Center Moriches
Up Next Powered by State Farm Ken Kortright Agency: JT Bonventre
This is the 18th installment of the Up Next series in which we highlight the top underclassmen on Long Island. Previously, we featured Everett Zarzicki, Brian Brower, Stellan Zangari, Ryan Bush, Bryce Cutrone, Justin Ortiz, Colin Raymond, Jagger Adamo, JD Duffy, Chris Sultana, Matt Zambriski, Tucker Brown, Christian Calabro, Derek & Ryan Yormack, Andrew Poxon, Tristan Garcia and Evan Fallon. Special thanks to State Farm Ken Kortright Agency for sponsoring this year’s series. When it comes to improving as a ballplayer, it always helps to play against older competition. You can find out a lot about yourself when you’re not always the best player on the field. In the case of JT Bonventre, he is still often the best player on the field even when playing up. This past season, he...
Center Moriches Hopes to Build on Championship Appearance
by Mike Merolle Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s season preview series. Trailing 4-0 in the bottom of the 7th against undefeated Babylon, Center Moriches has pulled off the improbable comeback and they scored 5 times with the walk-off hit coming off the bat of Gavin DeRosa Game 3 tomorrow ! pic.twitter.com/62mTZYUsgd — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 24, 2023 It was a bittersweet ending to 2023 for Center Moriches. The team made the Suffolk County Class B Championship and led for the majority of the game until Babylon scored on a walk-off, winning the championship 6-5. Nonetheless, it was still a successful season considering Center Moriches’ 10-8 league record and their strong playoff run. Head Coach Paul Gibson is entering his fif...
GAME RECAP: Daniel Madsen Fires Two-Hit Shutout, Nick Crone Delivers Go-Ahead Hit in Fifth
Daniel Madsen fired a 2-hit CG shutout against rival Center Moriches as the Panthers improve to 7-0 on the season. Madsen is our Player of the Game @GCsports pic.twitter.com/r5Shr1NQpZ — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 19, 2023 Hanging prominently from the center field fence are two massive banners highlighting Center Moriches incredible back-to-back New York State Championships in 2018-2019. During that time, Center Moriches was absolutely loaded with the talent and determination that we may never see again from a Class B team. Opposing teams step onto the field and sometimes get an extra jolt as they would love nothing more than to defeat a team with the track record of the Red Devils. We saw that on display as Babylon is looking to chase history themselves – the Panther...
Center Moriches Enters 2023 As Reigning Class B Long Island Champs
by Andy Smith Center Moriches captures the Class B Championship with a 2-1 win over Mattituck Riley Morris, Jack Rupe, Leyton Pulsipher combined on a no-hitter pic.twitter.com/1BXTbcLGfa — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 24, 2022 Head Coach Paul Gibson described last season as “the most rewarding one in my baseball career.” Center Moriches entered 2022 as a very young program. “We had some instances where our defense failed us early on, and we also didn’t have the quality at bats that we had hoped for. As the season progressed the boys really came together and bought into the system, and started to understand their roles and the ways they can make a positive impact.” The Red Devils finished with an 11-9 record but went on a playoff run, which resulted with a Long Island Class B ...
Q & A With Matt Alifano
Adelphi has had a long history of excellence on the baseball field and even amidst that list of outstanding performers, Matt Alifano warrants inclusion with the best of the best. The Center Moriches grad helped the Red Devils to a perfect season in 2019 and kept that momentum going into 2020 when he started his collegiate career on a tear before the pandemic ended the season abruptly. It was in 2021 when he truly broke out for the Panthers. Matt Alifano’s first collegiate HR was a grand slam. The sophomore is batting .419 on the season pic.twitter.com/b3Z6yd4K9S — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) March 29, 2021 He batted .394 – which was the highest for a Panther since Rich Mejia and Cliff Brantley in 2014. But what separated him from the pack was his pop from the leadoff s...
Center Moriches Reloaded For Next Window of Success
Final: Center Moriches 3, John Glenn 0 WP: Jordan Falco (CG, 2 H, 3 BB, 11 K) Playoff picture still to be determined depending on result of Babylon game pic.twitter.com/12hqVIP4cC — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 11, 2021 When a small-school team has a talented class of players, it’s always important to make the most of it and try to get a league title or, hopefully, a county championship. In the case of Center Moriches, they certainly maximized their window of success, and squeezed a little extra out of it too. The 2018-’19 Red Devils won back-to-back NYS Class B Championships including an undefeated 26-0 record in ’19. From that group, here are where the players wound up: Alec Maag: Adelphi Jordan Falco: Adelphi Matt Alifano: Adelphi (reigning Axcess Player o...
