2023 Season Previews
Locust Valley Ready to Build off County Championship Appearance
by Andy Smith Locust Valley 3, Oyster Bay 2 WP: Matt Gallo (5 IP, 3 H, 5 Ks) S: Jack Baker Christian Corey: 2 RBIs Locust Valley will face Wheatley in the Nassau B Finals in a best of 3 series beginning on Monday at SUNY Farmingdale pic.twitter.com/SFVSq5cBfr — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 21, 2022 The Locust Valley Falcons are coming off a strong year in 2022. The Falcons finished with twelve wins and made a deep playoff run. However, their season was ultimately ended by Wheatley in the County Championship. Locust Valley will be entering 2023 with a new skipper. Brian LoRusso, a former college baseball player at SUNY New Paltz and college coach in Maryland, looks to continue the success of the Locust Valley program. The Falcons are starting their campaign without some key ...
Floyd Looking to Build On Last Year’s Playoff Run
Final: William Floyd 6, Sachem East 4 WP: Riley Lake Jayden Zayas: 3-R HR during 6-run third inning William Floyd (10-9) advances to face Ward Melville tomorrow pic.twitter.com/80cZXW6pSC — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 19, 2022 William Floyd made some noise in the 2022 postseason as they upset two powerhouse teams in Pat-Med and Sachem East. We covered the latter game, in which they used a six-run inning to shock a talented Sachem East team and advance to the next round. Ultimately, they were defeated by Ward Melville, in a game that took place over the course of two days due to an elongated rain delay. That team graduated 11 seniors, as is often the case with a large school such as Floyd. Several of those players were impact players such as All-League OF Colin Ross, who is now...
South Side Enters 2023 with Strong Senior Core and High Expectations
by Andy Smith Final: South Side 13, Manhasset 1 WP: TJ Maher Maher also hit a grand slam Game 3 tomorrow at Manhasset pic.twitter.com/qea8TMnybU — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 17, 2021 South Side had a very successful 2022 – which followed up winning the County Championship in 2021. The Cyclones finished with an outstanding 16-2 record, but their playoff run did not go as planned. They suffered a couple of big injuries that made them vulnerable, and it unfortunately ended their season. Entering his eleventh season as the head coach, Tom Smith reflected on how the campaign ended. “We were playing teams in our bracket in the round robin who were in our conference. The more you see a team the easier it is to find ways to beat them especially without key players.” Two rece...
Harborfields Begins New Era Under Ian Schneider
Ian Schneider has a very strong coaching resume for a young, ascending coach. The 2010 Mount Sinai graduate has had assistant coaching jobs at Port Jefferson, Hauppauge and Harborfields. After Casey Sturm stepped down following the 2022 season, it was announced that Schneider would be promoted to head coach at Harborfields. “I am incredibly excited and incredibly grateful for all the coaches that have helped me – Jesse Rosen, Josh Gutes and Casey Sturm. I’ve been shaped by a lot of great coaches that I played for such as Tom Caputo (Dowling) and Eric Reichenbach (Mount Sinai). I’m incredibly thankful for the time I’ve had with al the coaches that I’ve worked for and played for. I hope to take pieces from all of them to mold my own style.” Uncommitt...
LuHi Looking for 3-Peat as PSAA Champs
Jack Coogan went 3-for-3 with 2 triples, 2 walks and 3 RBIs as LuHi captured their second straight PSAA Championship with a 15-2 victory (plus ice shower) pic.twitter.com/ysaKn40t7K — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 12, 2022 It was another great season for Long Island Lutheran under head coach Shaun Manning as they captured the Private School Athletic Association Championship for a second straight season. They lost in the New York State tournament to Stony Brook Prep, but that shouldn’t overshadow what they did during the regular season in which they started 11-0 and defeated a tough Portledge team in the PSAA Championship at LuHi. They also defeated Collegiate HS in the New York State tournament prior to their loss to Stony Brook. In that championship game, LuHi showed thei...
Led by One of Top Pitchers on Long Island, East Islip Hungry to Make Playoff Run
Stony Brook-commit Nick Rizzo (East Islip 2023) pounding the zone, T86. Command of CH and 11-5 breaking ball. Pro potential pic.twitter.com/UM76wEV7Sv — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) February 6, 2022 In 2021, East Islip absolutely dominated and captured the Long Island Championship over Bethpage in a blowout. Many of the starters from that team went on to play in college and have established themselves as legitimate college players – RHP John Rizzo, catcher Ryan Thompson, SS Ryan Ferremi, to name a few. Entering 2023, only 2 players remain from that team and it’s Stony Brook-commit Nick Rizzo and Adelphi-commit CF Anthony Rigogliosi. Last year’s team was senior-laden as well, but they did not have the necessary pieces to make a return to the County Championship, as...
