Brian Morrell
Bobby Vath Fires A No-Hitter, Brian Morrell Hits 2-R Walk-Off HR
by Chris Sacchi In a 2-0 walkoff @RHTomcats victory over the Shelter Island Bucks in the @HamptonsLeague, Bobby Vath earns the postgame interview by firing a no hitter in the W. He talks to @SachChristopher about the no-no and the game plan that went into it, presented by @hamptoncoffee pic.twitter.com/fYpfaOIVdb — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 8, 2019 In the words of the late Great Hall of Fame player Ernie Banks, “let’s play two!” The Riverhead Tomcats and Shelter Island Bucks did just that, and one player put himself in the history books. Game one featured a pair of right hand starters that absolutely controlled the game. Bobby Vath took the mound for Riverhead, and Quinten Cooleen started opposite him for Shelter Island. Vath, who is set to transfer from University of ...
Aidan Crowley Fires Third Consecutive No-Hitter Against Hauppauge
Shoreham-Wading River (7-0) RHP Aidan Crowley made history this week when he became the first Long Island pitcher to complete back-to-back-to-back seven inning no-hitters. He completed the feat on Tuesday against Hauppauge in a 6-0 win for the Wildcats. For the season, he is now 4-0 with 40 strikeouts, 1 hit allowed and no runs allowed over 26 innings. In recent years, three pitchers have made attempts at history; Matt Crohan (Riverhead) in 2013, Nick Fanti (Hauppauge) in 2015 and Brian Morrell (Shoreham-Wading River) in 2017, but all three came up just short. Additionally, in 1996 James Bailin (Division) fired two seven-inning no-hitters, but the third game lasted only five innings (according to Gregg Sarra of Newsday). The state does not recognize any game under seven innings as an offic...
What is the Best High School to Recruit From?
One of the realities of being a college recruiting coordinator is that there’s only a finite amount of time to recruit. Sure, there’s an 18-game regular season but they can only make it to high school games when they don’t have their own games! The thing that I’ve noticed since I have followed the Long Island baseball community is that certain schools have produced impact college players that a much higher rate than other programs. Obviously, there are external factors that give certain schools advantages such as the socio-economics of the city, the average income of the parents, demographics, the quality of the school’s head coach/athletic director. There’s about 20 schools that have ran laps around the rest of the island in terms of producing talent. If you ...
Man of the Year Award Finalists Announced
Finalists for Axcess Man of the Year are: •Brian Morrell, SWR •Jimmy Joyce, Wantagh •Chris Cappas, Kellenberg pic.twitter.com/NnO1H4GAEC — Axcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) November 21, 2017 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 Axcess Man of the Year Award to the top high school player on Long Island. The four finalists are: Chris Cappas (Kellenberg) Pitching: 6-1 record, 0.18 ERA, 53 K, 39 IP Offense: .438 AVG, 3 HR, 22 RBI, 1 K Mark Faello (Plainview-Old Bethpage) Pitching: 7-0 record, 1.26 ERA, 0.74 WHIP, 74 K, 56.2 IP Offense: .372 AVG, 2 HR, 23 RBI, .450 OBP, 22 R Jimmy Joyce (Wantagh) Pitching: 9-2 record, 1.27 ERA, 92 K, 66 IP Offen...
What Research Says About Weighted Baseballs
WEIGHTED BASEBALLS: DO’s and DON’T’s BASED ON THE RESEARCH Jarad Vollkommer, CSCS Assistant Director of Training, Infiniti Sports Performance Oh boy, here we go again with all the weighted baseball stuff… But, seriously, are you educated yet? Probably not. There is so much more research needed to fully understand everything there is about weighted baseballs. So far, here is some of what we do know in a quick summary: Throwing Velocity Using an array of weighted baseballs (4-12oz.) can lead to an increase in throwing velocity, we know that. One study [1] found that using over-weighted baseballs as a warm up greatly improved both throwing velocity and accuracy. These results are great, but they lack ecological validity (carry-over effect). Will a pitcher ever warm-up with a non-regula...
PODCAST: Special Guest Sal Mignano Discusses Best Teams in Class A History
On this week’s podcast, special guest Sal Mignano joins host Vinny Messana to discuss the best teams in Class A Long Island history. Mignano retired second on the all-time Long Island wins list with 583, but has since been passed by Bob Ambrosini. He has seen plenty of the best teams, including some teams that he’s coached such as the Shoreham-Wading River Wildcats in 1987 that were crowned New York State Class A champs. He’s also coached against the back-to-back NYS Champs from Bayport-Blue Point in 2013-’14 and Islip 2007-’08. He also coached in the Long Island Championship against the dominant Division teams. He provides unique insight as someone that has experienced these powerhouses first hand.
