2021 Season Previews
Coming Off First County Appearance in 50 Years, Port Washington Ready To Get Back to Work
Jack Schnidler drives in a run and now the tying run is 90 feet away. Men on 1st & 3rd with one out. pic.twitter.com/ZaYOTgItQl — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 1, 2019 2019 was a banner year for Port Washington as they reached the Class AA County Finals for the first time since 1969 and they also had their own player, Alex Chang, capture the coveted Diamond Award for the first time program history. That team was the No. 1 overall seed (21-4) entering the playoffs and knocked off a tremendously talented Oceanside team to advance to face Massapequa, but they had their dream season cut short at SUNY Old Westbury. Going into last year, they were still confident that they would make a deep run. “Going into 2020, we thought we had maybe the second best rotation in the count...
Tom Tuttle Enters 13th Season Leaning On Inexperienced Bunch
Division is headed back to the County Championship for the second year in a row! FINAL: Division 5 Bethpage 1 (F/14) pic.twitter.com/1DZ0DqayCK — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 25, 2019 The irony about the 2021 season is that –at least in the beginning – the best programs may be at the biggest disadvantage. While it may sound hard to believe, it’s because of the cancellation last year. The strongest programs in 2019 typically featured senior-laden teams. Those players have all since graduated and the current seniors all played JV or earned modest playing time in 2019. Division is one of the strongest programs on Long Island. They have made the County Finals six of the previous 12 seasons and have made the postseason every year since 1974. Head Coach Tom Tuttle, ...
Led By a Deep Pitching Staff, Newfield Excited for a Run in 2021
by Chris Sacchi Dylan Johnson delivers ! The sophomore rips an RBI hit and gets himself a 1-0 in a classic pitcher’s duel ! pic.twitter.com/jJEi1gFUYf — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 18, 2019 Head coach Eric Joyner and his Newfield squad are more than ready to start this 2021 season, for a variety of reasons. The first can be said of so many teams across the country; they are ready to make up for lost time after a canceled 2020 season. “We’re fired up. The boys are chomping at the bit,” Newfield said. “They’re definitely hungry. The workouts have been intense.” Also part of the equation is Newfield’s desire to bounce back from what Joyner called a “rebuild” year in 2019 (7-11 record.) “We felt last year that we were poised to do some things,” coach said. “We felt a...
Tim Belz Confident Team Chemistry Will Pay Off for Hills East
Reis Henderson wins it for Hills East with a walk-off single to score Nick Gavilla ! pic.twitter.com/yyZVfPV9MN — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) March 29, 2019 by Ben Diamond After losing last season, Hills East had a big senior class graduate. But, Head Baseball Coach at Hills East, Tim Belz, believes that the core of his team is still intact. Led by junior shortstop Nick Farnacci, who has been with the team since freshman year. Senior catcher Aiden Limerick, who he expects big things from this coming season, and senior RHP Kyle Cavataio. Belz said that Cavataio would’ve been a big part of his pitching staff had the season not been cancelled last year. Belz feels as though the hole left by the departing senior class isn’t as big as other schools. Uncommitted Kyle Cavataio (Hills Eas...
Plainview JFK Hopeful To Return to Winning Ways of 2017-’18
by Chris Sacchi John Givargidze‘s Plainview JFK baseball team, just like many across the island, is heading into the 2021 season with new challenges. Yet, while Plainview has the talent to overcome, they will have to adapt to a couple of unique circumstances. First, during preseason preparation, Givardgize says his team had seven practice/workout sessions cancelled due to COVID-19 issues. “The offseason has been kind of weird,”Givardgize said. “A lot of guesswork on a lot of it.” Yet, coach is choosing to look on the bright (and sunny) side. “I’m trying to see a bright spot in all this. Usually our preseason stuff is done in January, February, in the gym,” coach said. “So we’ve been lucky enough to be able to get outside, on the baseball field, and do a lot of our workout...
Commack Poised For a Postseason Run in 2021
by Eric Belyea Commack baseball is one of the most touted programs on Long Island, and that does not change going into the 2021 shortened season. Head coach Bryan Bonin, a former CW Post Pioneer, is heading into his fourth season with Commack, after leading the Cougars to a Suffolk County championship in his first season. Although this year has been different in terms of preparation, Bonin has been able to put trust in his upperclassmen leadership when getting physically prepared for the season; “the kids have taken it upon themselves to work out together a few times a week. We do meet via Zoom but as far as getting physically ready they have been working really hard and mirroring workouts that the guys who have been around for a while are familiar with”, Bonin explains. With the COVID-1...
