Division
Clarke Captures First County Championship Since 2013
FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 2013, THE CLARKE RAMS ARE COUNTY CHAMPIONS!!!! FINAL: Clarke 7 Division 0 pic.twitter.com/pWdOtzXJB7 — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 3, 2019 For the first time since 2013, the Clarke Rams are Class A County Champions. On Monday afternoon, Clarke blanked Division, 7-0, in the do-or-die game three. From the start of this game, it was never really close. Judging by the atmosphere on both sides of the stands and the pitching match up, it seemed this was going to be a close game. However, it never was. Colin Diez was handed the ball for Division and Chris Lydon got the start for Clarke. In the bottom of the 1st, Matt DeStefano gave Clarke an early 1-0 lead on a sacrifice fly to left field. Chris Lydon helped himself out, driving in a run in the bottom of the...
Division Clinches Second Consecutive County Championship Berth Behind 14-Inning Win
Division is headed back to the County Championship for the second year in a row! FINAL: Division 5 Bethpage 1 (F/14) pic.twitter.com/1DZ0DqayCK — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 25, 2019 It took 14 innings and 3.5 hours, but the Division Blue Dragons are headed back to the County Championship. In the longest postseason game of 2019, they came out on top over Bethpage by a score of 5-1. Throughout this ballgame, it was truly a “game of inches.” In the bottom of the 7th inning, Bethpage trailed by one run. This was where the fun began. Bethpage tied the game at 1-1, with the game winning run on 3rd with one out. On an infield ground ball. Ryan Spreckles slapped down the tag on what would’ve been the winning run at home, keeping the game tied. This forced endless ex...
Bethpage Dominates VSN 15-1 To Advance
FINAL: Bethpage 15 VSN 1 Bethpage is headed to the semifinals! pic.twitter.com/Mm65QFvns5 — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 21, 2019 With the season on the line, Bethpage annihilated Valley Stream North on Tuesday afternoon by a score of 15-1. Bethpage advances to the Class A semifinals with the victory. After posting a scoreless top of the 1st inning, Bethpage wasted no time manhandling their opponents. With two men on and nobody out, Pete Schimmel launched a three-run home run to give Bethpage a 3-0 lead in the blink of an eye. Brody Paola tacked onto Schimmel’s home run with an RBI of his own. Then, things got ugly. Following the four-run 1st inning, the Bethpage bats exploded even more in the 2nd inning. They scratched across six runs on this occasion, expanding the lead...
Division Blanks Seaford 9-0, Clinches Semifinals Berth
Colin Diez is the @BsbLifestyle101 player of the game after firing a complete game shutout allowing just three hits. He also had three hits at the plate with an RBI. pic.twitter.com/AmLeCTVFL9 — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 20, 2019 Once again, the Division Blue Dragons are headed back to the semifinals. On Monday afternoon, Division dominated Seaford, shutting them out 9-0. From the beginning of this game, it was never really close. The Division lineup wasted no time getting to the Seaford pitching staff on the mound, as Matt Cavanagh, Colin Diez and Hunter Traenkle all ripped singles to begin the bottom of the 1st. This gave them an early 2-0 lead. The entire Division lineup continued to display their hot bats as the game went on. Mike Sullivan, Hunter Traenkle and Joe Natale...
Nassau County Class A Playoff Preview (Plus Predictions)
As always, the Class A playoffs will be a roller coaster of emotions. It brings high energy, closely contested match ups and upsets. The factor that makes these playoffs so great, is that there’s 18 teams competing for the ultimate goal of a county championship. As we’ve seen in previous years, there’s been clear favorites heading into the postseason. However, this year, it’s anybody’s title to win. With that being said, let’s take a look at the Class A playoffs. Play-In Games: #18 South Side vs. #15 Island Trees For several reasons, this is a great match up. Not only do both teams have great arms, but they both struggle to hit high-end pitching. For South Side, expect Dan Kelleher to take the mound. Kelleher features a lively fastball, along with the ab...
Class A Mid-Season Power Rankings
With six games left to play in the regular season, there are a ton of teams that are competing for playoff spots. For the first time in awhile, there’s no such thing as a team that’s clearly better than everyone else. Right now, a number of teams can win the County Championship. There have been some surprises thus far, but these next two weeks will be interesting to see who comes out on top in the race for the postseason. Here are the mid-season power rankings for Class A. 10. Carey (7-2) Under Doug Robbins first year as head coach, things are looking bright for Carey heading into the back end of the season. They hold a 7-2 record with a chance to win their conference. However, they still have to beat an extremely talented Garden City team if they wish to do so. They play a win...