Creatine: Important for Baseball Players?
The Effects of Creatine Supplementation on Muscle Growth and Why It’s Important for Baseball Players Jarad Vollkommer, CSCS Has anyone ever told you to be careful with your Creatine supplementation because it “damages your kidneys”? Or, that it really has no effect on muscle growth and is clinically unsafe? These are some of the common misconceptions in the field of exercise science. Fortunately for you, this article is giving you the real science behind Creatine. Creatine has been the most widely studied supplement. It’s importance to muscle growth is well known, and has been backed by numerous scientific studies. In this article, we will review how Creatine is used by your cells, why it is important for baseball, and how it feeds your muscles to grow! So…What is ...
Q & A With Mike O’Reilly
(Photo Credit: Allison Rhoades/Peoria Chiefs) Before Brian Morrell was dominating Suffolk County Class A, there was Mike O’Reilly. The 2012 graduate of Shoreham-Wading River won the Carl Yastrzemski Award in his senior year, when he performed like a superhero and smacked two walk-off HRs in the playoffs and struck out 19 batters in the Long Island Championship game. It’s easy to forget as the years go by, but O’Reilly compiled a career record of 17-3 before going on to attend Flagler College. In 2015, he was named Peach Belt Pitcher of the Conference. He compiled a record of 7-3, with a 2.89 ERA and 94 strikeouts over 93.1 IP. He was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 27th round of the 2016 MLB Draft. Over his first two seasons, he’s actually taken his perfo...
Developing the Entire Throwing Motion
Jarad Vollkommer, CSCS Last week’s article discussed the Do’s and Don’ts of weighted baseballs. In case you missed it, I made a small comment that speaks huge volumes: “If you want to increase the longevity of your throwing arm, DO NOT have a microscopic view of the throwing motion. There are other ways that you can increase throwing velocity without the expense of adding volume to your arm.” If you want to throw hard, you have to train hard often, and train SMART often. Training smart includes knowing that the pitching motion requires full body activity, therefore it is important to train your entire body and not only focus on your throwing shoulder. Don’t get me wrong, to be successful in the game of baseball, you do no need a few things as a pitcher: a lot of external rotation in your t...
Podcast: Discussing the Mount Rushmore of Long Island Baseball Players
We had two very special guests on the podcast today discussing the best seasons in Long Island baseball history. Gregg Sarra, 32-year veteran reporter for Newsday and Sal Mignano (583 career wins) together have seen plenty of talented players on the diamond. We discussed who the best of the best are.
NYSSWA All-State Teams Announced
The 2017 New York All-State teams were announced this morning. They are classified into Class AA, Class A, Class B, Class C and Class D. Each Class is then categorized into individuals teams in descending numerical order. Below are the Long Island players that were mentioned. Class AA First Team- Hermes Abreu, Bay Shore Mark Faello-Plainview-JFK Second Team- Dylan Judd-Oceanside Patch Dooley-Hills East Third Team- Peter Theodorellis-Commack Anthony Siroka-Sachem East Fourth Team- Jake Edwards-Calhoun Brad Malm-Pat-Med Fifth Team- Angus McCloskey-Farmingdale Oliver Tavares-Deer Park Matt Overton-Hauppauge Sixth Team- Justin Reyes-East Meadow Greg Tsouprakos-West Islip Seventh Team- Matt Pinto-Massapequa Johnny Pohlman-Commack Frank Stola-Northport Eighth Team Chris Wasson-Massapequa ...
Seelinger Headlines Day 3 of MLB Draft
It took longer than anticipated but a handful of Long Island natives were selected on Day 3 of the 2017 MLB Draft. Here’s a rundown of the selections: Matt Seelinger, FSC (Pittsburgh Pirates, 28th round) The 2013 graduate of Clarke HS became the first player to get drafted out of Farmingdale State College since Tadeusz Nowakowski in 1978. He had a brilliant stretch of two seasons for the Rams, being named Skyline Conference Pitcher of the Year in 2016 and followed that up with a 4-1 season in ’17, in which he compiled a 1.39 ERA with 69 strikeouts over 51.2 IP. He finishes his career just ahead of me in the program-record book for highest strikeouts per nine (10.6). Their early postseason exit prevented him from compiling some of the numbers that other elite pitchers did. Still...
