EJ Cumbo
Game of the Week Presented by Muddy Locker Sports: NYIT Captures NCAA East Regional
Head Coach Frank Catalanotto on NYIT’s rapid ascension in his first season pic.twitter.com/le2EN2ND3e — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 18, 2019 One year ago, NYIT closed out their regular season with a loss to Queens College to finish their campaign at 13-25-1. On June 7th, they made waves by hiring 14-year MLB veteran and Smithtown native Frank Catalanotto. The move was a positive step forward for a program that had suffered through 13 straight sub .500 seasons. In less than one year, the program has rapidly ascended into becoming a 35-win team that will now participate in the NCAA Division-II Super Regional next weekend either at Southern New Hampshire or neighborhood-rival LIU Post. The 35 wins is a program record, previously set in 1987. Today they continued their fairy...
NYIT Pounds Nine Runs on 11 Hits to Advance to East Regional Championship Game
Final: NYIT 9, Franklin Pierce 3 WP: Joseph Murphy S: Zach White Cumbo: 4-for-5, 4 R Bears advance to the NCAA East Regional tomorrow pic.twitter.com/IkI950LQfa — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 17, 2019 Early wake-up call? No problem. The NYIT Bears cruised past perennial Division-II powerhouse, Franklin Pierce, by the score of 9-3 to advance to the Division-II NCAA East Regional Championship Game tomorrow at noon. The game today began at 9am, but it didn’t matter one bit to the Bears offense who put up a three-spot in the first inning thanks to RBI hits by E.J. Cumbo, Kieran Dowd and Matt Malone. “We actually do pretty well in the early morning games,” said Jake Lebel, the power-hitting first baseman for the Bears. “We’ve had three or four of them a...
E.J. Cumbo’s Big Day Gives NYIT Thrilling 10-7 Win Over Wilmington
It only takes one pitch for Mueller to seal the deal. NYIT 10, Wilmington 7 (10 innings) Franklin Pierce will take on NYIT at 9am tomorrow pic.twitter.com/PcVENv56LF — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 16, 2019 Last year, E.J. Cumbo was sidelined with a hamstring injury and was forced to watch as his team limped to the finish line in their first season in the ECC. Today, he was the catalyst and pilot of their ship that is now headed to the winner’s bracket in the NCAA Division-II East Regional after their dramatic 10-7 victory over No. 4 Wilmington. Cumbo, the nation’s second-leading hitter for most of the season, is now hitting a robust .448 following today’s 4-for-6 performance in which he drove in four runs–including a two-run double in the top of the 10th...
Fall Ball Series: NYIT
Brendan Dowd (East Islip 2016) will be moving to the outfield and expected to produce runs pic.twitter.com/S2ddLzk9Dx — Axcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) September 26, 2017 The “Battle of the Boulevard” has long been the name of the sports rivalry between NYIT and LIU Post. Until this year, however, baseball was not a part of that conversation as they did not compete in the East Coast Conference (ECC). “The reclassification is a great opportunity,” said Head Coach Bob Malvagna, who will be entering his fifth season at the helm. “The ECC has tremendous programs and I’m very impressed with the coaches in the conference. They’re all working hard to build programs just like we are. It’s a very big positive,” he added. Regarding the ...
Clarke Poised To Get Back to the Top
Most teams would be thrilled with winning 15 games and making it to the quarterfinals of the postseason. Then again, most teams haven’t won 16 conference titles in 18 years. Throughout the tenure of Head Coach Tom Abruscato, Clarke baseball has been a powerhouse in Nassau County Class A. They have won three Long Island Championships and two NYS crowns. It’s been an incredible run of success, but with that comes high expectations every year. You can hear it in his voice, he speaks not in measured tones but absolute terms. “It was the worst year for us,” Abruscato said. They suffered three injuries to key players (both catchers and starting SS) in the beginning of the season which posed a significant challenge for them to overcome. They still found their rhythm, won n...
