2023 Season Previews
Plainedge Looking to Replace Talented Crop of Seniors From 2022
by Brian Honka Plainedge 7, Island Trees 6 WP: Dom Pannitti Walk-off hit by Ben Ellenport pic.twitter.com/X2YtARi5vR — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 10, 2022 Plainedge is looking to have another great season coming off a playoff appearance in which the team went 13-9 and made it to the quarterfinals where they were eliminated by eventual county champs, Calhoun. They will come into the season without 2 of the team’s starting pitchers from last year. Team ace Tyler Kregeloh was named to the All-Long Island second Team after a 5-2 record with a 1.09 ERA and a .88 WHIP. Ben Ellenport who now pitches at Farmingdale will also be missed. Ellenport notched a 2.40 ERA and won 2 games. Other players the team will be without this year will be Troy Emmanual (Old Westbury) and Pat Reye...
Bellmore JFK Looking to Return to Postseason for Third Straight Season
by Brian Honka Bellmore JFK will look to improve on last season in which they went 9-8-1 in conference play which was good enough to give them a playoff spot for the second year in a row. They were eliminated in the playoffs by Clarke. The team will look to fill the gap left by Zach Ganca (FDU-Florham) an All-County OF. Another player that the team will be looking for production to replace is Matt Cohen, an All-Conference player. This year’s team will be relying on plenty of returning players that had key contributions last season – many of which are seniors. Alex Goldstein won 3 games on the mound, struck out 28 batters and compiled a .385 OBP at the plate. Anthony Firriolo batted .372 with 17 hits on the season. Nick Pizzirusso batted .287 with 9 RBIs and 14 hits. Grayson Go...
Sachem East Going for a 3-Peat
by Andy Smith Sachem East 14, Brentwood 5 WP: Patrick Krampasky Nick Oelcher: 2 HRs Richie Heyder: HR pic.twitter.com/MSSUno8Bp0 — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 13, 2022 Kevin Schnupp, the only varsity coach Sachem East has ever had, is preparing his team for another season. Since 2005, Schnupp has led them to numerous successful seasons during his long tenure. Schnupp, a Sachem North alum, the only high school at the time, played college baseball at Dowling College. Sachem East finished 2022 with a league record of 15-3 and an overall record of 16-6. The Arrows won their second League 1 Title in a row but lost in the playoffs. Schnupp reflected on why the team fell short in their postseason run. “We wound up losing in the playoffs after some injuries to our pitching staff...
Hauppauge Looks to Rebound in 2023
by Nick Cipolla The Hauppauge Eagles had a rare down season in 2022. They finished with a record of 4-14 in league play. It was always going to be a challenge as they had to replace their top 5 hitters from 2021 due to graduation. Coach Josh Gutes seems to look towards the future after the tough 2022 season. “I think the bad taste of last year will actually be a positive for us heading into this year”, said Coach Gutes, “Last year was the youngest team we’ve had since I took over in 2014. We started five sophomores and a freshman. We had plenty of talented younger guys but we just didn’t have quite enough overall to be as competitive as we normally are. Our lack of experience last year will undoubtedly help us this year. We have 14 returning players. We don’t have a senio...
North Babylon Primed for Postseason Return
by Nick Cipolla North Babylon was one of the biggest surprises in Section XI in 2022. The Bulldogs had a team with only 25 innings of combined varsity experience from their pitching staff before the season began, but that didn’t stop them from going 11-7 and making the playoffs. They even flirted with the league title, something that many felt was impossible for the Bulldogs in 2022. North Babylon’s head coach Steve Corrado is very happy with the growth of his team over the last two seasons. “In 2021 we graduated most of our pitching and infield”, said coach Corrado, “We went into last year with only 25 innings pitched of experience. In contrast we have 97 innings of pitching experience coming back for 2023. We never felt out of a game last year and the team showed great resilience from th...
Port Washington Hopeful to Build On Playoff Appearance
by Andy Smith Port Washington 10, Syosset 5 WP: Michael Andrew. 4IP 2ER 6K Will Chu 3IP, 0ER, 2H, 4K Jake Spiryda 3 for 3, 2B, 2RBI Dylan Trenaman 2 for 5, 2RBI pic.twitter.com/p6DiuJUOf3 — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 18, 2021 Port Washington took a step forward in 2022. The Vikings qualified for the playoffs as the eighth seed, a feat they did not accomplish the year before. In order to earn that seed, the Vikings had to play a tiebreaker series against Oceanside for the final playoff seed. However, Port Washington fell to a dominant Plainview JFK squad in the first round of the playoffs. Thirteen year Head Coach Matt Holzer reflected on how last season shaped his vision of building a championship team. “The season was a step in the right direction for us”, he stated. “O...
