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Tyler Villez Smacks Two HRs, Anthony Martino Fires Complete Game as Sayville Wins 7-3
by Vinny Messana He knew if he tried to hit a home run it wouldn’t happen, even with winds gusting out to left field at 26 mph. “It was going out,” said Tyler Villez in regards to the wind, who smacked two home runs in Sayville‘s 7-3 win over rival Rocky Point to win two of three in the series. “Anything in the sky, it’s going to help it out. I wasn’t trying to hit home runs, I was going for the team approach that coach tells us to.I knew if I thought about it, I would get out,” he added. Rocky Point’s starting pitcher, Paul Dominguez, deserved much better fate than he got. After retiring the first batter of the game, he allowed a wind-aided home run to eighth grader Brock Murtha. After a walk and a strikeout, Villez drove one to left f...
Joe Daru Wins MVP of March
It required nearly every single one of the 8,554 views he received, and Joe Daru was named Baseball on the Island’s MVP of March. For what it’s worth, had there been no voting I would’ve selected him, Tommy Zeigen or Angelo Navetta as the winner based upon their statistics. It’s easy to make a case for any of them, but Daru has been fantastic from day one this season. After starting his season with 11 hits in 13 at bats, he has continued his hot hitting into this month. He already has 33 hits through 24 games. He has accounted for 1/5 of his team’s base hits, 1/4 of their doubles, 1/4 of their runs score and 1/2 of their stolen bases. He will be the starting CF for Team Nassau in the Battle of the Border on June 5 at Dowling College. For those that don’t...
Mike Mirando Throws First Career No-Hitter Against Amityville
Mike Mirando, junior RHP from Islip, joined the no-hit party with a 14-strikeout gem against Amityville in their 18-1 victory today. That brings the total to 5 in two days of the 2016 season. “I’ve thrown a couple in little league but this was the first real one–it was special,” he said. He needed only 76 pitches to navigate his way to the finish line. The only batter that reached base was the first batter of the game on a walk. He noted that that allowed him to focus on getting outs and not on the no-hitter. “Probably around the fifth or sixth inning was when I started noticing,” he said. He noted that he was “blessed to have the opportunity” to be on varsity as a sophomore, which certainly provided him the valuable experience heading into t...
Anthony Jacabacci Throws Four-Hit Shutout Against East Islip
by Vinny Messana Amidst a constant gusting wind, Bellport’s sophomore LHP Anthony Jacabacci fired a four-hit shutout against East Islip. The young hurler was remarkably composed against a perennial playoff team, something that veteran Head Coach Bill Batewell knew about him right away. “That’s why we brought him up as a ninth grader,” said Batewell. “He’s got it all together,” he added. Jacabacci breezed through the first three innings, allowing only one base runner to reach via error. His offense backed him with all the support he would need in the first inning. Garrett Heaton led off the home half of the first with a well-struck double through the wind to right center field. After a flyout, center fielder Michael Veit (3-for-3, RBI) ripped an RBI...
Sal Cammisuli Fires No-Hitter in Season Debut
Jericho’s RHP Sal Cammisuli began his 2016 season in the best possible way–by firing a no-hitter in his team’s 6-0 win over Garden City. The senior, who is committed to NYU, needed only 81 pitches to navigate through the Trojans lineup. “I was able to throw first pitch strikes and use my curveball as a strikeout pitch,” he said. He struck out six batters, which meant the defense had to record 15 outs on their own. “The infield did a great job–I give them all the credit,” he added. He stated that he noticed the no-hitter was in tact around the fifth inning.When he came into the dugout the players were giving him his space and not mentioning it to him. Cammisuli has been on varsity since ninth grade and will be looking to build on last yearR...
Eight-Run Seventh Inning Leads Chaminade to 10-3 Victory in Rematch of Last Year’s Final
In a marquee pitching match up between Kyle Young of St. Dominic’s and Julien Arcos of Chaminade, it was a last inning rally that was the real story of this game. Just three outs away from coming away with a convincing season-opening victory against the same team that foiled their hopes of winning the CHSAA title in 2015, Jimmy Conway ran into trouble in the seventh inning. After walking the leadoff batter, and allowing a double to Straton Podaras, Anthony Greco smacked a double to give the Flyers a 4-3 lead, one that they would eventually turn into a 10-3 blowout. Young lit up the radar gun with fastballs and struck out 8 through the first three innings but was lifted in favor of Conway in the fifth inning when he ran into trouble. Conway recorded a huge strikeout with the bases loa...
