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Photo Credit: Newsday For the first time since 2008, West Islip has been crowned Suffolk County AA champs. They defeated Half Hollow Hills West 5-0 in a winner-take-all game. Just like 2008, they had a dominating pitcher lead the way. Back then it was senior Nick Tropeano, who is currently playing with the Houston Astros Triple-A affiliate. This time it was sophomore sensation James Kory, who threw a complete game shutout five-hitter to improve his record to 8-0 on the season. “I was just focusing on getting the last three outs,” said Kory. “I kept telling myself to attack the hitters,” he added. Kory certainly attacked the hitters as he has done all season–his first on varsity. It is rare to see a pitcher this young dominate to this extent, but Kory is no ord...

Photo Credit: Stony Brook Athletics Here is the second and final power rankings for the Long Island NCAA-affiliated teams. 10. NYIT: 4-46 Poor year all around. They will be looking for an infusion of talent coming in. 9-St. Joseph’s: 17-20 They have regressed the past few seasons after nearly winning the Skyline in 2011. Dan DiBlasi had a standout year as a two-way player. He had a .342 average with 24 RBI, 11 walks and only 7 strikeouts at the plate and a 2.38 ERA on the mound. 8. Old Westbury: 20-22 They have been on the brink since 2010, but just can’t get over the mountain top. Terrific seasons from Nick Yip, Jake Coners and John Angelino at the plate. Yip exploded in the power department in the second-half of the seasons. Coners and Angelino were clutch all year. On the mo...

Déjà vu all over again, as Yogi Berra used to say. One week after losing two games to St. Thomas Aquinas in the ECC tournament when they only needed one win, lightning struck twice. They easily won the first three games of the tournament, with their starting pitcher going the distance each time. In the potential clinching game against STAC, they were defeated 4-2. In the season finale, they were shut out 3-0. They sent freshman Cody McPortland to the mound. It was only his fifth start of the season but he compiled a 20:5 K:BB ratio in 26 innings and a 3.81 ERA. He threw five shutout innings, before being removed in the sixth inning after allowing the lead off runner to reach base. Problem was, the Golden Lions offense was stagnant. They were limited to six hits, with no players recording m...

Photo Credit: St. Thomas AquinasThe Spartans Forced a Deciding Game against Dowling “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch”, is the old saying. Well, perhaps Dowling prematurely celebrated the East Region title because they came out flat this afternoon, and now will be facing the pressure of not squandering a golden opportunity to qualify for the College World Series. Neither offenses were not sharp today, as both Kyle DeMeo and Mike Gonzalez were crisp on the mound. The Spartans broke through first with back-to-back RBI singles in the fourth inning to build a 2-0 lead. In the bottom half, Dan Parisi was caught stealing, but Andrew Abreu scampered home to get the Golden Lions on the board.  The score stayed that way until the seventh when JC Brandmaier clobbered a s...

Photo Credit: Hofstra Athletic Communications The Hofstra Pride were eliminated from postseason contention when James Madison University won their game early Saturday afternoon. The Pride went on to split a double header with UMass-Lowell to finish the season with a record of 20-24, including 7-11 within the Colonial Athletic Association. They finished the season with a bang—an 18-11 win in which Ryan Donovan hit a go-ahead grand slam in the sixth inning to give the Pride a 13-10 lead they would not surrender. Both teams got off to a fast start, scoring five runs each in the first inning. UMass scored two runs in the third, but the Pride tied it up in the fourth. They fell behind by three in the fifth but got one in their half of the fifth, before erupting for sixth in the sixth to t...

When Stony Brook started out 0-6 on the season, it was hard to believe they would be playing meaningful games in late May. But then they won a game. Then they continued it. Now they can’t lose. The Sea Wolves defeated Hartford 4-2 to capture their third regular season America East title in the past four seasons. They will enter the tournament as the No. 1 seed and be looking to win their fifth conference title since joining in 2002. Tyler Honahan started and went 5.1 innings, allowing three hits and two earned runs. He was relieved by Bryan Tatelman, who threw 1.2 shutout innings. The score was tied at 2. In the bottom of the eight, Robert Chaverria reached on an error to start the inning. The red-hot Kevin Krause–who hit his league-leading eighth homer of the season earlier...

