Chris Wasson
OTD: LIU Post and NYIT Split Battle on the Boulevard
(Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared on April 27, 2019) In a crucial ECC double header this afternoon at Angelo Lorenzo Field, LIU Post and NYIT split the two games with NYIT taking the first game and LIU Post salvaging the split in the second. Here’s how it went down: Game 1: LIU Post sent ace James Varela to the mound against a high-powered NYIT lineup, who countered with Chris Mott. The Pioneers got off to a quick start in the first with a RBI singles by Dave Brehm and Anthony Vaglica. They added another run in the third on an RBI ground out off the bat of Jimmy Mendyk. With their ace on the hill, it appeared like that would be enough but Varela did not have his best stuff on this afternoon. The Bears forced Varela’s pitch count up early and Ben McNeill ripped a two-ru...
Hofstra Offense Stay Hot in 9-5 Victory Over Long Island University
by Tony Genualdo The Hofstra University Pride defeated the Long Island University (LIU) Sharks 9-5 on Wednesday, March 11, at University Field in Hempstead. Hofstra was looking to bounce back in their home opener after being swept last weekend by University of New Mexico Lobos. Despite scoring 34 runs in that series, they lost all three games in the bottom of the ninth inning. Meanwhile, LIU was doing the sweeping last weekend in their home opening series against the Saint Peter’s University Peacocks. Giovanni Ciaccio got the afternoon started for the Sharks as he hit the first pitch from Steven Boscia over the left field wall to give LIU an early 1-0 lead. A Carlton Harper RBI double later in the inning added one more run. Hofstra head coach John Russo pulled Boscia after just one inning ...
LIU Post Advances to NCAA East Regional Championship
Yesterday was an incredible day of college baseball action. There was three local Division-II programs competing in the NCAA East Regional, four Division-Is playing for their postseason lives, one Division-III team in the NCAA Regional and a Junior College team hosting the Super Regionals. From 9am until 10pm, there was important games going on. This doesn’t even factor in the high school baseball going on. For purposes of brevity, we will focus on the college action. We covered the NYIT game at 9am in which their offense supplied the power to send them to Saturday’s Championship against Wilmington needing just one win to punch their ticket to next weekend’s Super Regional. The other big news of the day was LIU Post who squared off against perennial powerhouse Southern Ne...
LIU Post and NYIT Split Battle on the Boulevard Presented by Muddy Locker Sports
(Today’s game coverage is brought to you by Muddy Locker Sports. Please check them out by clicking here!) In a crucial ECC double header this afternoon at Angelo Lorenzo Field, LIU Post and NYIT split the two games with NYIT taking the first game and LIU Post salvaging the split in the second. Here’s how it went down: Game 1: LIU Post sent ace James Varela to the mound against a high-powered NYIT lineup, who countered with Chris Mott. The Pioneers got off to a quick start in the first with a RBI singles by Dave Brehm and Anthony Vaglica. They added another run in the third on an RBI ground out off the bat of Jimmy Mendyk. With their ace on the hill, it appeared like that would be enough but Varela did not have his best stuff on this afternoon. The Bears forced Varela’s pi...
LI Lightning Capture 2018 LICBL Championship With 7-3 Victory
Our player of the game was Mike DeMarest. Mike came in to pitch in the second inning and provided five innings for the Lightning in their 7-3 win over NorEaster for the LICBL Championship. pic.twitter.com/tVoyuT6Rm5 — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) August 4, 2018 The Long Island Lightning took down the Long Island NorEasters by a score of 7-3 to take home the Long Island Collegiate Baseball League Championship Saturday afternoon. The Lightning had to overcome some early inning trouble to capture their victor. Starting pitcher George Rodriguez could only go a third of an inning after he allowed a hit and two walks to open the game. Troy Simpson had to come on in the first inning to get the Lightning out of the early jam and he struck out the next two batters to leave the bases loaded ...
Who Would’ve Won a Long Island World Series?
