Commack
Commack Aims for an Unprecedented 5-Peat
Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s series by Vin Messana March 12, 2020 was five years ago today. It was the day most people remember when looking back on the craziness of the pandemic – citing things like the NCAA cancelling the men’s basketball tournament and professional sports being halted. There was no high school baseball season that year, but the Town of Brookhaven did host a Wood Bat tournament which featured almost all of the schools in the county. The winner of that was Commack, led by the late Bryan Bonin. Commack captures the Town of Brookhaven Varsity Wood Bat Championship with a 2-0 victory over Lindenhurst Drew Vincent fired a complete game shutout with 10 strikeouts. Commack went 6-0 in the tournament pic.twitter.co...
How Do They Do It: Commack
(Editor’s Note: This is the fourth of a 6-part series in which we highlight the top baseball towns on Long Island. Previously, we featured Massapequa, Bayport-Blue Point and Shoreham-Wading River. You can view them all by clicking here.) by Patrick Duryea Commack captures their 4th consecutive Suffolk County Championship behind a complete game gem by Evan Kay against Sachem North 
pic.twitter.com/ElDOlV4Qlz — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 26, 2024 There is no shock factor in seeing “Commack” written in as champions of Suffolk County or Long Island as a whole. Every year, great teams emerge all over the Island. The stars align, and a program will have a stacked group of seniors all playing at the next level with some young talents mixed in, and they’ll have a season ...
Sam Kay and Luke Krzemienski Ready to Embrace the Expectations of Their Last Names
Prior to each game, Sam Kay and Luke Krzemienski have a catch. Being superstitious like most baseball players, they have to finish it in a particular way. They throw the ball back-and-forth three times with the final catch having to be behind-the-back. Kay and Krzemienski are both sophomores on Commack’s varsity baseball team that were called up as freshmen. In addition to the challenge of playing against kids three years older than you, they both share the burden of living up to the expectations that their older siblings have set playing for the Cougars. Sam’s older brother, Evan, just finished up one of the best careers we have seen in Suffolk County history and especially for Commack’s program. He owns the Long Island record for consecutive scoreless innings at 60, he ...
Tools of Intelligence: Talking with the Catchers of Long Island’s Recent Aces
by Pat Duryea Pitchers are unique animals. No one pitcher is the same. Each pitcher has a unique mix of pitches, movement, and velocity. To find those wrangling the pitchers, you look no further than right behind home plate. The catcher. Nobody knows a pitcher better than their catcher. Catching is far from a passive profession, they must strategize just as much as any pitcher and do a whole lot of dirty work. But as we examine the top pitchers in Suffolk County across the past two seasons there is no better perspective to hear from, than that of their catchers. Pat-Med 2, Sachem East 0 WP: Josh Knoth (6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 15 Ks) S: Jack Costello Jayden Kennedy: RBI double, bases loaded walk Pat-Med will face No. 1 Connetquot tomorrow pic.twitter.com/ORo94RMhrG — Axcess Baseball LI (@axc...
Evan Kay Strikes out 11, Leads Commack to Third Long Island Championship in 4 Years
by Jacob Infald (Photo: Adam Rubin/Commack School District) Kay does it again! 11 strikeouts on the day including striking out the side in the 7th. pic.twitter.com/HM7EGjJlrC — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 2, 2024 For the third time in four seasons and for the second consecutive one, the Commack Cougars are the Class AAA Long Island baseball champions. On the evening of June 1st at Middle Country Athletic Complex, the Cougars were once again led by their ace, Stony Brook-commit Evan Kay and they defeated the Farmingdale Dalers, 2-1. Kay was dominant out on the mound allowing only one unearned one in a seven inning complete game shutout. He struckout 11 batters and walked none. Kay attacked Dale hitters early in the count with a sharp slider, a nasty changeup and a powerful fa...
Commack Enters 2024 Atop the Mountain
Final: Commack 9, Shenendehowa 0 WP: Evan Kay (CG shutout, 2 hits) Commack will play Ketchum in the Class AA State Finals on Saturday pic.twitter.com/cWRiSEdV0H — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 10, 2023 Commack was as close as possible to winning their first State Championship in program history. They fired a no-hitter in the Class AA Finals against Ketchum but lost, 2-1. They finished with a record of 25-3. While that loss certainly stung, it shouldn’t take away from the fact that they continued their reign as the top baseball program in Suffolk County – they have captured back-to-back-to-back Suffolk Class AA Championships and they defeated Massapequa, 7-0, in a rare anticlimactic Long Island Championship at St. Joseph’s University. Coach Matt Salmon followin...
