Brian Honka
Plainview JFK Looking to Fill Shoes of Diamond Award Winner
by Brian Honka Dylan Banner (Plainview JFK 2022) captured the Axcess Man of the Year last night at our Awards Banquet ! @POBHAWKSbasebll @LITitanbaseball pic.twitter.com/OLKpqZqKB9 — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) November 6, 2022 Plainview JFK had a regular season to remember as they won Nassau AA-2 with a 14-1 record – cruising through their competition. In the postseason, however, they lost in the semifinals to a talented Farmingdale team. The team will be looking to replace Dylan Banner, now playing at Albany, who was a Diamond Award winner, and Axcess Man of the Year. He had a .475 AVG, 7 HR, and 34 RBI at the plate while also being dominant on the mound posting a 7-0 record with a 0.73 ERA striking out 101 batters while only walking 6 over 47.2 innings pitched. The team...
Led By Conference A4 Pitcher of the Year, Seaford Ready to Return to Postseason
by Brian Honka Uncommitted RHP Sean Costello (Seaford 2023) up to 88 MPH. Was named All-County and Conference Pitcher of the Year pic.twitter.com/BKLf1rlZw2 — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 24, 2022 Seaford is looking to improve upon a season that featured a 12-10-1 record and 2 playoff wins over Garden City and Island Trees giving them a trip to the quarterfinal. Unfortunately, the season didn’t end the way they hoped as they lost to the 3rd seed MacArthur Generals. Coach Milano said that last year was something to be extremely proud of coming out of arguably one of the toughest leagues in Class A. The team lost All-Conference SS Evan Block (SUNY Maritime), the team will also need to replace battery mates RHP Jack Kellner (SUNY Maritime) and C Joe Bello (Baruch) who received Al...
After Graduating 10 From 2022 Class, Miller Place Ready to Move Forward
by Brian Honka Miller Place 3, East Hampton 1 WP: Trevor Diamond 6ip 1 run 5 hits Tyler Hodella 2-3, double, 2 RBIs Mikey Schleider 2-3, RBI pic.twitter.com/xK3ohQ2o81 — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 19, 2022 Miller Place is coming off a 13-6 season and a trip to the playoffs where they lost to Bayport-Blue Point. They will be looking to follow that up with another postseason appearance. The team graduated 10 players from last year’s team so filling the gaps left by those players will be something the coaching staff will have to figure out this off-season and early in the season. Among that group was their All-County OF Tyler Hodella – who had ridiculous season. He batted .557 with a .618 OBP, .889 SLG, 1.520 OPS, 34 hits, 10 doubles, 3 triples, 2 HRs, 25 runs and 24...
Plainedge Looking to Replace Talented Crop of Seniors From 2022
by Brian Honka Plainedge 7, Island Trees 6 WP: Dom Pannitti Walk-off hit by Ben Ellenport pic.twitter.com/X2YtARi5vR — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 10, 2022 Plainedge is looking to have another great season coming off a playoff appearance in which the team went 13-9 and made it to the quarterfinals where they were eliminated by eventual county champs, Calhoun. They will come into the season without 2 of the team’s starting pitchers from last year. Team ace Tyler Kregeloh was named to the All-Long Island second Team after a 5-2 record with a 1.09 ERA and a .88 WHIP. Ben Ellenport who now pitches at Farmingdale will also be missed. Ellenport notched a 2.40 ERA and won 2 games. Other players the team will be without this year will be Troy Emmanual (Old Westbury) and Pat Reye...
Bellmore JFK Looking to Return to Postseason for Third Straight Season
by Brian Honka Bellmore JFK will look to improve on last season in which they went 9-8-1 in conference play which was good enough to give them a playoff spot for the second year in a row. They were eliminated in the playoffs by Clarke. The team will look to fill the gap left by Zach Ganca (FDU-Florham) an All-County OF. Another player that the team will be looking for production to replace is Matt Cohen, an All-Conference player. This year’s team will be relying on plenty of returning players that had key contributions last season – many of which are seniors. Alex Goldstein won 3 games on the mound, struck out 28 batters and compiled a .385 OBP at the plate. Anthony Firriolo batted .372 with 17 hits on the season. Nick Pizzirusso batted .287 with 9 RBIs and 14 hits. Grayson Go...
Led by Diamond Award winner, Division Hungry to Take Next Step
by Brian Honka Division had a young team last year that consisted of six sophomores who had big contributions to the team’s 19-7 overall record and 14-4 league record in which they finished 1 game behind South Side for the league title. The team fell one game short of reaching the Nassau Class A County Finals as they lost in game 3 of the semifinals to eventual LI Champs Calhoun. The team will miss the production and contributions from Mike Knapp, a 2-time All-County RHP, who is now pitching at Molloy, Jack Taggart, an All-Conference pitcher, and Chris Powers, an All-League OF. The team will be looking for another great season out of Joe Yovino who is a senior catcher that put up a .467 AVG, crushed 7 home runs with 30 RBIs and 27 runs scored. Additionally, he stole 15 bases, compil...
