Hamptons League
Defending HCBL Champs Continue to Look Dominant
Joey Rosselli spoke with Justin Paura following the Road Warriors victory over the North Fork Ospreys pic.twitter.com/ULHXfdTxYf — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 5, 2018 The Long Island Road Warriors (2-0) are the newest addition to the Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League. They joined the HCBL last year to replace the Montauk Mustangs as the team with the most local players and made an immediate impact, winning the league championship in their inaugural season. This year, coach Neal Heaton’s squad looks in top form to defend its title. After putting up nine runs on the Riverhead Tomcats to win their opener on Sunday, the Road Warriors picked up a 7-4 in their first home contest against the North Fork Ospreys (0-2). Long Island didn’t look like a championship team in the early go...
Podcast: Neal Heaton On Winning the Hamptons League Championship
Our Pitching Analyst Neal Heaton came on the Axcess Baseball podcast to discuss his experience with the LI Road Warriors. They won the Hamptons League in their inaugural season.
LI Road Warriors Take Home HCBL Championship In Inaugural Season
The Neal Heaton-led LI Road Warriors entered tonight’s Hamptons League championship game needing one win to take home the title against the Westhampton Aviators. The Road Warriors took care of business wrapping up the title with a 5-3 victory. LI jumped out to a lead again early, this time in the third inning. Yesterday’s hero would deliver once again for the Road Warriors. Jordan Folgers would come up with one out in the third, after Garrett Heaton and Sean Rausch would get a base hit and a double back-to-back. Folgers found another fastball right in his wheelhouse and knocked a towering shot to left center giving his team a 3-0 lead with one out. “I keep telling people, we have great ball players on Long Island,” said Head Coach Heaton. “We have five D-1 guys, they have, I think, f...
LI Road Warriors Overcome Six-Run Deficit To Take Game One of the HCBL Championship Series, 11-8
Folgers gets it done for LI!! A grand slam in the ninth!!! Road Warriors lead, 11-8, with 2 outs now. pic.twitter.com/WMYvoEH1fT — aXcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) July 31, 2017 The Road Warriors showed up to Aviator Field hungry for a win. The game was started with a first pitch lead off homer for Nick Grande (Smithtown West ’16, Stony Brook). The middle infielder would have himself a monster day at the plate leaving the park twice with two dingers. He finished his day 3-for-5 with two HR and four RBI; his third hit of the day started the Road Warriors ninth inning rally. “ I think our lineup had a great day overall top to bottom,” said Stony Brook sophomore Grande. “The goal was to come out here and set the tone, we fell behind but showed a lot of resiliency wh...
Riverhead Tomcats Sweep DH in Westhampton to Clinch Playoff Spot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5yVp_42nMk Aviator Field was scheduled to host a double header on Monday afternoon. The rain had other plans. Instead, the two games between the Westhampton Aviators and the Riverhead Tomcats were set to take place on Tuesday afternoon, one of two on the day. The other was the North Fork Ospreys and the Sag Harbor Whalers, two sets of games proving to be vital to determining the playoff picture. @jonahkarp82 interviews the @HamptonsLeague @RHTomcats star Jackson Olson after a double-header sweep in Westhampton pic.twitter.com/68j2xQsQ0R — aXcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) July 26, 2017 Entering the first game in Westhampton Beach, the narrative was simple for the Tomcats: win one game and you’re in. With the Aviators and the Long Island Road Warri...
Westhampton Aviators Sweep Double-Header against North Fork Ospreys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbifqwX4G7M Westhampton Beach hosted two baseball games on Sunday afternoon, and the Aviators were ready to return home. The top team in the HCBL hosted North Fork in a back-to-back game double-header for the sixth and seventh meetings this season. The Aviators were coming off an 11-1 victory in Shelter Island in a game that ended after eight innings due to the mercy rule. Meanwhile, the Ospreys had not played since Wednesday, a game they lost in Westhampton 9-7, due to the torrential downpour that swept through Long Island. In a match up that was billed a hot vs. cold narrative, the hot team proved to dominate. The Aviators took game one 5-3, but it was the Ospreys that got off to a fast start. After Braeden Holub retired the first two batters of the game, ...
