NEWS
Garden City Enters 2019 With A Chip On Their Shoulder
Final: Garden City 12 Wantagh 3 WP: Andrew Nagel Winner take all game Tueaday @ 4PM. pic.twitter.com/D3JLUtDuLz — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 28, 2017 Among the most impressive teams in Nassau Class A over the last two years is the Garden City Trojans. After taking Wantagh to Game Three of the County Championship two years ago and losing to them in the semifinals last season, it’s evident they came up just short of something special. The question of “what if” will linger around the locker room this off season, but expect the Trojans to turn the page and be a threat once again in 2019. As far as Garden City’s conference opponents, it’s hard to envision anyone preventing them from being conference champions once again. Their 2019 schedule includes N...
South Side Confident That Team Depth Will Yield Big Results
Ask any team on Long Island about depth. It’s a good thing to have. The South Side Cyclones could tell you all about it, even after losing a few impact seniors last year from an 8-12 team, the Cyclones return one of the deepest teams the school has seen in years, which is leaving the school excited that it can return to being at the top of the conference. Even with their big senior class last year, they have a ton of depth. Among the losses were catcher Patrick Leach and the Cyclones number one starter, Bobby Frankini. They also lost their starting third baseman Zach Leff and their starting center fielder Chris Collins. Replacing four starters on varsity isn’t usually an easy task, however, the Cyclones remain confident because of who’s coming back and who’s going to step up. The returning...
Alfalla Closing In On 200 Wins As Kellenberg Looks to Bounce Back From Last Season
If you are judging programs on their ability to win championships and get players to the next level, there’s no question that Kellenberg is right there with any program including Nassau and Suffolk public schools. Since 2016, they have won two CHSAA titles and have sent 21 players to the collegiate level. Chris Cappas (Pittsburgh), Robert Weissheier (Hofstra) and Terrence Murray (Fordham) are all playing at the Division-I level while Kevin McCarthy is in the Major Leagues with the Kansas City Royals. Last year was certainly a down year by their standards, falling to 8-13 after winning back-to-back CHSAA championships and being named Axcess Baseball’s Team of the Year in 2017. “During the previous two years we found ourselves in a lot of one-run situations where we would b...
Mepham Hoping To Build On Last Season’s Success With An Even Stronger 2019
Often overlooked, Mepham is seeking recognition this season. They return several top notch players, and have leaders with postseason experience ready to roll. Coming off a season where they lost two closely contested playoff games to powerhouses Wantagh and North Shore, Mepham is entering 2019 with a chip on their shoulder. Not only do they expect to be improved this year, but they’re confident everyone on the team will have a significant role. If everyone plays to their full potential, this team can cause some havoc in Conference A1. On the offensive side of the ball, Mepham expects to do damage. They will be led by Gianni Macchio, who was named All-County in 2018 and finished with a .510 batting average. Junior Matt Hegig will be another powerful bat in middle of the lineup who mad...
East Meadow Looking to Regain 2016 Magic
It was less than three years ago that East Meadow rode the right arm of Joe Minucci and the power bat of Zach Fritz to the Nassau County Class AA title. Now entering 2019, fifth year Head Coach John Marciante is excited about their chances to compete for another title. Last year, they were defeated by Massapequa in the quarterfinals with a starting lineup that was composed of two sophomores, five juniors and two seniors. “We were young last year,” said Head Coach Marciante. “We are hoping the experience they gained helps them this year.” He went on to add that they will miss the presence of Patrick Hoffman, an All-County LHP/1B who is now at Molloy, as well as Billy McQuillan, who went 16-5 during his three-year career and is now at NYIT. The roster this year will l...
Massapequa’s Quest For A Three-Peat In Full Effect
Massapequa is the 2018 NY Class AA Champs ! pic.twitter.com/c8IsF0PYDc — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 9, 2018 There are a number of programs on Long Island that have never won a county championship. Some of them might never experience it. For Massapequa Head Coach Tom Sheedy, who has won eight since 2006, winning championships has essentially become a tradition. Not only is this number impossible to fathom, but it goes to show how consistent and dedicated his program is to being the best on Long Island every single year. He rarely disappoints. Last year, Massapequa started the season off 4-5. Fast forward to May, and they finished with a record of 22-6, including a perfect 8-0 postseason. Coming off two consecutive Class AA Long Island championships and a 2018 state cham...