Kellenberg Begins New Era With Pat Miles at the Helm
by Chris Sacchi After 22 years of coaching at Kellenberg Memorial High School, Chris Alfalla has handed down the reins to a former player of his, who is ready to continue the legacy. “It’s a dream come true,” said Kellenburg head coach Pat Miles. “As a 14-year-old kid going to baseball camp at Kellenberg, as an incoming freshman going into the year 2001, now coming full circle,” Miles said. “Being such a big part of my life, it’s certainly something that I want to continue with his philosophies and his connection to his players.” After playing for Alfalla on the varsity level, Miles moved on to play college ball at Molloy following the 2005 season. Miles says he came on board to coach at Kellenberg “pretty much right away” after college, and the relationship has continued during the ...
St. John the Baptist Enters 2021 With a Formidable Roster
by Chris Sacchi Casey McKay’s St. John the Baptist baseball team has been a consistent contender for the CHSAA title since he took over in 2016. With one title, another title appearance, and most recently a semi-finals loss to St. Anthony’s in 2019, McKay has coached a lot of great players. So how does he feel about this year’s squad, ahead of a unique 2021 season? “This is probably the most talented team we’ve had,” McKay said. “I would almost say since the team’s been nationally ranked in the early 2000’s. It’s more talented than the team we had when we won in 2018.” “They’re ready to play, they’re hungry to play. We have a lot of college baseball players on this team that are really, really excited for this year to see what they’re able to do and pu...
Hauppauge Prepares for ‘Biggest Challenge’
by Chris Sacchi After the 2019 season, Hauppauge head coach Josh Gutes already had a clear idea of how the team would stack up the following year, ready to defend a league title. “I pretty much had opening day’s lineups written at the end of the 2019 season.” For a program that has won 4 league titles of the last 5 seasons, that makes sense. Yet heading into 2021, Gutes has a team that is filled with positional battles, and the lineup is much less of a sure thing thanks to graduating 7 seniors following 2020. “I probably have seven different lineups that are written out already, with as many as 15,16 kids mixed in there.” This has made preseason that much more important, and coach Gutes embraces the new feeling in Hauppauge. “Every second of practice matters. I think this is going to be a ...
Matt Prokopowicz Eager To Start Coaching Career With St. Dominic’s
by Chris Sacchi Matt Prokopowicz is in his second year as head coach of the St. Dominic’s baseball team. Yet, he’s still waiting to manage his first game. “Getting to go now, I’m a little kid in a candy store. I’m all smiles ear to ear and I can’t wait, I need to get that baseball fix in… it’s starting to hit home that we’re going to be starting very very soon.” Coach has a lot to look forward to. As a former All-American at Hofstra, and a member of Massepequa’s 2006 Class AA State Championship team, coach brings great experience from his playing days to foster what he feels like is a fantastic team environment. “Being a team and having success, you’ve got to trust every single person… And those kids get it. They understand it and they’re buying in. And if you come ...
Holy Trinity Building Foundation For Successful Future
by Eric Belyea Holy Trinity and the rest of the CHSAA are heading into one of the most anticipated seasons it has had in a while. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the world was swept into a different direction, school and all their activities were cancelled, including their sports. Titans head coach, Dan Luisi is entering his fourth year with the program, he returned home to his alma mater, where he graduated back in 2005. excited about the group of seniors he has this season, since they got to sit under the learning tree of the group of 12 seniors who graduated last year. “Last year we had 12 seniors, that I was able to coach basically since I got to Trinity, and they knew what my expectations were and what I believed the program should be and how it should be ran”, Luisi continued; “with t...
North Babylon Looks To Restore Momentum From 2019
by Chris Sacchi Steve Corrado and his North Babylon High School Baseball team can be seen as a reflection of the current state of affairs when it comes to overcoming Covid-19. At first, Corrado has to reflect on what has been lost: “The first thing I would say is that last year, my heart was broken for my seniors, that they didn’t get an opportunity to come back out and prove that we were going to be a good team.” Just like the rest of the world, Corrado is hoping we can reclaim what was had before. Absolutely dominant outing by 6’4 RHP Colin Rhein (North Babylon 2021). Sitting 87-88 T89 with a vicious 72 MPH hook pic.twitter.com/oWzo8Ye3kj — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 24, 2020 “We hope that the blueprint for success in ‘18 and ‘19 will carry over to all these...