Bayshore Tops Connetquot in Season Opener
by Chris Amato High school baseball season on Long Island has officially kicked off and teams in the area are all looking for ways to jump start their season with early victories. Bay Shore seemed to have the right idea with a 6 – 3 win over the defending Long Island Champions, Connetquot. The game started off with junior pitcher, Chris Ryan, taking the mound for Connetquot. Ryan seemed to have trouble finding the strike zone in the first inning having surrendered 2 runs early on. The runs were scored off of two hit batters, a walk and a basehit by first basemen, Chris LaRose. As for Bay Shore, junior pitcher, Damien Fanduiz was given the start and provided exactly what his team would need in order to win. Fanduiz allowed a run in the first inning which was scored on a sacrifice fly by Con...
Class A Power Rankings
Earlier today we revealed the Class AA Power Rankings. Of course, there is no reason to leave out the small schools though. Here is our top 10 for the 2016 season. 10. Rocky Point Injuries sapped their roster of some of their biggest impact players last year and ended their playoff streak. They have a good chance to return this year thanks to catcher Kyle Strovink, DH Brian Forbes and SS Paul Dominguez. 9. Mt. Sinai The rotation will be led by Brandon Bonnano (Stony Brook) and Sam Kessler (West Virginia). That is not good news for the league foes. League VII is very talented, though, and you will see two other teams on this list. 8. Garden City They went 12-10 last year before having their season ended by Hasan Deljanin and Clarke in the semis. They are returning a strong crop of upperclas...
Q & A With Kyle and Jake Supran
Kyle and Jake Supran, twins that attend Plainview-JFK, are hungry to be a part of their school’s first league title since 2004. Upon graduation, they will continue their playing careers and education at Ursinus College. I had the chance to speak with Kyle and here’s what he had to say. When did you realize baseball was your best sport? Did you play anything else growing up? We’d have to say that early on ice hockey was our number one sport until we got to higher levels of play in both sports. At that point we realized that we really had to dedicate much more of our time and focus on one. Once we committed to that, we knew baseball was going to be our top choice. Is there a friendly competition between you two, especially when training? Whenever we train together, there is...
Vote For the MVP of March
Last month saw a record number of votes cast for the MVP of February. Nick Girardi of St. Joseph’s won with over 5,200 votes, beating out Brad Witkowski of Hofstra by a few hundred votes and leaving everyone else in the dust. Without further ado, here are the candidates for the MVP of March, along with their season statistics. It was the first full month of action, and all the players have enough of a sample size to draw accurate conclusions on who had the best month. The winner will be contacted by President Vinny Messana upon the conclusion of the voting on March 31. Andruw Gazzola-Stony Brook (26-for-75 .347 AVG, .425 OBP, .520 SLG, 18 R) Vito Friscia-Hofstra (15-for-61 .246 AVG, .435 OBP, .328 SLG, 15 R) Joe Daru-NYIT (31-for-80 .388 AVG, .427 OBP, .638 SLG, 21 R, 8 SB) Brett Mal...
Brian Kavanagh Fires Three-Hit Shutout, Pioneers Win 9-0
by Vinny Messana Coming off their three worst games of the season, in the words of Head Coach Mike Gaffney, he felt the team needed a day off to get their heads right. Fortunately, Easter came at the perfect time for the Pioneers of LIU Post. They salvaged the fourth and final games of their series against rival Molloy by the score of 9-0 behind freshman Brian Kavanagh’s three-hit shutout. “It was really important today to come back, really for the guys to prove to themselves that they’re not the team that took the field the last few days,” said Gaffney. They got on the scoreboard immediately in this one, when David Groeneveld recorded his first of three hits and four RBI on the day with an RBI infield single that shortstop Brian Murphy smothered but couldn’t ...
Class AA Power Rankings
by Vinny Messana Class AA: 10. Smithtown West– They are losing their rotation which accounted for 14 of their 17 wins from last year and will be relying on pitchers that have not won at this level yet. Nevertheless, they will be counting on Nick Trabacchi and Nick Grande to lead the way offensively and hope their young arms can learn on the job. 9. Commack– They have a talented rotation led by Lorenzo Russo, Ryan Steffens and Peter Theodorelis that makes them a tough assignment regardless of who they play. Coming off a 12-win season, they are on the rise. 8. Bellport- Their rare combination of experience and youth makes them a program ready to take the next step. They are also positioned to be very good for a number of years. Head Coach Batewell knows talent when he sees it, a...