Island Trees Enters New Era With Head Coach Mike Valiando
by Andy Smith Vinny Giambona with a 3 run triple to put Island Trees up now 13-1 over Wheatley pic.twitter.com/HMTPFnAZO7 — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 23, 2022 Island Trees had a down year by their standards. The Bulldogs won the Nassau County Conference 5 Title in 2021 but fell short of their goal in 2022. The Bulldogs finished with a 9-9 league record, but they were eliminated by Seaford in the double elimination bracket. Head Coach Mike Valiando, who will make his head coaching debut in 2023, reflected on how the team performed last season. “Last year was filled with a lot of ups and downs. We had some injuries, but our players battled, and the seniors gave us everything they had.” Although Valiando is entering his first season as the head coach he is quite famil...
A Young Comsewogue Team is Primed for the Next Step
by Andy Smith Comsewogue 3, East Islip 1 WP: Carson McCaffrey (CG, 1-hitter). He has allowed 3 hits through 3 starts Matt Nowlan: 2 solo home runs — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 13, 2022 Last season, Comsewogue finished just two games under .500, and two games out of a playoff berth despite sporting a young roster. Head Coach Joe Caltagirone reflected on the difficulties his team faced, and how his team responded and grew. “Last season we were a very young but a very competitive team. The players grew as the season went on and we won our last series, taking 2 out of 3 from Hills West, knocking them out of the playoffs.” Caltagirone, who played college baseball for St. Joseph University LI was a varsity assistant and middle school coach before being named head coach of the Wa...
West Islip Enters 2023 With Young, Talented Roster
by Andy Smith West Islip Lions head coach Shawn Rush is no stranger to winning. He is now entering his 14th season as the head coach, Rush has seen it all during his long and successful tenure. Rush led West Islip to County Titles in 2014, 2016, and 2018. The Lions finished with a 15-8 overall record, 14-4 in league play and earned the title of League IV Champions. This upcoming season, however, West Islip will be without many key contributors from last year. “A senior heavy group” was a major component of last season’s squad, and a big part of their outstanding results in 2022. However, Rush is prepared to lead the next core of Lions to success. West Islip LHP Jake Rivera strands the bases loaded in the third, no score pic.twitter.com/rjtGjdCISQ — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbasebal...
First Year Coach Prepared to Continue Success at Wheatley
by Andy Smith Longtime Wheatley head coach, Paul Paino, stepped down after 38 seasons in which he led the Wildcats to: ⚾️ 10 Nassau County Championships ⚾️ 3 Long Island Championships ⚾️ 434 career wins David Burke is the new head coach pic.twitter.com/bzPqh0nruc — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 27, 2022 Wheatley High School is coming off another fantastic season with a 19-3-1 record and winning the Nassau County B Championship. However, they fell to Center Moriches in the Long Island Championship. First year Head Coach, David Burke, is prepared for the challenges ahead, and hopes to continue the success of this program. He is taking over for legendary Paul Paino who retired with 434 career wins and 10 Nassau County Championships. Burke, a former Diamond Award winner (1993...
Oceanside Hoping Year of Experience Leads to Growth for Young Core
by Nick Cipolla Drone shot from Farmingdale and Oceanside’s scrimmage last night at Brooklyn Cyclones stadium pic.twitter.com/AOgALI06v7 — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 24, 2022 Two years ago, Oceanside was the Cinderella Story of the year as they had a group of young, unproven guys snuck into the Nassau County playoffs by winning their final game of the season. The Sailors then upset Farmingdale and made it back to the Nassau Final 4 where their season would end, but the future looked extremely bright. Unfortunately for the Oceanside Sailors, they ended up missing the playoffs for the first time in coach Mike Postilio’s 10 years as a head coach in 2022. There was a lot to take away from the previous spring and it seems like Postilio looks towards the positives. “We sta...
Led by Diamond Award winner, Division Hungry to Take Next Step
by Brian Honka Division had a young team last year that consisted of six sophomores who had big contributions to the team’s 19-7 overall record and 14-4 league record in which they finished 1 game behind South Side for the league title. The team fell one game short of reaching the Nassau Class A County Finals as they lost in game 3 of the semifinals to eventual LI Champs Calhoun. The team will miss the production and contributions from Mike Knapp, a 2-time All-County RHP, who is now pitching at Molloy, Jack Taggart, an All-Conference pitcher, and Chris Powers, an All-League OF. The team will be looking for another great season out of Joe Yovino who is a senior catcher that put up a .467 AVG, crushed 7 home runs with 30 RBIs and 27 runs scored. Additionally, he stole 15 bases, compil...
