Art Canestro
Calhoun Looks to Maintain Their Spot Among Nassau County’s Best
by Max Edelman Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s season preview series. Are you kidding !! Trailing 5-2 and down to their final out, Joey Goodman crushes a walk-off grand slam to send Calhoun into the Nassau Class A Finals against Division! Calhoun 6, Mepham 5 pic.twitter.com/zSdoxrlY4S — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 26, 2023 Entering his 10th season as head coach of the Calhoun Colts, Art Canestro along with 2023 Nassau assistant coach of the year, Steve DeMarco, has built the program into one of Nassau County’s elites. In 2022, Calhoun reached the mountain top, winning the Class A Long Island Championship over Rocky Point. Although the Colts were unable to defend their title in 2023, his Colts still charged to a 24-4 overa...
Calhoun Hoping to Defend Their Title as Long Island Class A Champs
Calhoun captures the 2022 Class A Long Island Championship! pic.twitter.com/kjYnciemui — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 4, 2022 Entering the 2022 season, Calhoun’s HC Art Canestro knew he had a good team. The reality was, though, that they had just graduated Patrick Sanchez, who had one of the most prolific offensive seasons in Nassau County history and was off to the College of Charleston. That 2021 team averaged 7.5 runs per game and made it to the Conference Finals before losing to Garden City on a walk-off. “I thought we would be pretty good,” said Canestro. “We were in a conference that some would say wasn’t the strongest. The knock on us was that we aren’t in the powerhouse A-4 conference where they beat each other up and it helps them g...
Q & A With Calhoun RHP Brian Chin
Calhoun RHP Brian Chin struck out 17(!) In a no-hitter over Sewanhaka pic.twitter.com/DLRAaM3u2u — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 18, 2022 Calhoun captured their first Nassau County Championship since 2012 this past week with a victory over Rocky Point – an incredibly talented team that was riding a 17-game winning streak. They had to run through the gauntlet that is the Nassau Class A postseason, having to defeat a talented MacArthur and Clarke teams two of three just for the right to face Rocky Point in the LIC at St. Joseph’s. They had contributions up-and-down their roster but a major reason for their regular season success was the complete domination of ace RHP Brian Chin. The hard-throwing senior was untouchable. He allowed just one hit during the regular seas...
Calhoun Bounces Back After First Loss, Cruise to 7-1 Win Over Garden City
Final: Calhoun 7, Garden City 1 WP: Matt Kalfas (CG, 4 hits, 3 BBs, 3 Ks) Timmy Mack 2 R double Patrick Sanchez: HR Babbo, Koch, Cohen and Todd all with RBI hits. Calhoun improves to 11-1 on the season. pic.twitter.com/P7Uke6njHO — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 1, 2021 On the day following the passing of legendary head coach Joe Corea, it’s only right that the Calhoun Colts bounced back from their first loss of the season with a 7-1 win over Garden City. A complete game from sophomore southpaw Matt Kalfas and two runs in the first inning was the winning ingredient. They are now 11-1 on the season and remain in first place in Nassau Conference II. Kalfas took the mound against a tough Garden City lineup that grinded their way to a 3-0 victory over Calhoun on Monday –...
Calhoun Led by 8 Seniors Heading Into 2021
Last summer, the Boys of Summer hosted a Nassau Varsity Division which featured several of the top high schools. Plainedge wound up winning the title, but they were taken to the absolute edge by Calhoun in an extra inning game in the championship. Plainedge was a senior-laden team playing with many of their 2020 graduates. Calhoun was a younger team that featured only three 2020 graduates on their roster. This bodes well for Calhoun entering 2021, as they will return the vast majority of that team. Head Coach Art Canestro, who has been at the helm since 2014, will enter the season with a team led by College of Charleston-commit Patrick Sanchez. He was named second-team Preseason All-Long Island, and has really impressed our coach since his sophomore season when he started. “From his ...
Calhoun 2020 Season Preview
by Tony Genualdo Last season, Calhoun found themselves in unfamiliar territory as they returned to Class A. But it did not slow down the success of year’s past as they won their conference. They finished with a record of 14-7-1 and lost to Bethpage in the postseason. Coach Art Canestro says his team’s plans are no different this upcoming season as they try to live up to their high expectations. “We continue to try to be successful by doing what we always do; working hard and paying attention to details,” Canestro said. The professional experience that Canestro and assistant coach Steve DiMarco helps lead the team through what they say are “professional-type practices. “We expect our kids to work hard and buy into the system, and they do,” said Canestro. As for the talent on the team this ...
Calhoun Enters New Territory With High Expectations
In Class AA, Calhoun has been one of the more prominent programs as far as talent and consistency go. In 2017, they fell in the semifinals and in 2018, they were eliminated in the quarterfinals. Due to their success over the past few years and returning several impact players, all the arrows are pointing upwards towards a legitimate county championship run this year. However, there will be a change of scenery this season for the Colts. As a result of Class A expanding to 30 teams, Calhoun is one of four new teams. This means they will find themselves playing teams they are unfamiliar with, but capable of beating. They believe they can beat anybody in the newly adopted 30-team Class A. In past years, Calhoun has leaned on younger players to do most of the carrying. This season, Calhoun is l...
Matt Pelcher Commits to Hofstra
The trend continues of Hofstra University becoming a hot-spot for elite prospects on Long Island. Catcher Matt Pelcher (Calhoun 2020) announced his verbal commitment to the Pride, joining fellow LI top players such as Jimmy Joyce, Anthony D’Onofrio, Mark Faello, Brad Camarda, James Cardinale and William Kennedy. He becomes the fourth 2020 graduate on the island to announce his verbal commitments (Joe Wozny; UCONN, Travis Honeyman; Boston College, Johnny Castagnozzi; North Carolina). Pelcher has been in the limelight since eighth grade, when he was called up to varsity to be the starting catcher for Calhoun. He did a commendable job, batting .286 and handling a very talented pitching staff led by Dylan Hughes and Jake Garguilo. We wrote a feature story on him directly following the se...
