Dave Brehm
James Varela Continues To Dominate, LIU Post Advances to Winner’s Bracket in NCAA Regional
The LIU Post Pioneers continued their dream campaign with a 7-2 victory in the first round of the NCAA Division-II East Regional over No. 6 Felician. The Pioneers, who are the No. 3 seed in the tournament but the No. 25 nationally-ranked team, got out to a quick 3-0 start in the first inning. After Giovanni Ciaccio led off the game with a walk, he advanced to third on an error and scored on a sac fly by Dave Brehm. An RBI ground out by Anthony Vaglica and a wild pitch extended their lead. With their ace on the mound, that was more than enough. Since beginning the season with two consecutive losses, Varela has returned to being one of the best Division-II pitchers in the nation. He struck out 15 batters–bringing his season total to an unbelievable 139–and walked just two batters...
Fall Ball Series: LIU Post
Really good bullpen from freshman Joe Valentino pic.twitter.com/0fkn9Me6Tf — Axcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) October 25, 2017 Our Fall Ball Series concluded this afternoon at LIU Post with the reigning ECC Champion Pioneers. I watched their full-team workout and it was very eye-opening. If there was any question that LIU Post baseball has come a long way over the previous three seasons, look no further than the newly-implemented rule by the school’s athletic department. On days that the men’s soccer team is playing, the baseball team is prohibited from taking batting practice on the field due to the amount of home runs that have interrupted the soccer games. The biggest culprits have been Rob Andreoli and Zach Fritz. Head Coach Mike Gaffney noted that in previous years t...
Travis Bruinsma Throws 3-Hit Shutout in AA Championship Game, Fulfills Promise to Best Friend
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNunBApHEOw]When the pop up off the bat of Nick Vitale came down and landed into the glove of the second baseman, the Connetquot Thunderbirds could rejoice as the 2015 Suffolk County AA Champs for the second time in four seasons. This time it was by virtue of a 6-0 shutout of No. 2 seed Ward Melville which concluded a high-intensity three game series.The jubilant emotions were met with grief, however as the Thunderbirds were still mourning the loss of star pitcher, John Hennge’s father, Walter, who passed away suddenly on Saturday.“I made a promise to John Hennge that I would win this game,” said starting pitcher Travis Bruinsma, who won his Long Island leading 12th game of the season with a three-hit shutout.How about the nerves? P...
Travis Bruinsma Sharp, Connetquot Cruises Past Sachem North 9-3
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peN1RgGYPes] Connetquot coach Bob Ambrosini liked what he saw from his starting pitcher, defense and offense in Monday’s 9-3 victory over Sachem North. Coming from a coach that has 32 years of experience and ranks No. 3 in Suffolk County history in wins, it’s safe to say the Chiefs played some good baseball.“We hit the ball pretty well today I thought,” said Ambrosini. “We’ve kind of been inconsistent hitting the ball. I thought we’d hit the ball all season but we’ve kind of been up-and-down. Today we did well,” he said. Objectively, it is hard to nitpick the Chief’s offense. They have eclipsed eight runs on seven different occasions this season. They jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the b...
