Craig Pihlkar
Craig Pihlkar Fires Gem, Commack Defeats Schlesinger & Sachem East 5-3
Final: Commack 5, Sachem East 3 WP: Craig Pihlkar S: Jack Cascone pic.twitter.com/o2Q4uLSgXM — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 13, 2021 On a difficulty scale, it doesn’t get much tougher than winning a road game against a lefty flamethrower that’s a likely MLB Draft pick. But when it comes to being afraid or intimidated, that’s just simply not going to happen to Commack. The Cougars pulled off a wildly-impressive 5-3 win against Sachem East with Miami-commit Rafe Schlesinger on the bump throwing gas. Commack, who captured the 2017 County Championship in a similarly difficult match up at West Islip, had their own ace on the mound. With 6’5 RHP UCONN-commit Craig Pihlkar, they can play with anyone. The big righty earned the win, throwing 6 IP, allowing six hi...
Commack Poised For a Postseason Run in 2021
by Eric Belyea Commack baseball is one of the most touted programs on Long Island, and that does not change going into the 2021 shortened season. Head coach Bryan Bonin, a former CW Post Pioneer, is heading into his fourth season with Commack, after leading the Cougars to a Suffolk County championship in his first season. Although this year has been different in terms of preparation, Bonin has been able to put trust in his upperclassmen leadership when getting physically prepared for the season; “the kids have taken it upon themselves to work out together a few times a week. We do meet via Zoom but as far as getting physically ready they have been working really hard and mirroring workouts that the guys who have been around for a while are familiar with”, Bonin explains. With the COVID-1...
Who Were The Favorites For The Paul Gibson Award?
Sports fans and media love playing the what if game. Growing up a die-hard baseball fan, I always wondered what if Jeffrey Maier doesn’t reach over the outfield fence and catapult the Yankees dynasty? What if Barry Bonds doesn’t feel slighted by the media coverage Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa received in 1998 and decides it’s not worth it to take steroids? And what happens if Duaner Sanchez decides not to take a cab at 2 am causing him to miss the rest of the season and the Mets make the World Series in 2006? This year we are playing a different type of what if game What if the season started on time and continued unimpeded through May? Let’s start with the Paul Gibson Award, which is given to the top pitcher in Suffolk County. Last year it was won by Joe Savino of C...
Commack Is Motivated To Avenge Last Season’s Postseason Exit
by Joseph Langan Joe Pellegrino gives Commack a 6-5 lead in the fifth ! pic.twitter.com/BtXySTeslf — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 25, 2019 Despite another successful season, Commack had their title hopes dashed late in the postseason at the hands of a rival. In a hard fought 8-6 battle against Ward Melville, Commack was knocked out of the playoffs in a contentious back-and-forth affair. Coach Bonin and his team are out for revenge this season, knowing that last season’s abrupt ending doesn’t show how good Commack really is. “The way our season ended last year, who we lost to and when we lost to them is still something myself, Coach Salmon and the returning guys haven’t gotten over.” With the bad taste left in his mouth Coach Bonin is pushing his players to be the best v...
