2020 Season Preview
Division Enters 2020 Highly Motivated
by Joseph Langan With a record of 20-3, Coach Tom Tuttle and his Division High School Dragons found themselves playing for the Class A County Championship title for the second consecutive year. Riding hot on a nine-game winning streak Division seemed unstoppable, that was until they matched up with the Clarke High School Rams. Clarke put out Division’s fire in the best of three title games. Coach Tuttle, disappointed by the leadership in his key senior players, knows that to be successful a good core of leaders is one of the most important parts of his team. “We played our two worst games at the most important time of the year. After our loss to Clarke in the finals last season the major issue we had was a direct result of the poor leadership from some of our seniors. We had some seniors ...
Hills West 2020 Season Preview
by Tony Genualdo Last season was a successful one for Hills West, finishing with an 11-4 league record, and 13-6-1 overall They were co-league champions with Hauppauge. Two All-County players graduated after last season. Silver Slugger winner Mike Draskin (New York Tech) and Aidan Tornquist (Fordham). Coach Tom Migliozzi had one major takeaway from last season. “A takeaway from last year was the proof that leadership is extremely important,” Migliozzi said. “Our captain, Doug Lattuca, did a great job leading this team.” The preparation for the 2020 season started in November for Hills West. Pitchers and catchers began reporting to the team once a week. They, along with the rest of the team, met at local batting cages for hitting drills. But pitching is always the major concern when it come...
Sachem East Looks Dangerous Entering 2020
by Tony Genualdo Last season was a positive one for Sachem East. The league was very competitive, and they were able to qualify for a postseason berth. In fact, they entered the last week of the season with a chance to tie for a League title. They would eventually lose in their third game against Ward Melville. William Floyd was another team that Sachem East battled with all season long, including twice in the playoffs. The season would come to an end with a loss to the eventual county champions in Connetquot by the score of 8-4. Coach Kevin Schnupp says his team will be prepared for every game this season. “This year, we are continuing to build on our past successes looking to take the season one game at a time and to be prepared as possible,” said Schnupp. “We are very lucky to have kids...
Clarke Enters 2020 With The Target On Their Backs
by Joseph Langan FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 2013, THE CLARKE RAMS ARE COUNTY CHAMPIONS!!!! FINAL: Clarke 7 Division 0 pic.twitter.com/pWdOtzXJB7 — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 3, 2019 Coach Tom Abruscato and his Clarke High School Rams have been one of the most successful teams on Long Island since the late 90s. Since his start with the Rams 21 years ago Coach Abruscato has compiled quite the resume, 2 New York State Championships, 3 Long Island Championships, 6 county championships, and an overall record of 434-107. After defeating Division for the Nassau Class A championship, Clarke was well on its way to winning their 4th Long Island Title. Sayville’s Brock Murtha had other plans in mind, throwing a no-hitter in a nail-biting 1-0 win to end Clarke’s joy ride. Coach Abr...
Pat-Med Looking To Build On Last Year’s Playoff Appearance
by Zevan Shuster On his 108th and final pitch Randall Alejo retires Jose Matos to strand the bases loaded in the seventh. Pat-Med looking to walk off pic.twitter.com/ffZoqvsylH — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 8, 2019 According to head coach Anthony Frascogna, Patchogue-Medford should be in more than capable shape heading into the 2020 season. They finished 2019 with a 9-9 league record, qualifying for the postseason with a 9th inning walk-off win against Longwood. “We did graduate a couple of seniors, but our key guys all played last year. Our best pitcher, Chris Baldwin, was All-League last year, and did a nice job for us,” said Frascogna. The head coach had enormous praise for his star pitcher, for his talent, his character and his competitive drive. “He’s going to Alfred St...
