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Tom Koehler Lowers ERA to 3.16, Wins Eighth Game of Season
Photo Credit: Associated Press When people think about the Miami Marlins rotation, they automatically think of Jose Fernandez–and rightfully so. He roared through the minor leagues, got promoted to the big leagues at age-20 and left an indelible mark on the National League, recording a 2.19 ERA and 0.97 WHIP in 2013.With his injury in 2014 and Henderson Alvarez‘ injury this year, however, it has been Stony Brook grad Tom Koehler, a 29-year-old, who has stepped up and stabilized the rotation over the past two years.Despite not entering the big leagues with any hype, Koehler has been as reliable of a starter as there is in the big leagues. With last night’s seven shutout innings against the San Diego Padres, Koehler lowered his ERA to 3.16 and improves to 8-6 on the season....
Nassau Defeats Suffolk 3-1 in Grand Slam Challenge
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_mr2czzfOs] There was not much offense on display at Farmingdale State College tonight in the 11th annual Nassau vs Suffolk All Star Game. The pitchers brought their ‘A’ game but it was Nassau who prevailed with a 3-1 win. The big blow came on a two-run single in the bottom of the 6th off the bat of Billy Bianco of North Shore–who was named the game’s Most Valuable Player. The inning began with Jim Mendyk getting drilled on an 87 MPH fastball by Dom Savino of Smithtown East. The following batter, Beau O’Connell, reached on an infield single back to Savino, who was unable to record the out. Anthony Papa (2-for-3), the postseason hero from Division, grounded into a 6-5 forceout for the first out of the inning. Another Div...
Flynn + Fanti > Matz + Stroman?
Debates like this are fun because there won’t be an answer for at least another decade. Nevertheless, it’s something worth stirring up. Which duo will go onto have a better career out of the Carl Yastrzemski /Paul Gibson Award winners--Nick Fanti and Joe Flynn or Marcus Stroman and Steve Matz? The latter duo already have set a high bar. Stroman had a standout career at Duke University before getting drafted in the first round in the 2012 MLB Draft by Toronto. He won 11 games for the Blue Jays last season and was slated to start Opening Day in Yankee Stadium before tearing his ACL during Spring Training in a freak injury. All reports indicate he is back on track and will return to his previous form in 2016. Stroman’s 94-96 MPH fastball is a dominant pitch by itself but tha...
Travis Bruinsma Throws 3-Hit Shutout in AA Championship Game, Fulfills Promise to Best Friend
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNunBApHEOw]When the pop up off the bat of Nick Vitale came down and landed into the glove of the second baseman, the Connetquot Thunderbirds could rejoice as the 2015 Suffolk County AA Champs for the second time in four seasons. This time it was by virtue of a 6-0 shutout of No. 2 seed Ward Melville which concluded a high-intensity three game series.The jubilant emotions were met with grief, however as the Thunderbirds were still mourning the loss of star pitcher, John Hennge’s father, Walter, who passed away suddenly on Saturday.“I made a promise to John Hennge that I would win this game,” said starting pitcher Travis Bruinsma, who won his Long Island leading 12th game of the season with a three-hit shutout.How about the nerves? P...
All-Long Island Team (College)
We are coming off another wildly entertaining season in Long Island college baseball. Here are my picks for the best player at each position. Italicized letters represent that the player led Long Island in that statistic. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/208630454″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=’450′ iframe=”true” /] MVP: Jack Parenty, SBUCy Young: Jake DeCarli, LIU PostRookie of the Year: Andruw Gazzola, SBUC: Dan Parisi, Dowling: .351 AVG, 27 R, 52 H, 26 RBI, .415 OBP, .446 SLG, 7-11 SB, .972 FLD % Rob Vani, Adelphi: .336 AVG, 29 R, 51 H, 2 HR, 23 RBI, .864 OPS, 6-8 SB, .986 FLD %1b: Brenda...
