NEWS
West Islip Looks to Protect their Crown
Watch our West Islip season preview. They are coming off their second Class AA Long Island Championship in three years, They compiled an overall record of 25-6 last year and will be returning some significant talent, headlined by Fordham-commit Jake Guercio, Pace-commit Greg Tsouprakos, Felician-commit Kyle O’Neill and uncommitted senior Joe Valentino.
Nassau County Class AA Preview
With the newly developed conferences this year, there will be two conferences containing 7 teams each, and the top 6 in each conference will make the playoffs. The top 2 teams in each conference will receive a first round bye. The newly developed conferences will change how these teams approach the season as they all have a chance at a playoff run. Here’s a look at what to expect for Class AA in 2017. Conference AA1: Conference Champs – Massapequa (16-2) 2nd Place – Oceanside (13-5) 3rd Place – Freeport (10-8) 4th Place – Hicksville (9-9) 5th Place – Port Washington (8-10) 6th Place – Farmingdale (7-11) Although Conference AA1 lost a ton of talent with huge names such as Kyle Martin, Chris Keenan and Pat Clyne graduating, there’s still a good...
Ward Melville Not Taking Anyone Lightly in League I
Ward Melville has been a Suffolk County powerhouse since Head Coach Lou Petrucci took over in 2007. The effervescent skipper is not one to take credit for that success, though. “Like the great Jimmy Leyland said, ‘A great coach has great players”, he said. They have certainly had some sensational players in recent memory. They’ve had two Carl Yastrzemski Award winners in A.J. Nunziato (2007) and Steven Matz (2009) and two Paul Gibson Award winners in Anthony Kay (2013) and Joe Flynn (2015). But Petrucci said they will not be taking anyone lightly this year with the level of competition across League I. “Sachem East will shock everyone this year–mark my words.” He added that teams like Pat-Med, Brentwood, Longwood and Lindenhurst have legit players ...
Glenn Well-Positioned For Bounce Back Year
Coming off a 17-2 record in 2015, Glenn stumbled out of the gate in ’16 primarily due to a wrath of injuries to key players. Their two top pitchers and starting catcher went down with injuries and they got off to a disastrous start to the season. They did respond well to adversity, winning four consecutive games in the middle of the season and ultimately finished with their pride in tact. This year, first year Head Coach Matthew Rocchio is fortunate to be inheriting a team that he is very familiar with–being that he was the JV coach for the previous two seasons and watched much of this group mature. The team will be counting on Adelphi-commit Jack Ryan to provide veteran leadership, stability behind the plate and offensive production. He will be handling a staff that has a very...
North Babylon Leaning on Talented Stable of Underclassmen
Coach Steve Corrado knows his team drew some tough luck when they were placed into a playoff bracket with Northport and Bay Shore. After losing the opening round playoff game to Northport, they had to face a hungry No. 1 seed in Bay Shore coming off a loss. They were defeated 7-3, but Corrado knows that shouldn’t take away from the success of the season. “Everything went great until the playoffs,” he said. “We were right there–we beat West Islip during the season and took them to extra innings in the third game. The team really bought in–that’s what happens when you have 13 seniors,” he added. It helped that the team had two seniors that hit .500 in Steven Burke (.500, 3 HR, 23 RBI, 29 runs scored, 37 hits) and Nick Balfe (.500, 5 HR, 37 RBI)...
Old Westbury puts on an offensive clinic
Old Westbury and Lasell State combined for 40 runs in their first game at the Gene Cusic Colligate Classic in Fort Myers, Florida. Westbury pulled out a decisive win in an explosive game yesterday, defeating Lasell 24-16, failing two score at least a run in only two innings. 24 runs on 23 hits, including three home runs for the Panthers’ offense, as they kicked off this week of games with a major bang. David Hawley, Tommy Ziegen, and Paul Rapoli all went deep. Rapoli was two for five with three RBIs and three runs scored, his two-run shot in the second inning were Westbury’s first runs, and tied the game. Ziegen’s solo homer in the fourth inning gave Westbury a 8-7 lead, their first of the day. He contributed a lot than just that though, going four for six on the day with...
