Brian Morrell
Shoreham-Wading River Clinches Playoff Berth For 32nd Consecutive Year
A lot has changed with regards to the landscape of Long Island baseball over the past three decades. One thing that hasn’t, however, is the level of success of Shoreham-Wading River has had. With their 9-6 victory over Miller Place on Wednesday, they have now qualified for a postseason berth in each of the past 32 years, according to their former Head Coach Sal Mignano (583 career wins). This year’s team is especially talented, as they have compiled a team ERA of 1.35 with five shutouts in 12 games. Pitchers have recorded 115 Ks in 83 IP. They have averaged 10.3 runs per game, smacked 17 HRs with a .367 AVG and have four Div-I players in Brian Morrell (Notre Dame), Nick Manesis (Army), Miles Kelly (Charleston) and Thomas Brady (NJIT). They also have Tyler Pepper (Felician) and ...
Two No-Hitters and a Bunch of Gems Highlight a Day of Pitching Dominance on Long Island
When the aces take the hill, the offenses tend to go dormant. That was the theme today as Brian Morrell (Shoreham-Wading River ’17, Notre Dame-commit) and Josh Rovner (Pat-Med ’17, Adelphi-commit) both fired no-hitters, while Ben Brown (Ward Melville ’17, Siena-commit) and Brian Morrisey (Commack ’17, Stony Brook-commit) fired two-hit shutouts with double-digit Ks. This year is especially heavy on power-throwing right-handed pitchers and you can also throw Nic Luc (Farmingdale ’17, Adelphi-commit) and Nicholas Trabacchi (Smithtown West ’17, UMBC) to the mix who both fired gems today Brown has been close to perfect this year. Through three starts, he is yet to allow a run and has fanned 30. It will be a fas...
Analyzing the Incredible Class of 2017 Crop of Shortstops
It’s not often that an All-Star Game involves intriguing decisions as to who will start or even make the roster. The 2017 Grand Slam Challenge will require those decisions. And that has everything to do with the amount of superior talent on the island at the shortstop position–specifically the class of 2017. In a typical year, any one of the following players would probably be starters–but obviously the decision will be much harder when you consider all the Div-I talent. Try this one on for size. Here’s a rundown of the top guys in alphabetical order with their college commitment in parenthesis: Joe Barbuto, North Babylon He hit .306 last year with an absurd .521 OBP. His Head Coach stated that he provides stability from the SS position that the team has not had in ...
Shoreham-Wading River Smacks Three HRs, Morrell Fires Four No-Hit Innings in 8-3 Win
Shoreham-Wading River began their redemption tour in dominating fashion in today’s season opener against Mount Sinai. Miles Kelly, Dean Stalzer and Vinny Uzzi smacked HRs and Brian Morrell fired four no-hit innings with six strikeouts in their 8-3 victory. Head Coach Kevin Willi stated that the reigning Carl Yastrzemski Award winner was on a strict 75-pitch limit this afternoon and he hit that after four innings due to the strikeouts and four walks. He was also pleased with their at bats. “We had 11 hits and drew eight walks in our six innings, so guys were working at bats, which is nice to see,” said the third-year Head Coach. Stalzer, a potential X-Factor for them, had a terrific afternoon. The senior ripped a double and drew two walks in addition to his home run. He mi...
Shoreham-Wading River Loaded With High-End Talent
Coming off another stellar season, Shoreham-Wading River is hungry to avenge last year’s 12-inning playoff loss to Rocky Point. They are loaded with talent including the reigning Carl Yastrzemski Award winner in Brian Morrell, and Thomas Brady, Nick Manesis and Miles Kelly. Watch the video above as Vinny Messana spoke with Head Coach Kevin Willi previewing their 2017 season.
aXcess Baseball 2017 Top HS Players on Long Island
Here is our list of the Top HS Players on Long Island for the 2017 season: Pitchers: Matt Boyko, Clarke (2017) Brad Camarda, Hills West (2017) Chris Cappas, Kellenberg (2017) Harrison Cohen, Cold Spring Harbor (2017) Jason Coules, Bellmore JFK (2018) Jason Diaz, Kellenberg (2019) Antonio Deodato, Wheatley (2017) Mark Faello, Plainview-JFK (2018) Luke Hansen, Southold (2018) Jimmy Joyce, Wantagh (2017) Bobby Lewis, MacArthur (2017) Brian Morrissey, Commack (2017) Brian Morrell, Shoreham-Wading River (2017) Max Nielsen, Ward Melville (2019) Peter Theodorellis, Commack (2017) Nicholas Trabacchi, Smithtown West (2017) Liam Pulsipher, Center Moriches (2018) Catcher: Logan O’Hoppe, St. John the Baptist (2018) Matt Pelcher, Calhoun (2020) Infield: Johnny Castagnozzi, Massapequa (2020) Antho...
