Fall Ball Series
Fall Ball Series Powered by Revolution Athletics: Hofstra University
In 2022, Hofstra experienced a magical run in the Conference Tournament to capture their first CAA Championship in the program’s 86-year history. It was a remarkable Cinderella story, as the Pride not only entered the tournament as the No. 3 seed, but won all four games by one-run with 3 walk-offs. Additionally, they were in their first year under Head Coach Frank Catalanotto, and they were coming off a 17-win season. Since then, they have been unable to match that level of success in the ultra-competitive CAA. In 2023, the Pride missed the postseason but last season they qualified and won their first game against No. 3 Northeastern prior to losing their next two against No. 1 Charleston and No. 5 William & Mary. I spoke with Coach Catalanotto at last week’s Fall World Seri...
Fall Ball Series Powered by East Coast S&P: Adelphi University
Tim Feliz batted .359 last year with a .609 SLG. He will be a huge piece of their lineup pic.twitter.com/L6GBkgTtlZ — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 27, 2021 Following a 4-7 start to the 2021 season, Adelphi basically needed a miracle to reach postseason play. They needed to get red-hot and get help from their conference foes. That is exactly what happened, as Bill Ianniciello took over at the helm for Dom Scala on April 14 and the Panthers turned their season around – highlighted by a 7-game winning streak to capture the Northeast-10 Southwest Division Regular Season title. In the NE-10 playoffs, they defeated AIC in the semifinal, 8-2, before advancing to face Le Moyne in the southwest division final. They defeated them, 6-4, in Game 1 before losing Game 2 to force a ...
Fall Ball Series Powered by East Coast S & P: Long Island University
Simulated intrasquad going on with dual pitching machines – one throwing curveballs the other throwing fastballs pic.twitter.com/tDwUmw7FzW — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 13, 2021 2020 and 2021 were not normal seasons for anyone – and you can look no further than LIU’s first round playoff game against No. 1 Bryant. The Sharks lost 17-13 in a nine inning game that took three hours, 40 minutes to complete and featured 11 pitchers and 32 hits. Sharks HC Dan Pirillo stated that “Bryant is a perennial top-of-the-conference team every year. You know you’re in for a battle against them. E.J (Exposito) hit a HR early and we had some momentum going. But around the fifth inning, the flood gates began to open. We were doing everything we could to stay in ...
Fall Ball Series Powered by East Coast S & P: Hofstra University
(This is the first installment of the Fall Ball Series powered by East Coast Strength and Performance. We will visit the local colleges and provide some video content, interviews with coaches and players. Make sure to check out East Coast by clicking here.) RHP Matt Gonzalez transferred from Division-III Barton College in North Carolina. Here’s a strikeout on a 91-MPH fastball pic.twitter.com/R3DrUKJDu1 — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) September 17, 2021 Hofstra ushered in a new era in July when they hired 14-year MLB veteran and Long Island-native Frank Catalanotto. The move would’ve been exciting regardless of the context but when you consider that the Smithtown native is just two years removed from executing an even more difficult task of reviving New York Tech’s...
Fall Ball Series Powered by East Coast S & P Returns for a Fifth Year
The Fall Ball Series is back by popular demand! This is absolutely my favorite ongoing segment we do at Axcess for a number of reasons. First and foremost, the weather this time of year is absolutely perfect. I love going down to a field on a beautiful day when there’s not a cloud in the sky and watch some high-level baseball. Additionally, the college coaches have been so amazingly accommodating to me over the years and it’s allowed my company to continue to grow and provide the content that people enjoy. In terms of the audience, the die-hard baseball fans are curious how teams look for the upcoming season and this is a little unfiltered glimpse into that through the lens of their coaches and players. What can you expect from a Fall Ball Series article? Well, we will briefly ...
Fall Ball Series Powered by East Coast S & P: Long Island University
(This is the final stop on the 2020 Fall Ball Series Powered by East Coast S & P – thank you for the continued interest!) The Sharks working on their bunt defense pic.twitter.com/0tcvyGRxoa — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) November 19, 2020 The players on Long Island University have been no stranger to adversity this year. Scratch that – they’ve been no stranger to adversity for longer than that. “When you consider the merger, these guys have had to deal with adversity for the past 20 months,” said Head Coach Dan Pirillo. “They took it a lot better than other programs. They were like ‘okay, let’s go’. That helped us deal with the adversity. Guys want to be a part of where we are going. We have a chance to be pretty good,”...