Clarke Poised To Get Back to the Top
Most teams would be thrilled with winning 15 games and making it to the quarterfinals of the postseason. Then again, most teams haven’t won 16 conference titles in 18 years. Throughout the tenure of Head Coach Tom Abruscato, Clarke baseball has been a powerhouse in Nassau County Class A. They have won three Long Island Championships and two NYS crowns. It’s been an incredible run of success, but with that comes high expectations every year. You can hear it in his voice, he speaks not in measured tones but absolute terms. “It was the worst year for us,” Abruscato said. They suffered three injuries to key players (both catchers and starting SS) in the beginning of the season which posed a significant challenge for them to overcome. They still found their rhythm, won n...
Longwood Developing Reputation for Producing College-Ready Players
Typically graduating 14 seniors would be a crushing hit for a high school team. In the case of Longwood, it’s business as usual. They have an influx of talented underclassmen and a number of upperclassmen that second year Head Coach Ryan McSherry is high on, thanks to an emphasis on the fundamentals of the game. “Teams that grasp the basics of the game are always competitive,” said McSherry. “We are always looking for diamonds in the rough. Fortunately, we have a big pool to choose from at Longwood so it’s easy to get lost. It’s a good place to coach because we have a lot of hard-nosed players. We have a David Eckstein-type of team” he added. They graduated all three of their starters last year, who went on to play college ball. The trio of Tr...
Pat-Med Looking to Make a Deep Playoff Run
Anytime you can break a record set by Marcus Stroman, you’re doing something right. Pat-Med SS and Albany-commit Brad Malm set the program-record for assists in a single-season last year, according to Head Coach Anthony Frascogna, breaking the previous record held by the Blue Jays ace pitcher. He also recorded a hit in every game (35 total), hit .393, scored 24 runs and drove in 14 runs. One issue he’ll have to deal with is how patient he is at the plate now that he’s no longer a secret. “He’s gotta be selective,” said Frascogna. “Teams are not going to want him to beat them.” This will be a big factor in how far Pat-Med goes this year, coming off a 13-10 season in which they had several first-time varsity players out there. Frascogna was ver...
Smithtown East Loaded With Div-I Talent
You can typically look at a team’s JV record and get an idea of how the varsity team will fare the next season. If that’s the case, Smithtown East could be in store for a special season in 2017. Their JV team compiled a 17-1 record last year, and Head Coach Ken Klee will have no shortage of arms to throw out this year. “This is by far the most pitching depth we’ve ever had,” he said. “The sophomores alone may have seven Div-I players,” he added. Many of those are pitchers. Doug Goodwin (4-1, All-League as a freshman on varsity last year), Nick Harvey, Michael Storms and William Kennedy are four high-end arms from the sophomore class alone. They all played for Gregg Sarra’s vaunted HDMH team. And then there’s the upperclassmen. Lead...
Newfield Ready to Turn the Corner
Second-year Head Coach Eric Joyner knows a thing or two about instilling winning mentalities in his teams. He was a part of two Long Island Championships with Newfield football while a member of the coaching staff. Now having dedicating himself fully to his baseball duties, he sees a difference in how his players are going about their business. “It’s starting to take hold,” he said referring to his coaching philosophies. “We require a lot of the guys, from the weight room to conditioning and batting practice in the offseason–and it’s still a work in progress but they’re coming down here to work,” he added. The Wolverines will be looking to avenge the bitter end to the 2016 in which he needed to win one of their final two games against Smithto...
Centereach Leaning on Three Legit Arms
Not since 2009 has Head Coach Mike Herrschaft spoke this confidently about a pitching staff. Back in those days, I was in his office to discuss how we would be game planning for the opposition. “This might be the best staff we’ve had”, he told me with a smirk knowing that the 2009 staff might think otherwise. Regardless, the Centereach Cougars have a very good chance to shock League 4 this season with a legitimate pitching staff that has opposing coaching noticing. Eric Russo, Sean McGuinnes and Matt Hirsch are all pitchers that work in the low-to-mid 80s with command and have all had some degree of success at the varsity level. Sean McGuinnes (Centereach ’17, College of St Rose-commit) pic.twitter.com/BE4CTIGwPB — aXcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) Februar...
