Anthony Kay
Ward Melville Excited to Start the Season and Debut New Field
On Monday, Steven Matz will start for the Toronto Blue Jays and on Tuesday, Anthony Kay will start for them. While they are four years apart and never actually pitched on the same team, the two southpaws graduating from Ward Melville HS and winding up on the same pitching staff is an incredible story. Additionally, Ben Brown – four years younger than Kay – has been steadily rising up the minor league ranks in the Phillies minor league system and has a shot to be the third Patriots to be in the big leagues at once. While he will tell you otherwise, Ward Melville HC Lou Petrucci is a big reason for that success. The Patriots head coach is as passionate and knowledgeable about the game as there is and the players gravitate towards it. And with a third former player on the cusp of ...
Anthony Kay Voted Best Pitching Season of 2010s
As sports fans we are usually victim to ‘recency bias’ in which we favor players that have excelled recently while our mind suppresses the memories of yesteryear. In the case of current Major League Anthony Kay, he’s been on the front of enough baseball fans minds to never forget the greatness that was his high school career. In 2012, while pitching for Ward Melville, he compiled what will undoubtedly go down as one of the most remarkable seasons in Long Island history. The hard-throwing southpaw went 53 innings, struck out 87 batters and allowed 0 ER. That’s right, even in the ultra-competitive League I and Class AA playoffs, he was completely untouchable. And it’s not like he was skating by and stranding runners on base. He allowed 17 hits and exactly 1 XBH....
Max Nielsen Announces He Will Be Transferring to Saint Anselm
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 Max Nielsen announced on IG Live tonight that he will be undergoing Tommy John surgery on Monday by Dr. James Paci. He also said after narrowing down his choices to Maine and Saint Anselm, he has decided to transfer to Saint Anselm from UCONN. He is the reigning Carl Yastrzemski Award winner – which is given to the top player in Suffolk County. He led Ward Melville to the Suffolk Class AA Finals against Connetquot. He compiled a record of 5-1 with an ERA of 1.44 ERA with 103 strikeouts. He allowed only 19 hits over 49 innings. The high point of his season came in the semifinals against West Islip in which he set a pr...
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...
List of Long Islanders to Play in the Majors in Last 15 Years
With the promotion of Anthony Kay, that gives Long Island another player in “The Show”. While we may not be southern California, Florida or Texas in terms of generating power arms, we are right in that next tier. In fact, here’s some data according to baseball-almanac.com of the birth state of players during the 2019 season. California: 207 Florida: 113 Texas: 89 Georgia: 50 Illinois: 33 Tennessee: 29 Ohio: 29 Pennsylvania: 28 North Carolina: 26 New York: 25 New Jersey: 22 This is a pretty basic statistic showing how baseball in the northeast has been overlooked but we are pretty well represented across the game. Diving in more specifically to Long Island, we have had a good streak recently with native players making into the show. Historically, there’s been 77 play...
Anthony Kay Promoted to Big Leagues
It was just four years ago the Long Island baseball community was celebrating the promotion of Ward Melville 2009 grad Steven Matz to the big leagues with the New York Mets. While it is north of the border, Ward Melville 2013 grad Anthony Kay joins the exclusive club of Long Island natives to get the promotion to The Show. Kay, 24, was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays just before the July 31 trade deadline along with Simeon Woods Richardson for Pat-Med 2009 grad Marcus Stroman. After a very difficult first start with Triple-A Buffalo (4.2 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 3ER), the southpaw has bounced back in a big way. Overall, his numbers with Buffalo are stellar. He has thrown 36 innings, allowing 10 ER (2.50 ERA), with 39 strikeouts while allowing just 33 hits. His walks, 22, are a little high but with hi...
Ward Melville Ready to Compete for a Class AA Title
Many teams would consider a 15-8 season–including a playoff win–a success. However, this is not the case for Ward Melville. As one of the most successful programs on Long Island over the past decade, any season that ends short of a championship is short of their ultimate goal. After their worst season in seven years, the Patriots are ready to compete for a title once again. The main obstacle Ward Melville faces this season is their strength of schedule. Not only is League I arguably the most talented league on the island, but all teams return a significant amount of impact players from last season. Their opponents include Longwood, Sachem East, Brentwood, Pat-Med, William Floyd and Central Islip. Evidently, Ward Melville will have their hands full. Fortunately for them, they re...
Lou Petrucci Wins Steve Lembo Award
(Photo Credit: Ray Nelson) Ward Melville Head Coach Lou Petrucci received the Steve Lembo Memorial Award last week at the annual N.Y. Pro Baseball Hot Stove League dinner in Great Neck. Petrucci has not only been one of the most successful Head Coaches in Long Island since taking over 12 seasons ago (6 League I titles, 1 Long Island Championship) but he has sent dozens of players to Divison-I programs and an unprecedented three pitchers drafted in the past decade (Steven Matz, Anthony Kay, Ben Brown). Additionally, seven of his former players are now Division-I coaches. The Patriots have compiled a .673 winning percentage during his tenure, which trails only Tom Migliozzi, Jim Moccio and Ken Klee among active coaches with 9 or more years of experience in Suffolk County. “I wish to th...
How Are the Local Players Performing in Pro Ball?
It’s no secret that Long Island has proven its mettle in Major League Baseball by generating some legitimate talent in recent years. But what gets lost in the shuffle, however, is the dozens of players that are grinding it out in the minor leagues (and have been for years) for the chance to have their name on a big league scoreboard. Here are the current stats of the players currently active across affiliated professional baseball that have connections to Long Island. If I forgot anyone, please drop a comment to let me know. Several players were active until this season, for purposes of brevity we will limit this list to players currently active. Major Leagues, School, Year (Team): Marcus Stroman, Pat-Med ’09 (Toronto Blue Jays) 0-5 record, 7.71 ERA, 37.1 IP Steven Matz, Ward M...
Chris Buehler Commits to LIU Brooklyn
Stop me if you’ve heard this before–a Ward Melville pitcher has announced his verbal commitment to a Div-I school. Chris Buehler, 2018 LHP, became the latest pitcher from the Patriots to vindicate his potential as a high-ceiling pitcher. He is coming off a very strong 2017 campaign in which he was part of the vaunted rotation of Ben Brown (MLB Draft pick) and Max Nielsen (UCONN). He compiled a record of 5-2 with a 0.66 ERA and 45 Ks over 42 IP during the school season and has continued that strong season into the summer where he has compiled a 2.23 ERA wwwith a 4-1 record over 37.2 IP. I had the chance to speak to him and here’s what he had to say… Talk a little about the recruiting process and why you decided to verbally commit to LIU Brooklyn The recruiting proces...
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