Evan Byrnes
Talented Pitching Staff Makes West Islip Formidable Once Again
by Max Edelman Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s season preview series. West Islip: 3 Walt Whitman: 2 Jake Romeo: 2-3, RBI Erick Burciaga: 2-3, 2 R Alex Burciaga: 5.2 IP, 4 H, 1 ER pic.twitter.com/OeQurUfNOX — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 20, 2023 The regular season was a strong one for the West Islip Lions in 2023. The Lions roared to a 20-5 overall record, a 17-3 league record, and sixth league title in seven years. However, the season did not end in a championship. Despite winning three of their playoff games, the Lions lost two games to Lindenhurst, which ended their season. Head coach Shawn Rush, who is entering his 14th season as West Islip head coach, looked back on last season and looked ahead to what should be an exciting...
GAME RECAP: Evan Byrnes Continues Outstanding Season, West Islip Improves to 13-1
Mid 5: West Islip takes a 1-0 lead on a wild pitch to score Frank Romano pic.twitter.com/UkE2CdQLsd — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 3, 2023 When it comes to the term “Classic West Islip baseball”, a few things come to mind; run prevention, outstanding defense and taking advantage of the opponent’s errors. That is even true against the top teams on Long Island, as the Lions will generally find a way to force the opposition into making an error and capitalizing on it. It has allowed them to sprint out to a 13-1 start to the season and capture the first two games of a critical three-game set against Smithtown West, who were just a game back of them in the standings. West Islip came back from an early 4-0 deficit and walked it off on Monday. On Tuesday, they won a ...
GAME RECAP: West Islip’s Offense Strikes Early & Often in 8-0 Win
Sophomore Evan Byrnes was outstanding for West Islip as he fired six shutout innings and he was backed by an offense that posted 3 runs in the first inning and continued to tack on. He’s our Player of the Game @GCsports pic.twitter.com/QPX89aGq4e — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 21, 2023 There’s no question that West Islip is on the short list of top baseball programs on Long Island. They solidified that status last decade when they captured Suffolk County Class AA Championship in 2014, 2016 & 2018. In 2016, they were one win away from winning the New York State title. They nearly added to that list in 2021, but fell short in the County Championship to Newfield. They are in pursuit of adding another banner to the right field fence. They moved ever so closer to that go...