Up Next Powered by State Farm Ken Kortright Agency: Ryan Bush
(Editor’s Note: This is the fourth installment of the Up Next series in which we highlight the top underclassmen on Long Island. Previously, we featured Everett Zarzicki, Brian Brower and Stellan Zangari. Special thank you to State Farm Ken Kortright Agency for sponsoring this year’s series.) Since 2017, Commack has turned into the premier baseball program on Long Island. Much of that is due to the culture that the late head coach Bryan Bonin instilled, as the Cougars won a County Championship in his first season at the helm and followed that up with another in his final season in 2021, and in the first two seasons under Matt Salmon in 2022-’23. Besides the great culture that Bonin helped instilled, they have a tremendous pipeline of talent that’s on par with the be...
GAME RECAP: Lindenhurst Stuns Commack With 4-Run 7th Inning to Keep League Title Hopes Alive
Lindenhurst scores 4 runs in the bottom of the 7th and they defeat Commack 7-6 on a walk-off sac fly by Steve Hernandez pic.twitter.com/gloo0C8L9s — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 9, 2023 It’s not often that you are left speechless following a high school game, but this was one of those. The two-time reigning Suffolk Class AA Champion Commack Cougars have led League I wire-to-wire this season – even flirting with a perfect season until recently – but entered play today looking to clinch the League Title against a hungry and senior-laden Lindenhurst Bulldog team led by Stony Brook-commit Chris Carson. Leading 6-3 in the bottom of the 7th and 7-8-9 in the order coming up, things looked very safe for the Cougars as they looked to get three final outs. That last out...
Commack Continues to Establish Itself as Premier Program in Suffolk County
Bottom 4: A grand slam by Justin Crispino and Commack opens up a 7-3 lead pic.twitter.com/Rpr7jcYEui — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 25, 2022 Commack took the field in 2022 with heavy hearts following the tragic passing of their beloved coach Bryan Bonin. He was a winner on the field and a truly respected man in the community and a loving father, husband, son and brother. The Commack community rallied behind him and honored him in the best way they knew how – continue to win. The Cougars went 17-1 in the regular season, capturing the League Championship and they continued to win as they went 7-1 during the Suffolk County playoffs, capturing their third County Championship since 2017. They had their season end in the Long Island Championship against their new rival, Massape...
New BEAST Training Facility Opens
The bar keeps raising for training facilities on Long Island. There is a new home for Team BEAST in Huntington and it is located in what was previously Retro Fitness at 1815 East Jericho Turnpike. The facility is 15,000 square feet and is an upgrade over their previous home just a few miles down the road. The biggest takeaway is that the facility will be centered around player development for players from 8u to college. It is equipped with fully retractable cages opening to full size turf area, a dedicated HitTrax area, standalone pitching lab with Rapsodo, Pro Radar and video. Multiple plyowalls, warm up spaces, locker rooms and a classroom upstairs. Additionally, there will be a physical therapy office near the entrance. It will be the home to BEAST baseball, BEAST softball as well as sp...
Round 2! Massapequa Defeats Commack in a Rematch of the 2021 Class AA Finals
by Chris Prystupa FINAL: Massapequa 2 Commack 1 pic.twitter.com/ozGuqGNW5C — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 4, 2022 In a rematch of the 2021 Class AA Long Island Championship, the Massapequa Chiefs and the Commack Cougars met once again in the battle for the title. Rather than being a slugfest these two teams put their pitching and defense to the test. After a scoreless first inning for Massapequa’s Erik Paulsen, the Chiefs were looking to provide some early run support as the first two hitters of the game, Matt Castrogiovanni and Tim Dorman, reached on back-to-back singles. Commack’s starting pitcher Eric Mohr induced a soft line drive which turned into a double play ending the threat. In the top half of the second inning, second baseman Michael Pulcini brought in the game...
Longwood Forces Winner-Take-All With 4-3 Win Against Commack
Longwood head coach Ryan McSherry following the playoff victory pic.twitter.com/ApxJZKSYaB — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 24, 2022 Well I guess they won’t want me covering any more Commack games. The Cougars, who had been riding an 18-game winning streak since their last loss on April 5 – which was when we last covered them – lost 4-3 to Longwood which forces a winner-take-all Conference I Championship today. Longwood brought their bats in the first inning against Stony Brook-commit Eric Mohr. Devin Montalvo led the game off with a walk and he was sacrificed to second base by Mike Arbuiso and he scored on Louis Kaleb’s RBI single to make it 1-0. Mason Mehling went the other way with a single and Preston Gerena scored Kaleb with an RBI single of his own t...