Smithtown East Takes Field Coming off Suffolk Finals Appearance
by Brian Honka Final: Smithtown East 14, Centereach 6 WP: Matt Wild Centereach will play Smithtown West on Monday. Smithtown East will play the winner of that game on Tuesday pic.twitter.com/G82wE4KnIe — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 21, 2022 Smithtown East enters this year trying to defend their Conference II Championship. They had a terrific 2022 season, defeating rival Smithtown West before losing in the Suffolk County Class AA Finals to a loaded Commack team. Overall, they went 12-6 in league play before winning four playoff games and finished with an overall record of 16-9. Coach Rob Christensen, entering his second season with the program, said, “last year’s team had 9 very talented seniors who took the team and turned them into a family.” He added that everyo...
Kellenberg Motivated to Take Next Step
by Brian Honka Mid 3: 1-2-3 inning for Koshy. Kellenberg trails 2-0 pic.twitter.com/bVgfcDcw5y — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 20, 2022 Kellenberg comes into the season with aspirations to bring a championship home once again. They saw their season come to an end against Chaminade in the last two seasons in the CHSAA Finals. They won back-to-back titles in 2016-17. They had a great season overall finishing at 17-9. They shined on the mound with a team ERA of just under 2.00. In total, they graduated 16 players. Ryan Glupe is one of the players that had a big impact on the team who graduated as he led the team with back-to-back gems in the playoffs against St. Anthony’s and Chaminade which helped the team fight off elimination and make it to the championship. Another big-time ...
South Shore Elite Capture 13u National Boys of Summer Fall Division Championship
by Brian Honka The South Shore Elite would take on the TC Blackhawks in a Boys of Summer 13U Championship game The Elite would get on the board early and not look back. They came out swinging getting 3 base hits in the bottom of the first with RBIs from Christian Orlandi, a line drive to left from Dylan Sollitto, and Colby Grzelaczyk. DJ Brodi would hit a fly ball that the wind took and kept taking deep enough for the runner from third to score giving the Elite a 4-0 lead after the first inning of play. An RBI single from Dylan Sollitto makes it 2-0 Elite pic.twitter.com/QURQ0IcBMn — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) November 6, 2022 The Blackhawks would try and come back as they were able to get a run across in the top of the 4th. The Elite would get that run back and add on to the lea...
LI Crew Capture 15u Boys of Summer Fall Championship
by Brian Honka The LI Crew took on the South Shore Elite in a 15U Boys of Summer Fall Championship game The Crew would jump out to an early lead as they would lay off pitches, not in the strike zone, and punish balls that were A 2 run single from Ryan Plutman and the crew are up 6-0 in the first with no outs pic.twitter.com/2ekcV6oBkE — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) November 6, 2022 After a few walks and hit by pitches, Ryan Plutman would rip a line drive into the left-center gap scoring 2 runners and giving the Crew a 7-0 lead, he would later come into score With an 8-0 lead after the first inning Crew starting pitcher Dan Hansen would not have to worry very much. He was dominant striking out the side in the top of the second. The Crew would add more runs to their total in the 3r...
LI Titans Hannan Capture the LI Boys of Summer 15u American Fall Division Championship
by Brian Honka Post game interview with Joey Aronica pic.twitter.com/k3gf3ukq9C — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) November 5, 2022 With the 15U Boys of Summer Fall championship on the line, the LI Titans took on the LIB Prime on a warm afternoon at the PAL Stadium. The Titans sent Aaron Zacharia to the mound to face off against Eli Sierra. Both pitchers would be on their ‘A’ games as neither would back down from a challenge both teams would get runners on base in each of the first 3 innings but great pitching and good defense from both teams stopped the runners in their tracks. In the 4th inning, the titans would have the best scoring chance of the game to this point from either team with runners on 2nd and 3rd but Eli Sierras 4th strikeout of the game ended the inning. A...
Long Island Scouts Academy Takes Double Header Over Arsenal
by Brian Honka Final Long Island Scouts Academy 5 – Tri State Arsenal 1 pic.twitter.com/EEjgTW1igK — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 29, 2022 The Tri-State Arsenal took on the Long Island Scouts Academy in a Boys of Summer Fall season Varsity doubleheader. In game one, the Arsenal sent Michael O’Grady to the mound to take on Stevie Hernandez of the Scouts. The Arsenal would get on the board first after a leadoff single up the middle from Patrick Scarangella who used his speed to take second and then advance to third on a passed ball. Michael Merolla would hit a ground ball to the second baseman who chose to take the out at first giving Arsenal a 1-0 lead. Both teams would trade scoreless inning after scoreless inning until the bottom of the 4th. Back-to-back walks to st...
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