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by Vinny Messana It was a pretty wild week in college baseball. Last week’s number No. 4 team had their season end prematurely. The No. 3 team was swept, the No. 2 team lost three of four and the No.1 team was idle. There will be some shake up. 1.St. Joseph’s Record: 23-10, Stock UP They have won nine games in a row and they are peaking at the right time. Today they easily took care of their Brooklyn brethren, 12-1. Ryan Aloise was lights out for six innings. The pitching has shouldered the load for the most part. Brandon Lubrano was lights out in Game One against Mount St. Mary’s and Steven Szobesky was good enough in Game Two. Now they are in unprecedented territory with the chance to defeat Farmingdale State on Tuesday in the Skyline Conference championship. They beat ...

by Danny Gatta The day began with the Rams and Golden Eagles looking to advance to the winner’s bracket of the Skyline conference playoffs. Steven Szobesky got the start for St. Joseph’s, matched up against the Rams’ Matt Seelinger of Farmingdale State. The Golden Eagles would win the game 6-3 in a wild twelve inning thriller. St. Joseph’s would strike first. After a walk given up by Seelinger, Joseph Calabrese ripped a triple to the gap in right-center, giving his team the 1-0 lead. That was Seelinger’s only mistake of the day. He pitched great, allowing just three hits and striking out nine in seven innings of work. The Rams answered in the bottom of the first on an RBI groundout by Brandon Snow. An infield single by Kenneth Johntry in the second gave Farmingdale the 2-1 lead. Anthony Gi...

By Chris Amato Each year Sachem East and Sachem North come together in regular season game that means much more then any other regular season game on their schedules. The two teams meet up at a neutral site in order to hold a tournament in honor of the 1993 Sachem graduate, Tim Crowley. Crowley was a very well respected student-athlete in the Sachem baseball program and was seen as a role model throughout the Sachem community. Crowley had passed away in a car accident while attending college at Oglethrope University. A baseball tournament in his name is a very fitting way in order to extend the memory of Tim Crowley. Both teams had this date marked on their calendars and knew that this game was very important and may even come with some bragging rights. Although both teams were more than p...

by Vinny Messana As per the protocol of Chaminade HS, student-athletes are to compete within their age group only. That means no eighth graders on JV and no freshman or sophomores on varsity. Their Head Coach, Mike Pienkos, has always respected that rule–with one exception. 2016 graduate Straton Podaras. “Straton was so advanced for his age that it would’ve been almost unfair for him to play at his own level,” said the 34th year Head Coach. “He was too physically mature and so advanced to play with his age.” With that being that case, it was only natural the upperclassmen would be skeptical, and possibly jealous that this sophomore was deemed good enough to start on a playoff-caliber varsity team in the ultra-competitive CHSAA.   He went out in his ...

by Vinny Messana It was a St. Dominic’s homecoming of sorts at Gregg Alfano Field tonight as St. Joseph’s defeated Mount St. Mary’s 6-1 to advance to the second round of the Skyline Conference playoffs. The Golden Eagles first baseman, Brendan Sullivan, smacked four hits in five at bats–including an RBI hit to break the game open at 5-1 in the eighth inning–which was more than enough offensive support for their starting pitcher Brandon Lubrano. Both are graduates of St. Dominic’s HS who played for–you guessed it–Richard Garrett, who is now the skipper for the Golden Eagles. “I’ve been relying on this guy for eight years now,” said Garrett in regards to Sullivan. “Nothing surprises me with him anymore. He’s been b...

Here is a list of the top college baseball players on Long Island as of May 2016. 1) John Rooney-Freshman, Hofstra [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSiJ-4J2Ae8?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&autohide=2&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&wmode=transparent] Rooney is just a freshman but is already the most pro-ready player on Long Island. He is a lefty that throws 88-91 and touches 94 with his fastball. He is fearless on the mound. He made his collegiate debut at Texas A & M in relief but shortly there after forced his way into being named a conference starter, which paid off when he defeated the College of Charleston. Rooney has incredibly smooth and fluid mechanics and has easy velocity. His delivery resembles that of former Major Leaguer Jeff Francis. H...

by Vinny Messana When they were hitting .169 as a team in mid-March, it did not look good. It’s been a long road, but after today’s sweep of Wilmington at Dowling, the Golden Lions are now back to .500 at 21-21. In the first game, reliever Billy Goncalves got the spot-start. He did a commendable job–throwing 4.2 innings, allowing just one ER on three hits with four strikeouts and no walks. His offense gave him a 1-0 lead in the second inning on a sac fly by Michael Richter to score Michael Rizzitello. Wilmington tied it up with a sac fly in the sixth inning, but they took a 2-1 lead on an RBI triple by R.J. Going to score his brother, Timmy. They added a run on a sac fly by Rizzitello to increase the lead to 3-1. Dominic Danetti fired 2.1 shutout innings to record his fir...

by Vinny Messana When there was a need for a shortstop, Half Hollow Hills East Head Coach Tim Belz had to think outside the box in order to fill the position. Both of his shortstops were also starting pitchers and they couldn’t play the field after their starts. Fortunately, there was a ninth grader that he felt was capable of filling the position. “I told him, ‘we don’t care care if you bat .100, as long as you can make every single play,” Belz told his freshman. That freshman was Mike Palazzolo, now a junior that committed to Stony Brook last year, not just because of his glove but his bat. That expectation sounds a bit comical now. Palazzolo has a relentless work ethic, he’s often taking hitting lessons after games just to stay sharp. “If he has...

by Vinny Messana When you have an high-octane offense and stingy pitching staff such as the Wantagh Warriors, you don’t have to play many close ballgames. In fact, of their previous 12 wins, only one was a one-run ballgame. When they’re facing one of the elite pitchers on Long Island in Brandon O’Brien, however, you must get the clutch hits. That’s exactly what they got in the top of the 11th inning from Jimmy Joyce, when he smacked a two-out double into the left center field alley to plate the go-ahead run and complete an impressive 5-4 comeback win for the Warriors–who improve to 13-1 on the season. “I just had this feeling I was going to be up with the game on the line,” said Joyce, who stepped to the plate having fanned four times, but also sco...

by Vinny Messana One of the more underrated players on Long Island is Harrison Cohen, a junior from Cold Spring Harbor HS with a big fastball. I had the chance to speak with him, and here’s what he had to say… (Editor’s Note: This is not part of our Top 10 prospect countdown) Can you talk a little about your background with baseball and when you began to play… Yes.My dad taught me how to play when I was 3 years old and I always attended both my sister’s softball games and my brother’s baseball games, where I assumed the role of batboy. As I kept playing over the next few years, I developed a passion to always play the game to my full potential and I believe that I still have that passion every time I take the field now. Do you come from an athletic family? Yes. Whil...

by Vinny Messana It has become a weekly tradition that the teams at the top of this ranking scuffle a bit and the lower-tier teams get hot just to make things a bit murkier here at Baseball on the Island. Nevertheless, I will try my best to make sense of it and organize these teams accordingly.   1.Suffolk CC Record: 22-6, Stock UP I know, I know. How can he put a Ju-Co in front of Div-I, II and III Colleges? Well, when the top team from last week goes 2-3 and Suffolk goes 7-0 with SIX coming via run rules, it’s easy to understand why. They outscored their opponents this week by the score of 74-9. They are now hitting .360 as a team, with a .467 OBP and .510 slugging. They are making mince meat of the opponents this season. This has the looks of a World Series team. 2. Molloy Re...