2025 Season Previews
Comsewogue Looks to Ride Momentum from County Finals Appearance
Final: Comsewogue 9, Hauppauge 3 Nick Zampieron fires a complete game and hits 2 HRs, drives in 5 runs as Comsewogue forces a winner-take-all on Sunday 12pm for the Suffolk AA Championship pic.twitter.com/7iYIRn7JsM — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 25, 2024 Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s series by Max Edelman Following a 12-8 regular season, the Comsewogue Warriors went on a run in the playoffs, winning an additional six games before ultimately falling in the County Championship to Hauppauge. They nearly captured their first title since 1982. While the Warriors are still fresh off the heels of that magical run, they will be doing so without a number of key seniors that were critical to last year’s teams success. Of those se...
East Hampton Hungry to Return to the Postseason
Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s series By George Caratzas After back-to-back playoff appearances in 2022 and 2023, the East Hampton Bonackers missed the postseason in 2024 in a year that saw them finish 8-12. With head coach Vincent Alversa entering his tenth year at the helm, East Hampton is looking to return to success. Last year, the Bonackers undoing was an inexperienced pitching core, which is something that Alversa sees as a strength of this year’s roster. “I think last year was actually a bit better than what I was expecting with such a young staff,” Alversa said in an interview with Axcess Baseball. “We got a lot out of the fact that those guys gained some experience and we can move forward from there.” This year, Alversa has four high-ca...
Despite Graduating 12 Seniors, West Islip Once Again Poised for Playoff Run
by Max Edelman It was another strong season for the West Islip Lions in 2024, as they fell in the semifinals of the county playoffs. Head Coach Shawn Rush, who is entering his 16th season in charge of the Lions, took plenty of positives away from last season’s campaign. “We were one game away from the County Final.” Rush said. “We lost in the losers bracket final. We lost 1-0 to East Islip, before beating them 1-0 four days later. We lost Comsewogue in the semifinals. Definitely an exciting run back and forth, but we ultimately fell short.” Unfortunately for the Lions, 12 members of last year’s team graduated at the conclusion of the season, with numerous players continuing their baseball careers at the college level. Among them are Derek Rivera, who is playing at Arcadia, Cal...
Mike Milano’s Seaford Vikings Enter the 2025 season with 11 seniors
Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s series by Joe Bello Coach Mike Milano is preparing for his 22nd season at the helm of Seaford High School baseball. The Vikings bench boss is excited and ready for what is to come in the 2025 season. The Vikings went 15-8 during the 2024 season, making the playoffs but eventually falling to Mineola in the Class A quarterfinals. “We won 6 in a row to close out the season as the #3 seed in Class A Playoffs and took an experienced Mineola team to 3 games where they pitched out of a bases loaded, one out jam to win the quarterfinals series.” Milano said. “With one senior in 2024, we won the series vs Island Trees & North Shore and swept CSH & LV. Only lost 2 out of 3 to Class A Champion Clarke and 2 of th...
Coming Off Appearance in County Finals, Bellmore JFK Hungry to Take Next Step
Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s series by Max Edelman Entering his seventh season as head coach of the Bellmore JFK Cougars, Mike Gattus brings a team loaded with talent into the 2025 season. After a season where the Cougars were able to win their league championship, they fell just short of their ultimate goal, losing in the county finals. “Last season we were the Conference AA III champs.” Gattus said. “We won the conference and earned the two seed in the Nassau County Playoffs. We beat Manhasset in the quarterfinals and then defeated Carey in the semifinals in a great three game series. But then lost to Division in the county finals.” Although the team fell short, only three members of the Bellmore JFK 2024 team graduated, with Jack Fi...
Sachem East Looking to Bounce Back in 2025
Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s series by Vin Messana It was a difficult season for Sachem East in 2024 as they missed the postseason for the first time since 2016. The team is revitalized and looking to bounce back, as Kevin Schnupp is returning for his 21st season as head coach. “Last year was tough not having a home field,” said Schnupp. “For the preseason and the early part of the season we were going on the road, practicing and playing at Middle Country Park, Diamond in the Pines and Medford. It’s a huge benefit having access to an all-turf facility. We have two batting cages, dugouts, bullpens, everything.” The Arrows compiled a record of 6-13 in the powerhouse League II conference – which featured...
