Fires 5.2 Shutout Innings, Longwood Defeats Walt Whitman
Final: Longwood 5, Walt Whitman 0 WP: Dean Ennis (5.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 9 Ks) Urso: 2-R triple Moscatiello: solo HR pic.twitter.com/UZrts3GjF5 — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) March 27, 2024 With an established team like Longwood and an up-and-coming program like Walt Whitman, it promised to be a great League I series to kick off the 2024 season. With the exception of two innings, Walt Whitman has been up to the task, but they have came up short both games by the score of 1-0 and 5-0. Longwood’s pitching has proven to be just too tough and their ability to put together rallies has been the difference. Walt Whitman sent their sophomore stud, Jaden Grose to the mound against Longwood’s senior southpaw Dean Ennis. The game was scoreless through three innings, as both pitch...
GAME RECAP: John Carroll Strikes Out 9 in 2-1 Opening Day Victory
by Max Edelman FINAL: @CHSFlyersBall 2 – @SAFriarsBase 1 John Carroll finishes off a complete game, in which he struck out nine. The Flyers hold off a late Friars surge to open their season with a win. pic.twitter.com/vqAKeEUyil — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) March 26, 2024 On a day where all seven Catholic League teams played at the Moriches Sports Complex to celebrate the beginning of a new season, the Chaminade Flyers defeated the St. Anthony’s Friars 2-1. Entering the top of the seventh and final inning up 2-0, Chaminade starting pitcher John Carroll needed only three outs to give the Flyers the win, and his first complete game shutout of the season. However, that’s where things got dicey. The top half of the seventh began with Carroll getting sophomore CJ Alfano to hit ...
Carle Place Hopeful for Improved Season Under Head Coach Steve Laurino
by Aaron Diaz Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s season preview series. In Steve Laurino’s first year as head coach of the Carle Place Frogs, he led the team to a 6-17 record including the playoffs for the 2023 season. Carle Place made it to the semis after a first-round playoff series win against Locust Valley but fell to a dominant Seaford team in the second round. With playoff experience on their hands, Coach Laurino is excited about their chances in 2024. “We came out slow to start the season,” Laurino said. “We had a tough non-league schedule but came off strong at the right time of the year. So this year I’m excited and I think we have a good chance to make a run. We’re a team that can make some noise again and go even furth...
GAME RECAP: Three Kings Park Pitchers Combine On Opening Day No-No
Final: Kings Park 4, Mount Sinai 0 WP: Hunter Colagrande (5 IP, 0 H, 8 Ks) Combined no-hitter between Colagrande, Callaghan and Hauk pic.twitter.com/rUaPoCXZA3 — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) March 25, 2024 Kings Park Head Coach Andrew Abreu has a mantra for the team and it’s “Nothing Easy”. He joked that they lived up to that today, even in a combined no-hitter with a 4-0 lead. With their ace Hunter Colagrande on the hill, it was reasonable to expect offense to be at a premium in this one. Colagrande was outstanding, firing five no-hit innings with 8 strikeouts. He reached his pitch count limit of 75 and gave way to Matt Callaghan who fired a scoreless sixth inning keeping the no-hitter in tact. In the 7th, reigning League MVP Brandon Hauk came in and struggled wi...
Sunday College Recap (3/24) Powered by Orlin & Cohen
by Mike Merolle A rainy Saturday made way for an eventful Sunday in college baseball. A 13-game winning streak was snapped, three doubleheaders took place, and a boatload of scoring in Division II and III was done on Sunday. Division-I: Hofstra 5 — Northeastern 13 In a CAA matchup, Northeastern visited Hofstra and won their 16th game of the season, 13-5. The Huskies won the series 2-1. Northeastern got going quickly as they scored five runs in the first inning. On the mound for the Pride, Henry Cade surrendered the runs to an RBI single, double, a sacrifice fly, and a wild pitch. After allowing another run in the second off the Huskies stealing home, Cade was pulled finishing the day with six earned runs on four hits allowed and three strikeouts in 1.2 innings pitched. In the third, Wi...