The Westhampton Aviators Defeat the North Fork Ospreys 9-7
The rain came down hard at Aviator Field Wednesday night. Grey-laden skies portended an ominous sign of things to come, and the question quickly became: will the game go nine innings? The answer: no…but not because of rain. The light grey skies grew darker, and the issue turned to the darkness of the field. The two umpires, Mike Bitetto and Tom Major, converged to the right of the mound after the eighth to decide whether to continue. They figured with three outs to go they may as well give it a shot. Westhampton right-hander Nathaniel Rhodes was on the mound ready to close it out for the Aviators. The score was 9-7 and the left fielder Mike Sciorra was walking into the box. The first pitch from Rhodes caught Sciorra on the left wrist. The Osprey dropped his bat and held his wrist in the le...
The North All Stars Win the Fifth Annual HCBL All Star Game
by Jonah Karp The best prospects of the Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League were front and center at Baseball Heaven on Monday. The North All Stars defeated the South All Stars 14-5, in what turned out to be a tale of two narratives. The South All Stars plated the first two runs of the game in the top of the second on three hits off of Patrick Clyne (LIU Brooklyn). But Neal Heaton’s squad quickly responded with a solo blast off the bat of Freddy Sabido in the bottom of the frame to cut the deficit to one. The score remained 2-1 until Dan Luisi’s team tacked on two more in the top of the fifth on two hits to extend the lead to 3-1. Then the narrative shifted. In the bottom of the seventh the North All Stars bats came alive. Eight players reached base. Nine players recorded hits. Six players...
Westhampton’s Hot Bats, Led by Nick Bottari, Take Down Sag Harbor in Extras, 7-5.
Junior first baseman Nick Bottari found his rhythm coming off a foot injury and had a monster day at the plate. In a game that went 10 innings, the Southeastern University slugger stepped up in the top half knocking in two runs on an opposite field pop fly that just stayed fair off a tough pitcher in John Polichetti. The back-and-forth battle was anchored by Bottari’s performance but majority of the Aviators lineup contributed, as they were retired in order only once, in the seventh inning. The Westhampton leadoff hitter, Eric Callahan, also had a great day at the plate finishing 3-for-5 with a walk, two stolen bases and three runs. “I just had to simplify my swing a little bit I think I was trying to do too much,” said Bottari. “I got back to the basics and just let my teammates get on ba...
Westhampton Aviators Come From Behind to Defeat Shelter Island Bucks, 15-5, in HCBL.
The Aviators trailed the Bucks, 5-3, going in to the home half of the sixth. A clutch three-run rally put the Aviators ahead, 6-5, going in to the seventh inning; from that point on it was their game. The rally was started when Westhampton catcher, Chris Dutra, struck out on a pitch in the dirt but managed to advance to first on a bad throw from the Bucks catcher. AJ Montoya of Toledo responded with a single, and then with one out third baseman, Chaney Dodge (Northwestern State) roped a double down the third base line to clear the bases. “I was really just trying to see the ball deep, work into counts; we knew we couldn’t all with one swing.” said Dutra. The double came after Dodge was hit by an inside pitch but was told by the umpire to stay at the plate because he didn’t avoid the pitch....
Westhampton Aviators Hold on to Win, 5-4, Over Riverhead Tomcats After a 5-Run Fourth
The Westhampton Aviators call Westhampton Beach’s varsity field home for the summer. The Aviators have six Long Islanders on their roster, three of which are pitchers, but only one was in the starting lineup today. Central Florida corner infielder Tyler Osik got the start at first for the Aviators. The junior is batting .324 so far this season with five doubles, seven RBI, a home run and 11 walks. The Aviator bats came together to put up five runs on three hits, a couple errors and two walks in the fourth inning. The inning was started by a lead off triple from the bat of UMass-Lowell sophomore, Cam Climo. He would come around to score and put the Aviators on the board early with no one out after Riverhead took the lead in the top half of the inning. “We weren’t producing early on, we norm...