Game of the Week: Division Tops North Shore 6-2 In Crucial Rubber Match Presented by Muddy Locker Sports
Colin Diez talks about his dominant performance that led his team to victory and what this win means for Division going forward. pic.twitter.com/Q1waeAgbem — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 18, 2019 Arguably two of the most talented teams in Nassau County took the field on Thursday afternoon with a chance to take first place in the stacked conference A4. It was Division who came on top, beating North Shore and taking two games out of three by a score of 6-2. Before the game begun, you could tell this was going to be a closly-contested game. Not only was the pitching match up Dan Livoti vs. Colin Diez, but both teams possess top notch coaching staffs, hence their consistent deep postseason runs. Although this was just the 6th game of the season, the environment and emotion from b...
Nassau County Class A Preseason Power Rankings
Spring has sprung which means the varsity baseball season is officially underway. After Wantagh won their third consecutive County Championship in 2018, things are expected to be a little different in Class A this season. While there will be new teams emerging as contenders, there’s also going to be plenty of teams that come into the season with a chip on their shoulder, ready to prove they are worthy of winning. With that being said, here are the preseason power rankings for Class A. 10. Valley Stream North Competing in an extremely tough conference, Valley Stream North enters the season as “sleepers” in Conference A4. With a lineup consisting of Albany-commit Joe Gisonda and James Saracino, they can give opposing teams nightmares. They also return Chrs Manzi and Colin M...
Division Has Their Eyes Set Towards Another County Championship
In life there are three guarantees; death, taxes and Division contending every year. In Head Coach Tom Tuttle‘s 11 years at Division, they have six County Championship appearances, four County Championships, two Long Island Championships and three Diamond Award winners. The numbers speak for themselves. Somehow, the Blue Dragons have been constantly overlooked in recent years. Regardless of what their roster looks like at the beginning of the season, they always find a way to compete and usually come out on top. Last year, they finished the regular season at 15-3 and a conference title. Although they lost in the Class A County Championship to Wantagh, they certainly exceeded everyone else’s expectations. Speaking for themselves, they fell short of their ultimate goal, which is ...
Wantagh Enters 2019 With A Target On Their Back After Winning Three Straight Long Island Championships
The first word that comes to mind when discussing Wantagh is dynasty. As everyone should know, Wantagh has won three consecutive Class A Long Island Championships. They not only demoralized every one of their opponent’s dreams in the making, but now go down in Long Island history as one of the most dominant teams to ever do it. Aside from the 2016 State Championship and the three Long Island Championships, Wantagh portrays an incomparable resume among that three year period. The core of these championship teams were made up of star ballplayers who went on to play baseball at the next level. Winning the most prestigious award in Nassau County is just one of the awards they took home in back-to-back seasons. In 2017, Jimmy Joyce (Hofstra) won the Diamond Award for best hitter, batting ...
MacArthur Looks Upon New Faces To Make An Impact In 2019
If you’ve followed Nassau County baseball at some point in your life, you are aware that MacArthur is one of the most decorated programs in Long Island history. Within the last ten years, MacArthur has totaled five Diamond Award winners and took home the Class AA County Championship in 2015. Among one of the few programs in Nassau County who compete for a county championship no matter what their roster looks like, MacArthur knows what it takes to be successful. Since their switch to Class A in 2017, the Generals fell to their cross-town rivals Division in the postseason back-to-back years. If we’ve learned one thing from the past, it’s that MacArthur always knows how to rebound and will never go down without a fight. However, they may face some adversity coming into this ...
Carey Looking To Progress Towards A Deep Playoff Run
(Photo Credit: J. Heck/Herald) Led by first year Head Coach Doug Robins, Carey will be looking to take the next step as a program. In recent years, Carey has found themselves in the postseason but hasn’t made it very far into May. Last season, Carey beat Hewlett and Mineola in the first two rounds, but fell to a talented Division team in the quarterfinals. This year they will try to change their fortune. Conference A2 serves as a division with an equal amount of talented teams. Therefore, it will be interesting to see how Carey fits in with their competition. In the past few years, Carey has been known for constantly being among the league leaders in home runs. The reason behind this is because of the big bats in their lineup, along with the short porch in right field. In 2016, Anth...