Coming Off 4 Straight PSAA Championships, LuHi Becomes Independent School
LUHI WALKS IT OFF IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP. Matthew Muzikant drives in the games only run in the seventh inning to win it 1-0. pic.twitter.com/tOTIn8YKzE — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 9, 2024 Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s series by Tucker Terranova Long Island Lutheran has long been synonymous with high school basketball excellence. With both the boys’ and girls’ teams consistently ranked among the nation’s top programs, LuHi has established itself as a powerhouse, producing elite talent year after year. Yet, amid the basketball program’s dominance, the school’s other athletic programs have long been overlooked in the public eye. Head Coach Shaun Manning is working to change that narrative. Now in his sixth season at the helm,...
Hauppauge Riding High Off Magical 2024 Season
For the first time since 2000, Hauppauge has captured the Suffolk County Championship! They will face the winner of Division-Bellmore JFK in the Class AA Long Island Championship next Saturday pic.twitter.com/kLv0ISJNoC — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 26, 2024 Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s series There’s no other way to put it – 2024 was special for Hauppauge baseball. “It was a magical season,” said head coach Josh Gutes who has been at the helm since 2014. It was their first Long Island Championship in program history and their first Suffolk County Championship since Josh was a player on the 2000 team. “I’ve never been part of a team, as a player or coach, where we just knew before the game...
Reigning Class A Nassau County Champs Look to Stay at the Top
Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s series by Vin Messana A balk-off 
Kings Park wins on a walk-off balk with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th to capture the Class A Long Island Championship, 3-2, against Clarke pic.twitter.com/QaNltVVMxy — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 1, 2024 It was as bizarre of an ending to a Long Island Championship game as there’s ever been. In the bottom of the 9th, Clarke’s pitcher, Jaret Sarrantonio, was called for a balk which allowed Kings Park to score the winning run and send their fans into a state of euphoria. On the other side of that was Clarke, one of the best programs on Long Island, having one of their best seasons in their history. They battled Hunter Colagrande, the eventu...
Valley Stream North Looks to Return to Postseason Led by 4 College Commits
Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s series by Joe Bello Phil Sanfilippo is entering his 15th year as the head coach at Valley Stream North High School and is assisted by James Casella. The Spartans made it to the Conference A quarterfinals in the 2024 baseball season, being eliminated by the eventual county champs, Clarke. “We were glad to be back in the postseason after missing it in 2023.” Sanfilippo said to Axcess Baseball. “Due to construction on a new turf field, we played all but one regular season series away from North and held practices at four different locations throughout the season, so there was plenty of adversity to deal with. We had series victories over Plainedge and Lynbrook, and played a very tight series with Mineola. We dre...
Bethpage Expects Talented Youngsters to Benefit from Starting in 2024
Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s series by Max Edelman Coming off a season with a very young team, head coach Rob Fisher, who is entering his 21st year in charge of the Bethpage Golden Eagles, is excited to follow up a growing season in 2024 with a year that will hopefully feature more on field success. “Last year we struggled, but we were very young.” Fisher said. “We started three freshmen and three sophomores and a bunch of other lower classmen got playing time. We struggled a little bit. We weren’t consistent on the mound. While we did have some good showings, we just didn’t have the consistency to be able to compete day in and day out.” Although much of the Golden Eagles core players last season weren’t seniors, there were a number of k...
Fueled by Final Game of 2024, Eastport-South Manor Hungry for Postseason Berth
Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s series by Max Edelman In a win-and-in game that either sent the Eastport-South Manor (ESM) Sharks to the playoffs or ended their season, the Sharks unfortunately were defeated, and saw their season end. Head coach Jim McGowan, who is entering his 11th season as head coach of the Sharks in 2025, looked back on the disappointing end of the season for his team. “It was extremely disappointing.” McGowan said. “We had to win the last game to get in, but we lost 5-4 and missed the playoffs on the last day. It was an extremely disappointing finish for us.” Although ESM graduated a large number of seniors following last season, not all were starters. However, there were a number of key players, including three that a...
