Doug Goodwin
OTD: Which LI Players Performed The Best At The New York State Games
The three-day NY State Games took place from June 25-27 at Binghamton University, Union-Endicott HS, Maine-Endwell HS and Vestal HS. The event featured 340 of the top players from New York playing in front of roughly 90 college coaches. Long Island was well-represented and featured some well-recognized players if you’ve been following us for the 2018 season. Some of the players that performed well come as no surprise, but a couple players really put themselves on the map with eye-opening performances. I spent a lot of time interacting with the Division-I coaches. Several of them asked by opinion on players that I have watched this season, and I was able to kind of pick their brains as well in terms of their opinions on our local players. Below is my takeaways and which players performed th...
Smithtown East With Unfinished Business in 2019
Heading into the postseason as the number one overall seed in 2018, Smithtown East seemed destined to become Class AA County Champions. After finishing the regular season with a League III regular season title and a record of 16-2, they went on to lose two of their three playoff games and were eliminated as a result. Obviously, they picked a bad time to play their worst baseball of the year, losing to Bay Shore and Connetquot. Returning 15 players from last year, however, Smithtown East expects to repeat their success from last season, while altering the ending with a County Championship. Given the talent they have, they know this is a very attainable goal and they have been knocking on the door for the past several seasons. The clear strength of Smithtown East is their returning pitchers....
Insider Notes: HS Seniors That Are Making a Strong Case to Get Drafted
Every year around this time we think we have a good idea who will get drafted in June. The reality is that there’s no way to predict the future; players performances are wildly unpredictable and that’s not even factoring things out of their control. For example, I thought a player like Angelo Navetta would have gotten drafted had he performed exceptionally well in 2018. All he did was slug .616 with 49 RBI, showing that his 2016 season was no fluke and he is every bit as talented offensively as he is defensively. Still, he wasn’t drafted. Don’t tell me his size is a deterrent, because there were position players under 6’0″ drafted across the nation. Then there’s Matt Hogan, who I thought just needed to prove he was healthy to be considered a pro pl...
Michael Storms Fires CG Gem, Smithtown East Improves to 12-0
Will Kennedy clears the bases with a double to left center field. Top 4 | Smithtown East 4, Bay Shore 1 pic.twitter.com/FKPvr9Cfuh Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 24, 2018 Entering the season, Smithtown East was being picked by many people to win the county championship. It was no secret their pitching staff was stockpiled with talented arms. Michael Storms, one of those highly-regarded pitchers, proved today why many people felt that way but the offense was equally impressive in their 10-1 victory against League III rival Bay Shore. “We knew we had a big target on our back,” said the junior southpaw regarding the feeling entering the season. “We knew when we play, everyone needs to do their job and stay focused and not let it get to our hands–just...
Patch Dooley Fans 15, Fires One-Hitter in 2-1 Victory over Smithtown East
It was a phenomenal pitching duel between Hills East ace Patch Dooley and Smithtown East’s Doug Goodwin this afternoon. Both starters dominated, but Dooley was the star–fanning 15 in a one-hitter and leading the charge in a 2-1 victory. Dooley threw a complete game, the one run he allowed came on the only hit allowed, a home run down the left field line by Andrew Canino to lead off the fourth inning. However, he came back strong recording 11 of the game’s final 12 outs on strike outs, and finishing with 15 Ks. After the game he said, “My curveball was working, I was spotting my fastball and my team did a great job of toughing out two runs to get the win.” Hills East only mustered four hits themselves, but smart base running helped put those who did get on get ...