Axcess Baseball’s Preseason All-Long Island
The 2024 high school baseball season is upon us ! Here’s Axcess Baseball’s Preseason All-Long Island list Preseason Player of the Year: Kieran Kehoe, Mepham Preseason Pitcher of the Year: Victor Frederick, St. Dominic Please note: Only 2024 graduates are eligible Honorable Mentions: Pitchers: Kevin Baez, St. Anthony’s Andrew Basel, Mineola Nick Berasti, Clarke Danny Goodman, Calhoun Matt Neglia, Hauppauge Connor Quinn, Wheatley Trey Zaffiro, Manhasset Catchers: Luke Ciminiello, Smithtown East Jimmy Ernst, Kellenberg Thomas Garrett, St. Dominic Andrew Heppner, Holy Trinity Drew McGowan, Eastport-South Manor Zach Rosenzweig, Plainedge Matt Ryan, North Shore Kevin Schnupp Jr, Comsewogue Infielders: Alex Apicella, Sachem East Jack Bodkin, South Side Will Cowan, Kellenberg Ch...
Where Are They Now: Matt Daley
Thousands upon thousands of boys grow up dreaming to play Major League Baseball. Very few are talented enough to even play at the collegiate level. Truly passionate baseball fans will still try to find a way into the industry through a position as a journalist, a scout or if they are intelligent enough, a front office position. Garden City alum Matt Daley is in the very, very small subsection of the baseball world that was both talented enough to play at the big league level while being intelligent enough to transition into a front office position for the New York Yankees. If that sounds difficult to do, that’s because it is. Most organization are looking for highly-educated individuals with economic degrees or MBAs as opposed to a former player that simply has an eye for talent. Dal...
Friday College Recap (3/22) Powered by Orlin & Cohen
By Max Edelman Division-I: Hofstra: G1: Hofstra 3 – Northeastern 2 G2: Northeastern 13 – Hofstra 9 The Hofstra Pride opened their conference play at home with a doubleheader split against the Northeastern Huskies. The Pride were victorious in the first game 3-2, before suffering a defeat in the second game, losing 13-9 in an offensive shootout. In the first game, all five runs were scored in the first inning. The scoring was opened by the Huskies just two batters into the game when Tyler MacGregor connected on a two-run home run to give Northeastern an early lead in the contest. However, Hofstra immediately responded in the bottom of the first frame when Luke Masiuk drove in two on a double. One batter later, Matt Pelcher brought in the go-ahead, and eventual game-winning run....
Westbury Coming Off Most Successful Season in 20 Years
by Aaron Diaz Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s season preview series. The baseball community within Westbury isn’t vast for a relatively large school. But the baseball turnout has gotten stronger throughout the years and last year was a step in the right direction for Coach Ryan Mulholland in his third year at Westbury. “We had a successful season last year,” said Mulholland. “We had a 9-8 record which was the most wins Westbury baseball has had since 2003. That was a big improvement for us. So that was a testament to our kids and their work ethic.” Westbury started the year 0-8 and won nine straight games to end the season on a high note. That win streak gave some motivation to the Dragons heading into the 2024 season. “You always want to ...
Valley Stream Central Begins New Era Under Head Coach Tino Muscatelli
by Max Edelman Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s season preview series. After serving the previous two years as an assistant coach of the Valley Stream Central Eagles, new head coach Tino Muscatelli is set to step into the head role for his first year. With a new head coach, and in a new conference, Muscatelli looked back on what was a successful season for his squad last year, and why his team will be joining a new league this year. “Our program was in the county wide last year.” Muscatelli said. “We had success last year, we went 15-4-1. But this year, we’re out of the county wide, back into our regular scheduled league. I’m looking forward to playing against some good teams, and trying to build the program from the bottom up.” Seven starte...
Led by Dynamic 1-2 Punch, Longwood Eyes Deep Postseason Run
Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s season preview series. Elimination game between Longwood and Ward Melville. Winner will advance to face Pat-Med tomorrow in the Conference II Final pic.twitter.com/ufnuXson2z — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 22, 2023 Longwood has become one of the most consistent programs in Suffolk County since Ryan McSherry took over in 2016. Last season was no different as they finished with a 16-8 record and a share of the League I title along with Sachem East and Pat-Med. The playoffs started off extremely well as they defeated Bellport and Ward Melville, before blowing a late lead to Pat-Med and losing, 12-7. Then, they had to face Ward Melville in a rematch on the road, and they lost 3-2 in extra innings. The...
