NEWS
Travis Zurita to Receive 2018 Axcess Rookie of the Year Award
In a crowded field with four legitimate candidates, Maritime LF Travis Zurita will be the recipient of the 2018 Axcess Baseball Rookie of the Year Award. The Ozone Park native put up monster numbers; batting .402 with a .500 OBP, .513 SLG, 32 RBI, 34 runs scored and 13 stolen bases. His coach, Charlie Barbieri had the following to say: “Travis was one of the highest-level recruits Maritime has ever had. He was originally committed to play baseball at West Point out of high school powerhouse Poly Prep, but when that fell through, we took advantage of the opportunity to get him into Maritime. Travis helped set the table and was an offensive catalyst for us out of the lead-off spot. In a talented and senior heavy lineup, Travis started every game and led our team in batting average, hit...
Long Island Titans Host Media Day
Chandler Giovinco (Newfield 2019) discusses his experience with the college recruiting process and why he chose @HofstraBaseball pic.twitter.com/Vr0j7HoC0x — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) November 28, 2018 Tonight was the annual Media Day for the Long Island Titans at Prospect Sports in Farmingdale. Their 51 members of the 2019 graduating class came together for photos and interviews, discussing their experience with the college recruiting process. Among those 51 are 20 Division-I signees including schools such as Miami, St. John’s, Georgetown, Maryland, Kansas, Jacksonville, Northeastern, Hofstra, Stony Brook, Rhode Island and UNC-Wilmington. Smithtown East catcher Matty Tempone had the following to say about his experience: “The college recruiting process can be draini...
Finalists for 2018 Axcess Rookie of the Year
We named four freshmen on this year’s All-Long Island team. All four of them are finalists for the 2018 Axcess Baseball Rookie of the Year Award. Here’s how they stack up: Matt Overton, Molloy Key Stats: .342 AVG, 38 R, 2 HR, 36 RBI, .439 OBP, .449 SLG Travis Zurita, Maritime Key Stats: .402 AVG, 2 HR, 32 RBI, .500 OBP, .513 SLG, 13-for-17 SB Mike Manetta, SUNY Old Westbury Key Stats: .370 AVG, 27 R, 21 RBI, .421 OBP, .521 SLG, 11-for-16 SB Vin Napolitano, Nassau CC Key Stats: .394 AVG, 33 R, 5 HR, 32 RBI, 26 BB, .528 OBP, .646 SLG Voting will take place on our Twitter until Friday. The voting will be a major factor involved in the decision.
James Varela To Receive 2018 Axcess Baseball Cy Young Award
James Varela will receive the 2018 Axcess Baseball Cy Young Award for his outstanding performance this season. As a junior, he broke several program records. He finished with a record of 11-1, ERA of 2.40, 116 strikeouts over 101.1 IP. He also fired seven complete games (six consecutive) and three shutouts. He held the opposition to a batting average of .185. There were several criteria considered for this award: ERA Record Innings Pitched Strikeouts Level of Competition Historical Significance Conference Statistics For those who follow me on Twitter, you know that I am a proponent of disregarding win-loss record for starting pitchers in the Major Leagues. That does not apply to the amateur level because the elite pitchers typically go deeper into games than in the big leagues. Varela comp...
Johnny Castagnozzi: What I’m Thankful For
(Editor’s Note: Johnny Castagnozzi is a 2020 graduate of Massapequa HS. He was the first player in Tom Sheedy’s tenure to start as a 9th grader. All he’s done is lead them to back-to-back Class AA Long Island Championships including a NYS Class AA Championship this past June. He committed to the University of North Carolina as a sophomore. The following words are his own…) Thanksgiving is a time of year to look back on the many things that we have in our lives that we appreciate. For me there are so many things that come to mind. First, I have been blessed with an incredible family. They support me in every aspect of my life. My Mom and Dad who do everything possible to help me to develop as an athlete and as a person. They’ve given me strength even when things are ...
Axcess Showcase At Ducks Stadium
We will be co-hosting a College Showcase at Ducks Stadium with Pro Game Athletics. In addition to playing in a professional baseball stadium, we will have 20 college coaches in attendance and full social media coverage of the event; including spotlights on the top players in the attendance. After the event, we will publish an article on the top performers. You can register by clicking here!
Q & A With Pat Barrett
(Editor’s Note: Pat Barrett is a 2013 graduate of MacArthur HS. Following his career, he pitched at Virginia Wesleyan College. He has transitioned to coaching and has quickly risen from a Volunteer Coach to a Pitching Coach to a Recruiting Coordinator in just over one year.) I had the chance to speak with him and here’s what he had to say… What was it like playing at MacArthur? Why are they always so successful? Playing for MacArthur HS was a very unique experience which I glad I was able to do. I honestly really didn’t play that much during my time as I was apart of a very stacked generation of talent which had many players recruited and go on to play in college such as Adam Heidenfelder, Rob Andreoli, Dom Danetti, etc. The success honestly starts at the youth level in t...
2018 Axcess Baseball Cy Young Finalists Announced
There is never a shortage of high-end arms on Long Island. 2018 was no exception, but there were two college arms that stood above the rest. Typically, we have three finalists but adding a third would be a disservice to these two. John Rooney (Hofstra) : 8-2, 1.23 ERA, 3 CG, 95.0 IP, 51 H, 108 K, .166 AVG Rooney skyrocketed his value after a strong showing in the Cape Cod League during the summer of 2017. He continued that momentum and never looked back. The 6’5″ 225 lb southpaw was lights-out from day 1 of the season, not allowing a run until his fourth outing of the season. In his third outing, he fired the first six innings of a combined no-hitter and put himself on the national radar. During his March outing against UNC-Wilmington, I was in attendance and watched him silenc...
Nick Grande to Receive 2018 Axcess Baseball Most Valuable Player Award
Following an outstanding 2018 season, Stony Brook SS Nick Grande will add one more piece of hardware to his collection. The Smithtown West grad will receive Axcess Baseball’s Most Valuable Player Award. During his sophomore season, he posted an incredible season slashing .377/.468/.560 with 59 runs scored, six HR, 28 RBI and 32 stolen bases. He also played stout defensively. For his feats, he was named All-American. Coming out of high school, he was ranked by us as the No. 6 prospect on Long Island, but has certainly continuously improved and is now considered a draft prospect this season. He comes from a baseball family, as his father was the Head Coach of Island Trees HS for 14 seasons and played collegiately at Farmingdale State College. He cited Derek Jeter as his favorite player...
What Research Says About Weighted Baseballs
WEIGHTED BASEBALLS: DO’s and DON’T’s BASED ON THE RESEARCH Jarad Vollkommer, CSCS Assistant Director of Training, Infiniti Sports Performance Oh boy, here we go again with all the weighted baseball stuff… But, seriously, are you educated yet? Probably not. There is so much more research needed to fully understand everything there is about weighted baseballs. So far, here is some of what we do know in a quick summary: Throwing Velocity Using an array of weighted baseballs (4-12oz.) can lead to an increase in throwing velocity, we know that. One study [1] found that using over-weighted baseballs as a warm up greatly improved both throwing velocity and accuracy. These results are great, but they lack ecological validity (carry-over effect). Will a pitcher ever warm-up with a non-regulation ba...