Port Jefferson Looking to Repeat as Class C Long Island Champs
It’s only fitting that Luke Filippi handles it himself to end the game and win the Class C Long Island Championship for Port Jefferson pic.twitter.com/lmcrT5AE96 — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 3, 2022 Port Jefferson captured their first Long Island Championship since 2008 this past season with a victory over Carle Place at St. Joseph’s University. The game ended in very appropriate fashion as their ace RHP Luke Filippi caught a line drive back to the mound to secure the final out. Filippi, who is now a freshman at Albany, led the Royals in every possible way. He batted an insane .750 for the season, with an .803 OBP. He also drove in 41 runs, scored 31 runs and stole 42 bases. On the mound, he did not give up an earned run over 40 innings and was the winning pitche...
Carey Looks to Use Athleticism to Make Another Playoff Run
Ryan Degnan struck out 14, allowing just one hit and one walk and Carey won on a walk-off infield single in the bottom of the 7th pic.twitter.com/bgpt0MdTQG — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 25, 2022 In just about any other year, perhaps Carey is the Conference-II Champs, but last year they were forced to deal with a powerhouse in Calhoun who came away with the Conference Championship, and ultimately the Long Island Championship. Carey finished the league with a record of 15-2-1 and handed Calhoun their only conference loss on a game in which we covered. Overall, they finished with a record of 16-4-1. They had some outstanding performances, including the League MVP – CF Teagan Graham. He batted an even .500 for the season, stole 14 bases and coach said he had the only R...
Calhoun Hoping to Defend Their Title as Long Island Class A Champs
Calhoun captures the 2022 Class A Long Island Championship! pic.twitter.com/kjYnciemui — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 4, 2022 Entering the 2022 season, Calhoun’s HC Art Canestro knew he had a good team. The reality was, though, that they had just graduated Patrick Sanchez, who had one of the most prolific offensive seasons in Nassau County history and was off to the College of Charleston. That 2021 team averaged 7.5 runs per game and made it to the Conference Finals before losing to Garden City on a walk-off. “I thought we would be pretty good,” said Canestro. “We were in a conference that some would say wasn’t the strongest. The knock on us was that we aren’t in the powerhouse A-4 conference where they beat each other up and it helps them g...
Babylon Looks to Build off Top Seed Performance
by Andy Smith Babylon had major bumps in the road to begin their 2022 campaign. The Panthers suffered two crucial injuries to players that head coach Michael Birnbaum deemed “hard to replace,” early in the season. The center fielder did not recover from his injury and the third baseman was only able to return to the mound at the end of the season and was not allowed to field or swing a bat. Going into the year defense was going to be a major strength, but losing these players put a damper on those expectations. Despite these early bumps in the road Babylon stayed the course and qualified as the top seed in the B school division and made the playoffs. Head Coach Michael Birnbaum is entering his fourth season as skipper. Birnbaum gave a shout out to an assistant coach he will be working wi...
Lynbrook Takes Field in 2023 Under First Year HC Jon Zaccaro
by Andy Smith Lynbrook took some steps in 2022. Newly appointed head coach Jon Zaccaro, who served as the assistant coach for six years under Al Marrazzo reflected on last season and what improvements were made. “Last year was tough, but we felt we were finally bouncing back from losing one of our best teams we have had in years from the canceled COVID season.” The Owls were “in a very tough league and were in every series except one (South Side).” Lynbrook finished with a 4-15 record but four of these losses were just by one run. “We had a great group of seniors that came to play hard every day and grew more confident against the toughest competition. We did not make the playoffs, but we also didn’t lay down for anyone.” The Owls will be without a few strong players who had a...
Smithtown West Poised for Success following Conference Finals Appearance
by Andy Smith Final: Smithtown West 2, Centereach 0 WP: Ryan Conk (CG shutout) Dom Crema sac fly and DiBlanda RBI single Smithtown West will play Smithtown East in the Conference II Finals tomorrow pic.twitter.com/BwVAWgWL4O — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 23, 2022 The Smithtown West Bulls had a very successful season last year. 18th year head coach Al Nucci reflected on the 2022 campaign. “We had a very nice start beginning the year with a 9-3 record. We then went into a funk losing five of our next six games. That tough stretch forced us to soul search and refocus. Our team had to show that it could deal with the adversity of a very rough two week stretch. We answered the bell and won our last two league games to finish 12-8 overall and 12 and 6 in league play. We earned a 5 ...