One of the things I would change about the state of baseball in our region is that I would eliminate the New York State tournament in favor of a three-game series between the winner of Class AA and A on Long Island. Why? Because the tournament is hosted in Binghamton and with the exception of the teams that qualify, very few people are able to make the four-hour drive upstate. That is a shame that the players invest all the blood, sweats and tears and then they play in front of a sparse crowd. I think it would’ve been so much more fascinating to see a three-game series between Massapequa and Wantagh to see who the true champions of Long Island are rather than having a large-school and small-school champion. Wantagh was talented enough to play in Class AA the past two years and it wou...
Podcast: Mike Gaffney Reflects on 2017, Discusses Incoming Class
LIU Post Head Coach Mike Gaffney was on the aXcess Baseball podcast with host Vinny Messana and reflected on their banner 2017 season and their incoming recruiting class which features high-end players Antonio Deodato (LHP), Luke O’Mahoney (1b) and Chris Wasson (SS). Enjoy
2017 Season in Review
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21tXRbacI4k It was a thrilling season on the diamond once again. Between high school and college, we covered 85 games not counting the seven game tournament in the Dominican Republic in February, which featured two teams of Long Island-based All-Stars playing at the beautiful minor league facilities of several Major League teams. You can read about that here. Here are a couple “best of” awards based only on the games that we covered. Feel free to include your thoughts in the comment section: Pitching Performance of the Year: Jason Diaz (May 30th vs St. John the Baptist) Final: Kellenberg 1, St. John the Baptist 0 WP: Jason Diaz (4-Hit Shutout, 10 K) Kellenberg wins CHSAA Championship for consecutive year pic.twitter.com/SVUCaB11Be — aXcess B...
Chris Wasson Walks-Off, Sends Chiefs on to Nassau County AA Finals
Chris Wasson rips walk-off single to send Massapequa to the Nassau County Class AA Finals ! pic.twitter.com/bZJmKM6U0t — aXcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) May 25, 2017 By Joe Morris The Massapequa Chiefs advanced to the Nassau County Championship on Wednesday in walk-off fashion, with LIU Post-commit Chris Wasson coming up in the clutch hitting the game-winning RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the 11th inning. It was playoff baseball at its best, from exceptional pitching, to plays at the plate and timely hitting that all culminated in a thrilling walk-off win for the Chiefs in 11 innings, clinching a spot in the Championship against Plainview-JFK. Both teams got on the board early, as defensive mistakes from the Chiefs set up the Sailors first baseman Chris Siklas for a...
Matt Carey’s RBI Hit, Strong Pitching Leads Oceanside to 6-4 Victory Over Massapequa
In an emotionally-charged rivalry like Massapequa-Oceanside, it pays to keep things simple. That’s what Oceanside’s junior RHP Matt Carey did that today in a crucial victory against a conference rival. “I just try to block everyone out, pitch the ball and strike everyone out,” said the NYIT-commit. Not only did he pitch very well–recording the win with six solid innings of work and 10 strikeouts, allowing three runs–he also smacked the go-ahead hit in the top of the seventh innings to propel Oceanside to the 6-4 victory. He came out of the gate guns blazing with eight strikeouts through the first four innings, using a high-octane fastball and a quality curveball to keep the Chief hitters guessing. Their offense got going against Dan Gdanski (Cortland-com...
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 ...
Dan Gdanski Comes Within One Out of No-Hitter, Massapequa Wins Opener 6-0
Massapequa RHP Dan Gdanksi could not have scripted this one any better. The Cortland-commit came within one-out of throwing a no-hitter in his first varsity start. He allowed a double with two outs in the seventh but struck out the final batter to finish off a masterful 6-0 one-hit shutout in the season opener against Syosset. “A win is our first priority,” said the senior RHP. “I pitched pretty well–I was hitting my spots today. My defense did a great job behind me. We just played together as a team today,” he added. It was a pitcher’s duel early on. Syosset’s Griffin Laine pitched very well through four innings, allowing just a single to DH James Zupo. Massapequa Head Coach Tom Sheedy knew the team would be very excited on Opening Day and did not...