Where Are They Now: Glenn Gibson
(Photo Credit: Mike Janes/Four Seam Images) It’s Opening Day 2006 and the best pitching prospect on Long Island is on the mound against Centereach HS. The area behind home plate is packed with representatives from virtually all Major League teams plus cross checkers to watch Glenn Gibson. The 6’4 southpaw is the son of former New York Mets and New York Yankees LHP Paul Gibson. Glenn is armed with a 90 MPH fastball and–barring injury– will be drafted in June. The scouts and everyone else in attendance are expecting to watch a pitching clinic by the flame-throwing southpaw. That’s not what happened, and that’s why they play the games. “I threw four innings and it was just a struggle,” said Gibson. “I think I gave up 11 hits that year and most of them came in that game. If there was a bad tim...
Jordan Falco Fires Two-Hit Shutout To Keep Center Moriches’ Hopes Alive
Final: Center Moriches 3, John Glenn 0 WP: Jordan Falco (CG, 2 H, 3 BB, 11 K) Playoff picture still to be determined depending on result of Babylon game pic.twitter.com/12hqVIP4cC — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 11, 2021 In 2018 and 2019 when Center Moriches were at the peak of their powers, senior day was a celebration of the players that contributed to the program over the previous years and helped build the program up to one of the best Class B teams in the region. This year, it was a celebration for the senior player (singular) that was a part of both of those teams. But it was no time to celebrate, as they had a game to win. The Center Moriches Red Devils, winners of the Class B New York State Championship in 2018 and ’19 entered the final day of the regular season n...
Connetquot Starts off With a Bang and Recap of Opening Day for Section XI
I mean, you couldn’t have asked for anything more on Opening Day for Section XI baseball. Town of Brookhaven was generous enough to host the Coaches Memorial Opening Weekend which will feature tributes to Carmine Argenziano, Bill Batewell and Bob Ambrosini today – the three coaches who passed away over the previous year. That will take place today at Moriches. As far as the action on the field – it was thrilling and the energy from the dugouts and fans were absolutely electric. You could just feel the excitement and anger from all the emotions the past year. It was relieving to know we arrived at this point – even if many were frustrated with the route it took. In any event, I had a busy day. I drove to Kings Point to watch the Opening Round of the Skyline Conferenc...
Center Moriches Gears Up For Another Title Defense, Enters Season With 30-Game Win Streak
Center Moriches enters 2021 with a 30-game win streak following their highly-publicized 26-0 season in 2019 and a consecutive Class B New York State Championship. It is a very different looking team, though. They graduated Andres Auffant, Matt Alifano, Brad Sakellarides, Alec Maag and David Falco in 2019 and Rob Copozzi last year. Additionally, Paul Gibson III is entering his first full season as head coach after being promoted from assistant in 2019. They return two Preseason All-Long Island players in RHP Jordan Falco (Adelphi-commit) and SS Leyton Pulsipher (Central Connecticut State-commit). Falco was 6-0 during the 2019 season and they will count on him to anchor the rotation again. Pulsipher started every game as a freshman and now enters as one of the more experienced players on the...
Where Are They Now: Glenn Gibson
(Photo Credit: Mike Janes/Four Seam Images) It’s Opening Day 2006 and the best pitching prospect on Long Island is on the mound against Centereach HS. The area behind home plate is packed with representatives from virtually all Major League teams plus cross checkers to watch Glenn Gibson. The 6’4 southpaw is the son of former New York Mets and New York Yankees LHP Paul Gibson. Glenn is armed with a 90 MPH fastball and–barring injury– will be drafted in June. The scouts and everyone else in attendance are expecting to watch a pitching clinic by the flame-throwing southpaw. That’s not what happened, and that’s why they play the games. “I threw four innings and it was just a struggle,” said Gibson. “I think I gave up 11 hits that year and most of them came in that game. If there was a bad tim...
Who Was The Best Team of The 2010s?
When it comes to being considered the best–the bar is set high. Over the course of the past 10 seasons, there have been undefeated seasons, there have been back-to-back state champs, there have been pitching staffs loaded with Division-I talent and pro pitchers. But there can only be one team considered the best. I have watched a lot of baseball, but I didn’t trust my own instinct so I solicited the help of some trusted sources to put together my definitive list of the best teams of the decade. To make it a bit easier, we narrowed it down to teams that have won a Long Island Championship, because plenty of talented teams have made it to the finish line only to come up short. We also did not list any school more than once on purpose because many of the back-to-back champions featured the sa...