Sachem North 2020 Season Preview
by Tony Genualdo After making the playoffs in 2018, Sachem North last season looked to make another playoff run. Unfortunately, they came one game short of getting back. A few injuries to the team seemed to have been the coup de grâce due to not having enough depth on the roster. The parity in League 2 was pretty remarkable as six of the seven teams remained in playoff contention until the last game of the season. Ultimately, Sachem North was unable to seal the deal and clinch a berth as they did in 2018. But this year is a new year, and Coach Tom Gambino is excited to see who will step up for the team. “It will be a fun competition to see who takes jobs,” Gambino said. “Many young guys will have an opportunity to play a significant role for us.” Out of the three starting pitchers last yea...
Commack Is Motivated To Avenge Last Season’s Postseason Exit
by Joseph Langan Joe Pellegrino gives Commack a 6-5 lead in the fifth ! pic.twitter.com/BtXySTeslf — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 25, 2019 Despite another successful season, Commack had their title hopes dashed late in the postseason at the hands of a rival. In a hard fought 8-6 battle against Ward Melville, Commack was knocked out of the playoffs in a contentious back-and-forth affair. Coach Bonin and his team are out for revenge this season, knowing that last season’s abrupt ending doesn’t show how good Commack really is. “The way our season ended last year, who we lost to and when we lost to them is still something myself, Coach Salmon and the returning guys haven’t gotten over.” With the bad taste left in his mouth Coach Bonin is pushing his players to be the best v...
Ward Melville Remains a Championship Contender Entering 2020
by Tony Genualdo Max Nielsen strikes out 18 batters to send Ward Melville to the Suffolk County AA Finals ! pic.twitter.com/RtJrqe4y4p — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 31, 2019 Ward Melville’s run to the Suffolk County title game last year was just the latest in a string of successful seasons for the Patriots of League I. Connetquot would win the championship over Ward Melville in three games, but Coach Lou Petrucci said that he couldn’t have been prouder of his team. “Our kids learned to play in some amazingly energetic and competitive environments,” said Petrucci. “They well exceeded our expectations.” Among those kids from last year were Matty Maurer and Brady Doran, two players who were dominant at the top of the batting order for the team. They would set the tables for fello...
North Babylon 2020 Season Preview
by Zevan Shuster Coming off an extremely successful season last year, North Babylon baseball coach Steve Corrado knows his team will have to reinvent itself if they are to be successful on this upcoming campaign. “We lost a lost of experience last year. We had a good team last year. We were 17-5, and we had a school record 11-game winning streak at one point. What came with that is we had three senior pitchers at the top of the rotation who threw 134 out of 161 innings,” Corrado said. “We think we have some talented kids, but we have kids that are going to have to prove themselves on the varsity level this year, especially on the mound, which is not always easy to do at this level.” While their success was obvious last year, Corrado knows it won’t come as easy this time around. However, h...
LuHi Leaning On Exceptionally Young Group in 2020
There’s young teams and then there’s what the 2020 Long Island Lutheran team is comprised of. Shaun Manning‘s squad will enter the season with 0 seniors, two juniors and 15 players that are either sophomores or younger. The program, coming off a 12-win season, is very much in a transitional phase. Last year’s group was comprised of many seniors. “Eighty five percent of the innings were thrown by seniors. The other 15 percent were thrown by Richie Ratchford,” said Manning. Only a sophomore, he will be counted on to anchor the rotation. Manning noted he is the “only proven quantity on the mound” and there’s six or seven other candidates to fill out the rotation. Another important piece of the team is junior Harrison Leone, who is one of t...
Rocky Point Looking to Return To the Class A Finals With a Young Core
by Zevan Shuster As Rocky Point baseball looks ahead to its 2020 season, one thing is on its mind: redemption. “Coming off a championship loss last year, we brought some returners back. And that left a sour taste in their mouth,” head coach Anthony Anzalone said. “They got a chance at a decent amount of success last year, especially the younger guys. I think those guys that are returning are definitely hungry to make it to that point again,” said Anzalone. Unequivocally, the goal for this season is to get back to the championship game, and to finish the job this season. Whatever motivation lingers from last season’s painful defeat may certainly help this year, but when it comes to on the field, they likely will have to grind to return to the Class A Finals. “We do have a pretty young te...
