Brady Clark
Bayport-Blue Point Ready to Begin New Era Under Victor Manzella
by Aaron Diaz Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s season preview series. For the past quarter century, Long Island baseball fans could count on Bayport-Blue Point making the postseason. Under longtime coach Jim Moccio, they did so in 25 straight years and won the Class A New York State Championship in 2013 and 2014. He decided to step down following the season, and he is replaced by Victor Manzella, who just led West Babylon to the Class A Long Island Championship, beating Bayport in the County Finals. “Coach Moccio, who had won 383 games and 2 state titles, decided to retire,” Manzella said. “ I happen to live in Bayport Blue-Point, so when the opportunity came up to interview for that position, I took the opportunity and was blessed to get t...
Ken Kortright State Farm Agency Game of the Week: Bayport-Blue Point RHP Liam Stemmler Fires 4-Hit CG
Final: Bayport-Blue Point 3, Miller Place 1 WP: Liam Stemmler (CG, 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 7 Ks) BBP improves to 8-0 on the season, they’ll face Sayville next week pic.twitter.com/1tjYP9nxkE — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 14, 2023 One of the key tenets of Bayport-Blue Point’s 25 consecutive postseason appearances is their ability to grind out at bats, beat high-end pitchers with timely hits and, of course, outstanding pitching. Their starting pitching has been lights-out this year and they are now 8-0 on the season and on the verge of another postseason berth after their 3-1 victory over Miller Place. Today’s starting pitcher, FDU-Florham commit Liam Stemmler was efficient and effective. He out dueled sophomore LHP Nick Frusco, who was overpowering at times but made just ...
Bayport-Blue Point Looks Towards 2023 With Hopes of a Deep Playoff Run
by Nick Cipolla Final: Bayport-Blue Point 9, Center Moriches 1 WP: Ryan Costa pic.twitter.com/PPIIEIDcnV — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 19, 2022 2022 was just another normal year of Bayport-Blue Point Phantoms baseball. A second place finish in their league with a 14-6 overall record while making it to the playoffs is per the status quo for the Phantoms as they have made it to the Suffolk County playoffs for 24 consecutive seasons. The one blemish on this season was that they would see their season end against the team from the next town over, Sayville. The Phantoms are led by head coach Jim Moccio. The Phantoms will have some big shoes to fill in 2023 as they unfortunately lost a trio of studs to graduation following the 2022 season. All-County infielder Trey McGowan (‘22) w...
Ryan Karman Fires 3-Hit Shutout To Propel Sayville Into Conference IV Finals
Final: Sayville 8, Bayport-Blue Point 0 WP: Ryan Karman (CG, 3-hitter) Jack Quinlan: 2-R HR Sayville will face Mount Sinai tomorrow in the Conference IV Finals pic.twitter.com/qR3V6j80dK — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 23, 2022 The perfect remedy to bounce back from a tough loss is to get back on your home field with your ace on the bump. Playing in a Conference IV elimination game, Sayville sent RHP Ryan Karman to the mound against Brady Clark and the red-hot Bayport-Blue Point Phantoms. As he has done all season, Karman was lights-out. With the exception of hitting the first two batters of the game, he was dominant – taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning and finishing with a three-hit shutout in an 8- win for the Golden Flashes. The crowd was absolutely packed with fa...
Ryan Costa Goes the Distance, Bayport-Blue Point Cruises to 9-1 Victory
Final: Bayport-Blue Point 9, Center Moriches 1 WP: Ryan Costa pic.twitter.com/PPIIEIDcnV — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 19, 2022 It felt more like a December afternoon but Ryan Costa pitched like he was in midseason form. He went the distance, striking out six and allowing just an unearned run in a 9-1 victory for Bayport-Blue Point against Center Moriches on Tuesday morning. He was matched up against Joey Hiller and the teams traded zeros for the first two innings, before Center Moriches got on the board in the top of the third. After Leyton Pulsipher dribbled one out in front of home plate and reached to lead off the inning, he stole second and scored on an RBI single by Gavin DeRosa. At that moment, it appeared that it might be a pitcher’s duel, but the game complete...