Recap of Dominican Republic Trip
What a tremendous experience it was for the 20 players who were a part of Sal Agostinelli‘s All-Star team this past week in the Dominican Republic. The competition was top-notch. All players were either already signed and playing on the Dominican Summer League teams of their respective organizations or very worthy of being signed. In fact, a number of Dominican players were signed right on the spot after their performances on the field. All five of the games were played in front of several MLB area scouts. Here are some notes from the five games. There were 2 teams–one from the class of ’17 and ’18 and one from ’19 and ’20. Each team played the Dominican Summer League teams from the Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, Texas Rangers...
Which Players From Long Island Could Get Drafted This Year? Part 1
This is a year where there is a higher-than-normal amount of players with professional caliber playing on Long Island. There might not be a first-round pick, but there will be plenty of Day 3 guys. To discuss them all, it will be broken into a multi-part series. Here is the first group. Jesse Berardi (Commack ’14, St. John’s ’18) You won’t find anyone that says a bad word about Berardi. He won the Carl Yastrzemski Award in 2014 and was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies. His makeup is off the charts and everyone adores how he respects the game and hustles at all times. He was regarded as the best defensive shortstop to come out of Long Island since Shawon Dunston. His bat has come along and all of a sudden he developed power which only enhances his value. Assuming...
St. Charles Sports Medicine Hosts “Injuries in Baseball” Symposium
Earlier today St. Charles Sports Medicine hosted their second annual “Injuries in Baseball” Symposium at Ward Melville HS. The event was a must-attend for all coaches, parents and athletes as Dr. Luga Podesta, former team doctor of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and Los Angeles Dodgers, went into great detail on his research of how to prevent injuries in young pitchers. Also on the panel was former MLB catcher Tom Gregorio, current Philadelphia Phillies International Director of Scouting Sal Agostinelli, legendary Shoreham-Wading River Head Coach Sal Mignano. Dr. Gregory Mallo, Dr. Danielle DeGiogrio and Dr. Ray Mattfield also contributed their findings and opinions. They combined their decades of experience and provided insight that is critical for all members of the baseba...
2016 Year in Review
It was a very enjoyable year covering the Long Island baseball scene. We began the year with 1,400 twitter followers and are now at 3,220 which means many of you missed out on some of the top stories from this year. In this post, I will take you through the highlights of the year: January: -Mike Scioscia and Dr. Luga Podesta host “Injuries in Baseball” Symposium at Ward Melville HS. February: -BOTI travels with Hofstra to cover their season-opening at No. 4 ranked Texas A&M Aggies. April: -First episode of BOTI Weekly airs. We ultimately had 7 episodes in 2016. You can watch them all here. May: -We completed the Top 10 Long Island prospect series with a feature story on Matt Hogan of Hills East. You can see the entire list here. -Game-ending throw by...
Biggest Storylines Heading Into 2017
With the calendar turning to January, all eyes are on 2017 and baseball players are preparing to get back on the diamond. 7. What does West Islip do for an encore? They are coming off their second Long Island championship in three years. They return Jake Guercio (Fordham-commit), Greg Tsouprakos (Pace-commit), Joe Valentino along with a talented crop of freshman and sophomores such as Anthony Cinquemani. Still, it will be difficult for them to replace the production and consistency that Lou Antos, Ray Weber, Nick Valenti and James Kory provided over the past three seasons. There’s no doubt that they will be a playoff team, but it will be too tall of an order to expect another 20-win season. What Coach Shawn Rush has built has been pretty spectacular, but losing all those high-caliber...
Brian Morrell Wins the Carl Yastrzemski Award
by Vinny Messana Speaking in front of a crowd of 900 people was an environment that Brian Morrell was not completely comfortable in. Maybe it would’ve helped if the camera man was holding a baseball from 60’6″ away, though, because that is one setting that did not faze the junior from Shoreham-Wading River one bit this season. In fact, he smacked a 420 ft HR in the Class A semifinals against Rocky Point that hasn’t landed yet in front of a crowd much larger than that. The University of Notre Dame-commit was awarded the coveted Carl Yastrzemski Award tonight at Villa Lombardi’s in Holbrook, NY–becoming the third winner from his high school, behind his mentor Keith Osik in 1987 and 2016 MLB Draft pick Mike O’Reilly in 2012. The junior terrorized pitc...
