(Photo Credit: Michael Tito and Joe Ippoliti) Entering his 15th season as Head Coach, Michael Milano has built Seaford into one of the elite programs in Nassau County, having won 48 games over the previous three seasons. This year, they will be returning a number of impact players such as Vinny Pecora, Nick Calandra, Zach Grof, Andrew Chico and John Leonardi. I had a chance to speak with him on their upcoming season and recapping their 2017 season and here’s what he had to say… It was another strong season for you guys in 2017, what were your overall takeaways? In 2017 we were 17-2 in the regular season and entered the tournament as the #1 seed. All teams then had over a week off. Some teams could get it going offensively, after that break, but we just could not for whatever re...
(Photo Credit: Vincent Dusovic) by Julian Guevara Over the past decade the “nail down” reliever has become one of the most important positions in baseball. This is due in part to the plethora of incredible relief pitching and closers that emerged from the late 1990s-2010. Every ballplayer in the United States knows that the last thing you want to hear at Yankee Stadium in the top of the ninth is Metallica’s “Enter Sandman”. Of course, Mariano Rivera’s cutter is what the hitters really feared; however the song plays a huge role in getting the fans involved. My favorite example is the 2012 Oakland Athletics and their closer, Grant Balfour. Balfour, a genius in my opinion, did everything he could to get all 60,000 fans at the Oakland Coliseum involved. His chosen song is also a Metallica hit,...
Tomorrow will be our third annual Awards Banquet. It will be held at Villa Lombardi’s beginning at 7pm. Doors will open at 6:45pm. Here are some details regarding the event. Attire is business casual. The event will conclude at 11pm. First course, entree and dessert will be included. A cash bar will be available to guests ages 21+ Awards will begin around 8:30pm and conclude around 10:30pm. We will be honoring the 35 players named to the college All-Long Island team. Each of their respective coaches will be speaking at the podium for a few minutes. We will also be honoring several other awards such as Most Valuable Player, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, and many more. Guests are encouraged to take photos and pose in front of our 8×10 custom Step & Repeat banner. If you have n...
We had some difficult with the audio in the podcast, so here is a transcript of the audio between Vinny Messana and Nassau reporter Mike Connors. You’ll be releasing your Top-15 players in Nassau County this week, when is that coming out? I’m shooting for Saturday or Sunday this week, but first I will be beginning our third Face of Nassau challenge. It’s a great way to start of the new year. Yep, people want their baseball information– That’s what it’s all about. So let’s talk about some of the top guys. Our list won’t be released until March, but there’s a couple of guys that are no secret in terms of being the top player. Let’s talk first about Wantagh’s Anthony Fontana. What can you tell us about him? Not only does he hav...
We will be hosting our third annual Awards Banquet on Saturday, January 6 at Villa Lombardi’s. Among the several awards we will be handing out will be the Cy Young Award for college pitchers. The four finalists are: T.J. Santiago (Adelphi): 8-3 record, 1.51 ERA, 77.2 IP, 56 H, 81 K, 7 BB, 3 CG Matt Seelinger (Farmingdale): 4-1 record, 1 Save, 1.39 ERA, 51.2 IP, 28 H, 69 K, 16 BB, 1 CG Jake DeCarli (LIU Post): 9-1 record, 2.22 ERA, 101.1 IP, 91 H, 78 K, 21 BB, 6 CG Josh Outsen (St. Joseph’s): 7-0 record, 1.99 ERA, 54.1 IP, 40 H, 54 K, 11 BB, 5 CG We will announce the winner at the podium on the evening of the event. **Tickets available by clicking here **
Commack does it!! They are the 2017 Suffolk Class AA Champions ! Commack 8, West Islip 6 WP: Jake Krzemienski pic.twitter.com/00g1i7pt9V aXcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) May 31, 2017 One week before the season, the Commack baseball team didn’t know who their Head Coach would be. This was a team coming off a 14-win season and a playoff run with arguably the best staff on Long Island. Three months later they are celebrating their first Suffolk County Class AA championship since 1997 after their 8-6 back-and-forth victory over the reigning Long Island Champion West Islip Lions. Senior Pete Theodorellis, who tied the game up at 6-6 in the sixth inning with a double off the fence–and fired 8.2 IP yesterday–never wavered in his optimism with this team. Even during that ...