Holy Trinity Ready to Take Next Step in Dan Luisi’s 2nd Season
The Holy Trinity Titans know what challenges are ahead of them for the upcoming season. The Titans play in the Catholic league, which is one of, if not the toughest league on Long Island. They finished last year with a record of 8-13 under Head Coach Dan Luisi in his first year. They know what it takes to compete, and they are hoping that some new additions to the team, along with some key returning players, that the Titans will do just that in 2019 to take that next step. There are a few seniors that the Titans will look to lean on this season. To start, the team will be led by senior, Nick Hagstrom, who is a starting pitcher and infielder. Hagstrom is going to be a big part of the lineup for the Titans but that’s not all. They will look to rely on him for significant innings on the mound...
Plainview Has Their Eyes Set On A Deep Postseason Run For Third Consecutive Year
Over the last two years, it’s safe to say Plainview has been one of the powerhouses in Class AA. In 2017, the Hawks fell to Massapequa in the county championship and in 2018, they lost to Massapequa in the seminfinals, who went on to win the state championship. Three years ago, the Hawks knew they had a strong core of sophomores that had potential to be great. They capitalized on that window. This core included 2017 Diamond Award-winner Mark Faello (Hofstra), Tyler Marinaccio (Maine), Ryan Saltzman (Mercy) and Michael Cole (Franklin & Marshall). Fast forward to 2018 and they carried Plainview deep into May two seasons in a row. Losing a core of players with their level of talent is never an easy thing to do, but it certainty won’t be the first time they’ve had to deal...
Sachem North Ready For the Grind of League II
Mount Saint Vincent’s-commit Jake Pierre (Sachem North 2019) getting his swings in pic.twitter.com/uDMTD7jfcC — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) February 8, 2019 Playing in League 2 is an incredible challenge. Sachem North Head Coach Tom Gambino has been at the helm since 2005 and knows the league inside-and-out and he recognizes this as well. “Connetquot and Commack are the heavy favorites,” said Gambino. “Connetquot is bringing back almost everyone from last year. Every team in the league is good,” he added. Four teams were represented in the postseason, including these Sachem North Arrows, who finished the regular season with a record of 11-9, before dropping both playoff games to Commack and Longwood. To add to the challenge, the team graduated their o...
MacArthur Looks Upon New Faces To Make An Impact In 2019
If you’ve followed Nassau County baseball at some point in your life, you are aware that MacArthur is one of the most decorated programs in Long Island history. Within the last ten years, MacArthur has totaled five Diamond Award winners and took home the Class AA County Championship in 2015. Among one of the few programs in Nassau County who compete for a county championship no matter what their roster looks like, MacArthur knows what it takes to be successful. Since their switch to Class A in 2017, the Generals fell to their cross-town rivals Division in the postseason back-to-back years. If we’ve learned one thing from the past, it’s that MacArthur always knows how to rebound and will never go down without a fight. However, they may face some adversity coming into this ...
Q & A With Centereach Head Coach Pete Cammarata
Pete Cammarata is entering his second season as Head Coach of Centereach baseball. He was previously the assistant for Mike Herrschaft since 2004. In his first season, the Cougars went 9-11 and missed the playoffs by one game. They needed to sweep Copiague to clinch but had to face Franklin Parra in the final game–and held their own–but lost 7-5 with the winning run coming across on an unearned run. I am a 2009 graduate of Centereach, where we won the League III title in dramatic fashion, needing to sweep both East Islip and Smithtown East to clinch–which we were able to do. After repeating as League III champs in 2010–thanks to a .375 team average, it’s been eight consecutive postseason-less seasons for the Cougars. They will give it their best shot this seas...
St. John the Baptist Looks To Young Core To Push For Consecutive league championships
If there is one thing that’s consistent across all sports, it’s that teams who get hot at the end of the season win championships. That was exactly the case last year for the St. John the Baptist baseball team as they won 11 of their final 12 games on their way to a CSHAA league championship. And it wasn’t easy. “In [this] league, it’s almost whoever gets hot at the right time,” said St. John the Baptist head coach Casey McKay. “A lot of the games we were actually down,” he said. “We were behind or tied in every single game in the playoffs.” That includes the deciding game of the league championship where the team was down 3-0 and rallied to win the game 5-3 and their first league championship since 2014. “We don’t get high on ourselves.” McKay says that’s the reason why the 2018 team neve...
