Brad Battaglini
Can West Islip Continue Their ‘Even-Year’ Trend?
Over the course of his tenure, Shawn Rush has established West Islip as the model of consistency in terms of Suffolk County baseball programs. Since 2008, they have captured four Suffolk County Championships and two Long Island Championships. Last season, they once again captured their league title and made a deep postseason run but ran into a terrific Ward Melville team led by the Carl Yastrzemski Award winner, Max Nielsen. “I’m pretty proud of the group – the seniors did a nice job,” said Rush. “The ultimate goal is to win a county championship every year but that’s not always attainable. We reached the semifinals, it was a disappointing ending but we just got beat. We faced the Yastrzemski Award winner and he showed why,” he said, referencing th...
Mike LaDonna Delivers Walk-Off Sac Fly In West Islip’s 13 Inning 5-4 Win
Final: West Islip 5, North Babylon 4 (13 Innings) WP: Brad Battaglini (5 IP, 1 R) Mike LaDonna: Wall-off sac fly pic.twitter.com/ogXGg6gd4Q — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 24, 2019 With their backs firmly against the wall in the seventh and 13th innings, West Islip did what only they are comfortable doing and that’s battling back from behind. They came back from deficits of 3-0 and 4-3 to win 5-4 in 13 innings against League 4 rival North Babylon. “We grinded today,” said winning pitcher Brad Battaglini. “We had a lot of opportunities and couldn’t really push a run across but we got the “W” today,’ he added. The reigning Suffolk AA Champs are comfortable with the uncomfortable and unflappable even in the stickiest of situations. ...
