When Long Island baseball fans refer to the “glory days” of the NSCHSAA, they are most likely referring to the 2009-2012 period in which it seemed like every team had 5-7 Division-I players. During that time, Holy Trinity won two of those years – led by southpaw workhorse Alex Robinson. The big lefty with the high leg kick and overpowering fastball was named the New York Gatorade Player of the Year, posting some gaudy numbers on the bump. He went 7-0 with a 0.41 ERA with 109 strikeouts over 51 innings. He allowed just 14 hits and walked 22 batters. He also fired a couple no-hitters and won Game 1 of the Championship series against St. Anthony’s. When I asked how anyone ever got a hit off him with a low-to-mid 90s fastball in a wood bat league he chuckled and said, &...
Holy Trinity LHP Sadier Vicioso on the 5-1 victory over Kellenberg pic.twitter.com/dYfwuBwjZB — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 20, 2022 What a difference a year makes. Holy Trinity won 2 league games in 2021 and after yesterday’s convincing road win at Kellenberg, they are 8-2. But these past two weeks haven’t just been wins, they defeated two of the best pitchers on Long Island in Kyle Chase and Andrew Koshy. Two flamethrowing Division-I commits that would’ve given them fits last year – both wins for the Titans who are led by their own ace, Sadier Vicioso. Vicioso, a southpaw, with big game acumen improves to 4-0 on the season after the 5-1 win. In the postgame interview, you can hear the tone that the Holy Trinity players have adopted. They are tired o...
by Mike Anderson Sometimes, you’ve got to go through some growing pains. That’s exactly what Holy Trinity High School Varsity Baseball head coach Dan Luisi and his club did last year. The team struggled overall in a tough CHSAA conference, which featured dominant teams like Kellenberg and Chaminade. Despite a last place finish, Holy Trinity gained something invaluable towards their future: experience. Luisi said in an interview with Axcess Baseball that Holy Trinity went into the 2021 season with a very young varsity team by design, as they were starting seven sophomores and one freshman in their lineup by season’s end. These players have now experienced the competitive nature of their opponents, as well as the level of varsity baseball in general, something that statistics cannot weigh. B...
by Eric Belyea Holy Trinity and the rest of the CHSAA are heading into one of the most anticipated seasons it has had in a while. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the world was swept into a different direction, school and all their activities were cancelled, including their sports. Titans head coach, Dan Luisi is entering his fourth year with the program, he returned home to his alma mater, where he graduated back in 2005. excited about the group of seniors he has this season, since they got to sit under the learning tree of the group of 12 seniors who graduated last year. “Last year we had 12 seniors, that I was able to coach basically since I got to Trinity, and they knew what my expectations were and what I believed the program should be and how it should be ran”, Luisi continued; “with t...
When it comes to being considered the best–the bar is set high. Over the course of the past 10 seasons, there have been undefeated seasons, there have been back-to-back state champs, there have been pitching staffs loaded with Division-I talent and pro pitchers. But there can only be one team considered the best. I have watched a lot of baseball, but I didn’t trust my own instinct so I solicited the help of some trusted sources to put together my definitive list of the best teams of the decade. To make it a bit easier, we narrowed it down to teams that have won a Long Island Championship, because plenty of talented teams have made it to the finish line only to come up short. We also did not list any school more than once on purpose because many of the back-to-back champions featured the sa...
Mike Pienkos discusses his 600th career victory pic.twitter.com/ENhFXi5hvD — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 21, 2019 Chaminade Head Coach Mike Pienkos entered elite company with his 600th career victory on Monday night. The No. 1 seed Flyers weathered a seventh inning rally over No. 6 Holy Trinity with a 6-2 victory. Starting pitcher Bobby Dahl went the complete game, he brought a two-hit shutout into the seventh before he ran into a bit of trouble but recorded the final out on a soft line drive to Aidan Larkin at short. Nick Hagstrom got the start for the Titans. They were coming off an upset win over No. 3 St. Dominic last Wednesday night. Hagstrom worked around a two-out single by Larkin in the first inning to put up a zero, but the high-powered lineup of the Flyers could not ...
by Zevan Shuster Despite excellent competition in the Catholic League, Holy Trinity has both the talent and the experience to compete with just about anybody. They are coming off a tough season, but they were able to win a first-round playoff game at Mitchel Field against St. Dominic before dropping their next two. “I’m really excited for the upcoming season. I think that, this being my third year now as the leader of the program, I think we’ve kind of built the culture of what it takes to win and what it takes to be successful, not just individually, but as a group,” head coach Dan Luisi said. In order for the culture to be where it needs to be, and for the team’s chemistry to come along with it, experience, and veteran leadership play a huge role. “One of our strengths is going to be o...
In a move that has been in the makings for over two decades, Brooklyn/Queens schools will be added to the Nassau-Suffolk Catholic League–effective spring 2020. This is big news, as it adds more parity to a league that was already very balanced. Rather than three-game series, there will be two-game series for the Long Island schools and one-game against the Brooklyn/Queens schools. This will not include the playoffs–the existing format will remain, but their hope is to build towards an intersectional or state tournament like public schools do. Below is the letter that was sent out by Ralph Dalton, President of NSCHSAA. Since the inception of the current format, here are the championships by school: Chaminade – 16 St. John the Baptist – 12 Holy Trinity – 6 Kelle...
(This is the eighth installment of our popular ‘Up Next’ Series in which we spotlight the next wave of superstars on Long Island. Previously, we have featured Charles West, Jayden Stroman, Liam Stemmler, Paul Napolitano , Sadier Vicioso , Frank Kelly and Matt Gileno. None of these players have appeared in a varsity game, but we are confident that they will soon. The series is Powered by The Yard Sports Academy, which you can check out here.) When he was two-years-old, Tyler Cook‘s grandfather would take him to the park. Unlike most children that age, Tyler was there to take batting practice. The freakishly-talented toddler swung the bat well beyond his years, connecting on each swing as people watched in amazement. “How old is he? 2?!” recalled his mother. Fast forward 11...
One of the best pitchers in the competitive CHSAA last season was Timmy Mott of Holy Trinity. He was effective all season including a postseason start against St. Dominic at Mitchel Field. Mott must’ve really enjoyed pitching on the Mitchel Field mound, because yesterday he announced he will be playing his college ball on that field for Molloy. I had a chance to speak with him and here’s what he had to say… Who are some of the toughest hitters you faced last year in the Catholic League? In the Catholic League last year, some hitters were very hard to pitch against. One player was Matt Milone, every time he would get up to bat, Matt would always get himself into good counts that would force the pitcher to make a pitch he could take advantage of and drive into the ga...