Photo Credit: Farmingdale Athletics For the entire season, Farmingdale was the team that found ways to escape jams, created runs from a hat and relied on a hint of magic. Tonight, they were on the receiving end of a torturous way to lose a baseball game and end a season. They lost 6-5 to Kean on a wild pitch by Alex Pangourelias in the bottom of the tenth. He nearly escaped the jam after coming on in relief of Alex Weingarten with first and third with none out, but after retiring two batters, he uncorked one to end the game. It was quite a wild ride. The Rama had leads of 1-0, 3-2 and 5-3 but the Cougars fought back each time. The starting pitcher for the Rams, Matt Seelinger, was pitching on one day rest after starting Thursday night against Cortland. He was effective in escaping jams, bu...

Photo Credit: Dowling AthleticsDowling is one win away from their pre-season goal For the third consecutive game, the Dowling Golden Lions have received tremendous starting pitching. This time it was senior JJ Bessell, who fired a complete game, allowed three runs and struck out 10 against Wilmington for the 4-3 win. The Golden Lions got out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning on an RBI double by a Rob Veltre and an RBI groundout by Vinny Orlando. In the meantime, Bessell was working on a masterpiece. He retired the first 11 hitters of the game before a line drive through the box nearly beheaded him. He composed himself and got out of the fourth unscathed. Bessell got into trouble in the fifth, however, when he allowed two hits and two walks to ruin the shutout and temporarily put the lead ...

With the possibility of being sent home for the season, Farmingdale put together a complete effort and disposed of Steven 6-2. Mike Dolce threw 5.1 innings without allowing a run for the victory. His season ERA drops to 3.68. He was relieved by Chris Dragone, who allowed four hits and one run in 3.2 innings to close the door. The offense got out to a 1-0 first inning lead on a wild pitch and added two runs in the second inning on consecutive RBI hits by Kenneth Johntry and Sal Sanguini. Dolce wiggled in-and-out of trouble in the first inning with two base runners and one base runner in each the second and third innings. The Rams increased the lead to 4-0 in the fourth inning on a passed ball and 5-0 in the fifth on a sac fly by Richard Sullivan. Stevens finally got on the board in the fift...

After splitting a double header yesterday with second place Hartford, the stage is set for a crucial rubber game today. The winner will claim the regular season title in the America East conference and the No. 1 seed in the tournament which begins next week. They lost the first game 6-1, with Frankie Vanderka suffering his fifth defeat of the season. He went 7.1 and allowed six earned runs. The Sea Wolves compiled only six hits. Casey Baker was the lone player to smack multiple hits. They won the second game 5-1 behind Brandon McNitt’s seventh win of the season. He fired the seven inning complete game, allowing one run on five hits, no walks and eight strikeouts. The offense was led by Anthony Italiano’s two hits and three RBI, with the big blow coming on a fourth-inning bases-...

The Dowling Golden Lions, who were hoping for an at-large bid less than a week ago, are now two wins away from the Division-II College World Series. They powered past Wilmington University 6-1, behind Tom Bammann’s complete game. Bammann, who was recently named Second Team All-Region, won his ninth game of the season. He limited Wilmington to four hits. The only damage came on a ninth inning HR by Sam Goines. He struck out sixth and walked only one. The Golden Lions offense was led by Dan Parisi, who had two hits, three RBI, one run scored and hit a HR. Wilmington committed four errors on defense, uncharacteristic for a team entering with a 35-9 record. It is now Dowling, at 35-15, that is sitting in the driver’s seat. They will play tonight at 7:30, with JJ Bessell most likely...

For the fourth time in five seasons, the Farmingdale Rams followed a regional-opening win with a loss. It is a tough setback, because the path to the finish line will be much more difficult now. They were dropped 14-5 to No. 1 ranked Cortland. We recapped the first seven innings of the game yesterday prior to the rain delay. It was 10-5 when the game was suspended. After the resumption, the Red Dragons added a run in the eighth in three in the ninth to put the game away. Tom Rydzewski compiled two hits for the Rams,  who were limited to seven hits. Brandon Serio won his ninth game for Cortland St, while Matt Seelinger lost his first game for the Rams. They will now take on No. 6 Stevens in an elimination game.