Fall Ball Series Powered by East Coast S & P : Molloy College
Chris Peralta (Valley Stream South) taking BP. He batted .308 over 38 at bats last season. pic.twitter.com/2NDChY2Qcb — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 23, 2020 You’d be hard-pressed to find a team that was better-suited to handle the shortened 2020 season than Molloy College. They return eight of their nine regulars that combined to hit .338 with a .908 OPS and all of their starting pitchers. Hitting .338 as an individual will get you a batting title. Hitting .338 as a team will get you to a regional. The Lions are poised to make a playoff run this year with a loaded roster that will be tough for any team to contain. Head Coach Joe Fucarino, entering his 16th year at the helm with 350 wins, will be looking to regain the magic of 2018 in which they won a program-best 31 ...
Fall Ball Series Powered By East Coast S & P: St. John’s University
Special thanks to East Coast S & P for sponsoring this year’s Fall Ball Series once again! Make sure to check out their website by clicking here! Nice piece of hitting by Carlos Hidalgo after getting brushed back on the previous pitch pic.twitter.com/4r9eZJfeoI — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 21, 2020 No baseball program in the northeast can match the success of St. John’s University. Ed Blankmeyer – now the manager of the Brooklyn Cyclones – built up the program over the course of 24 years into national prominence and five Big East titles. Many of the players that contributed to that success were brought in by recruiting coordinator Mike Hampton in his 18 seasons on Blankmeyer’s staff. After Blankmeyer’s departure to professional base...
Fall Ball Series Powered by East Coast S & P: Farmingdale State College
Joe Wolf (Division 2017) will be counted on as one of the weekend starters pic.twitter.com/vlLICujQ15 — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 19, 2020 Covid impacted every team in some way, but for Farmingdale State, it was especially cruel. The Rams, – who entered the 2020 season as the reigning Skyline Conference champs – had only gotten to play five games on the season. They had flown down to Auburndale, FLA for their annual spring training trip with their sites set on repeating as champs. “We were in Florida when we got the call from our Athletic Director,” said Head Coach Keith Osik. “We had just gotten to the condos and I told the kids to go to the pool and relax. I was with Anthony Zitaglio and that was when Rudy Gobert tested positive and they p...
Fall Ball Series Powered by East Coast S & P: Stony Brook University
Redshirt senior Brian Herrmann (Northport 2016) is fully recovered from TJ surgery in April 2019. Fastball sitting 89-90 MPH. Has thrown 202.2 IP for the Seawolves in his career pic.twitter.com/MR9tR5MhEW — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 15, 2020 The pitching staff of the Seawolves was off to an outstanding start to the 2020 season. They compiled a 3.66 ERA – including holding the high-powered Clemson lineup to just six runs over three games – before the season was cut short due to COVID-19. That series in particular against Clemson was enough reason for optimism regarding the team. Northeast teams have no business competing with the ACC teams in February and the Seawolves lost the middle game 1-0 in 10 innings. In that game, Sam Turcotte struck out seven over six...
Fall Ball Series Powered by East Coast S & P: Hofstra University
Special thanks to East Coast Strength & Performance for sponsoring this year’s Fall Ball Series. Make sure to check out their website by clicking here. Hard throwing RHP John Mikolaicyk transferred from Herkimer CC sitting 90-92 up to 94 with a sharp slider pic.twitter.com/S5LWjYgsRa — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 9, 2020 There is a direct correlation between continuity and winning baseball games at the collegiate level. Teams that return their impact players from the previous years typically improve on their success. Additionally, in this environment of advanced stats and OPS (on-base + slugging percentage), teams that outslug their opponents will typically perform well in the aggregate over a long season. Small samples sizes can cause some turbulent results but ...
Fall Ball Series Powered by East Coast S & P: Adelphi University
Josh Rovner is anchoring the rotation. The senior did not allow an earned run over 3 starts (18.2 IP) this past season and is on the radar of MLB scouts pic.twitter.com/8kI7e2nAB1 — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 6, 2020 Dom Scala has seen plenty of baseball over the years as a minor league player, bullpen catcher for the New York Yankees, advanced scout for the Pittsburgh Pirates and now head coach of Adelphi entering his 17th season, but no amount of baseball could prepare him for what 2020 has brought us. Baseball amidst a global pandemic is unlike anything we’ve seen but the Adelphi skipper has been fortunate that the team is on track to begin the upcoming season close to full strength thanks to the protocols that were put in place by the school. “We had to su...