Ken Kortright State Farm Game of the Week: Billy Steele Fires 6 No-Hit Innings in 4-1 Win
Postgame interview with Shoreham-Wading River RHP Billy Steele who fired 6 no-hit innings in a 4-1 win pic.twitter.com/dzwO45Ztze — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 4, 2022 Shoreham-Wading River has grown accustomed to no-hitters over the past several years. Between Brian Morrell‘s record-setting six no-hitters in 2016-’17 and then Aidan Crowley‘s back-to-back-to-back no-hitters in 2019, maybe there isn’t the same allure there once was. Billy Steele, their 2022 version of those aforementioned pitchers took a no-hitter through six innings, but was lifted in favor of LHP Nick Stella. He was one strike away from finishing it off, before Bayport-Blue Point ruined the bid and got on the board on an RBI double, briefly putting a scare into the hometown faithful....
How Good is the 2023 Class of Pitchers on Long Island?
The velocity in the game of baseball right now is insane. I feel like an old man when I say when I was in high school if a kid threw 80 MPH by his junior year it was eye-opening. It probably meant he was going to gain some strength over the next year and that would turn into 85 maybe 86-87. This wasn’t in the 1950s, this was just over a decade ago. Somewhere along the line, the standard has changed. Everyone playing travel or varsity baseball seems to throw at least that hard and the players getting ‘D-1 looks’ are now in the mid-to-upper 80s’ by the time they are juniors. Now, I know that is not the be all, end al. There’s plenty of other aspects of pitching I look for, but when pitchers throw strikes and also have velocity that is a standard deviation or two...
Busy Week of College Commits
September is always a busy time of the year for players to announce their college commitments. Some of it is due to the recruitment calendar and some is simply due to the fact that once the high school year begins, kids begin to take their collegiate future more seriously and become more zoned in on their target schools. This week I was away for my 30th birthday, but was keeping track of the college commitments and posting them on our Instagram and Twitter page. Here’s some of the recent ones. Brady Clark (Bayport-Blue Point 2023) – St. John’s Great change up from Brady Clark (Bayport-Blue Point 2023) at 74 MPH. Fastball topped 85 pic.twitter.com/6RA1kM3B3E — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 2, 2021 Jayson Torres (East Islip) – East Stroudsburg Christian An...
Brady Clark, Charles Aurandt Hold Off Mattituck, 3-2
Final: Bayport-Blue Point 3, Mattituck 2 WP: Brady Clark S: Charles Aurandt pic.twitter.com/xJsKWJIpXg — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 25, 2021 With the bases loaded, two outs and Bayport-Blue Point clinging to a 3-1 lead, HC Jim Moccio made a call to the bullpen. He brought in senior RHP Charlie Aurandt in relief of sophomore Brady Clark, who got off to a great start but began to lose the strike zone and Moccio wanted to end any chance of a Mattituck rally. The senior came on and after initially walking the first batter to bring in a run, he struck out SS Connor Fox to strand the bases loaded and end the threat. Aurandt wound up staying in the game, firing up scoreless innings in the sixth and seventh innings – despite allowing the first two batters to reach in the sevent...
Bayport-Blue Point Returning Just 1 Starting Player from 2019
When the season was shutdown in March of last year, Bayport-Blue Point was in the middle of an intersquad game. “They told us to make sure we clean up good – it might be the last time we’d be playing,” said Head Coach Jim Moccio, who is entering his 22nd season at the helm and won Class A State Championships in 2013 and ’14. “I didn’t tell the guys that,” he said knowing that it would be deflating for them to hear it. Their team was comprised of 12 seniors, four of which were entering their fourth season of varsity baseball and were poised for a deep playoff run. “We felt really good with that group,” said Moccio. “We were playing really well going into the shutdown. When you have seniors, they’re just more relaxed. We...