TCU Ends Stony Brook’s Season With 8-3 Final
Photo Credit: Vinny Messana The Stony Brook Sea Wolves were primed to make a season-saving comeback against No. 1 seed TCU, but a three-run home run in the fifth inning by Evan Skoug broke the game open at 5-1 and effectively put a nail in the coffin of the 2015 season.The Sea Wolves mustered four hits in the game–two by Malcolm Nachmanoff and two by Toby Handley, very uncharacteristic for a team that hits .296 cumulatively.TCU starter Brian Howard, a 6’9 sophomore, struggled with his command. He walked four batters and allowed two hits over 4.1 innings. His reliever, Drew Gooch, was put in to face Cole Peragine in with two on in the fifth inning. He walked Peragine and was taken out in favor of Preston Guillory. Handley smacked a two-run hit to make the score 5-3.From that poi...
Stony Brook Staves Off Elimination With 11-6 Victory
Photo Credit: Stony Brook Athletics Clearly, the Stony Brook Seawolves are not ready to end their season. They crushed No. 4 Sacred Heart 11-6, with the team compiling 17 hits–at least one by each starter.The Sea Wolves jumped all over Sacred Heart in the first inning with a five spot, then added two in the second and third innings. Casey Baker had two hits and drove in four runs. Toby Handley and Jack Parenty both compiled three hits while scoring twice. Rob Chavarria, Andruw Gazzola and Bobby Honeyman all had two hits as well.Sea Wolves starter, Tyler Honahan, had a rough go of it. He allowed 11 hits over four innings of work, allowing three runs. Nicholas DiEva came on in relief for the ensuing 3.1 innings. He was awarded the win. Nick Brass and Cole Creighton threw the final 1.2 ...
One Bad Pitch Hurts Zamora, Puts Stony Brook On Brink Of Elimination
Photo Credit: Stony Brook Athletics Daniel Zamora threw a very solid 6.2 innings, allowing two ER against the No. 24 ranked team in the county, N.C. State.If it wasn’t for one pitch, however, it would’ve been a magnificent outing. He allowed a two-run HR to the Wolfpack’s leading hitter, leadoff man Logan Ratledge–who entered hitting .330 on the day.The two-run HR broke a 0-0 tie in the fifth inning and proved to be the difference in the game. The Wolfpack were victorious 3-0 in the first game of the Fort Worth, TX regional.Zamora ended his day allowing seven hits while striking out four and walking none. His record falls to 7-3 on the season.His counterpart, Curt Britt, was just a little bit better. The freshman southpaw, who was named went 5.1 shutout innings, all...
Gagliano Sends Connetquot Into the Suffolk County Championship
Photo Credit: Vinny Messana In what appeared to be a smooth 4-1 win in a monumental game, Smithtown East rallied off Connetquot starter John Hengge with two outs in the seventh inning on RBI singles by Matt DiPietro and Matt Milne to tie the game at 4.Yesterday’s starter, Travis Bruinsma, came on to record the final out of the seventh and allow the Thunderbirds bats to go to work.That’s exactly what they did. Hot-hitting Aaron Gagliano lined a one out single up the middle with runners on first and second off yesterday’s winning pitcher, Greg Maitles, to send the T-Birds into a frenzy.It was also Bruinsma’s 10th win of the season–a very rare feat for high school pitchers.They won the best-of-three semifinals and will now take on Ward Melville on Saturday in the...
Greg Maitles, Smithtown East Force Deciding Game Three With 6-4 Win over Connetquot
Maitles striking out White to end the game. With Smithtown East‘s lead dwindling in the fourth inning, Head Coach Ken Klee called on senior Greg Maitles to preserve the lead. He went on to pitch the rest of the game, not allowing a run while striking out four to preserve Smithtown East’s 6-4 win to force a deciding third game in the semifinals. “It went exactly as planned,” said Maitles. “I couldn’t have planned it any better,” he added. The big lefty relied on a heavy dosage of curves and change ups to keep the potent bats of No. 1 Connetquot off balance from the fourth inning on. “I knew that a lot of them were dead-red hitters and I wanted to keep them off balance to get some groundballs,” Maitles said. With the score tied 2-2 in the...
Stony Brook Erases 7-0 Deficit, Storms Back to Win America East
Photo Credit: Greg M. Cooper For the first time since the magical run of 2012, the Stony Brook Sea Wolves have won the America East title.It took an amazing comeback on Saturday, too as they defeated UMBC 16-11. They trailed 7-0 in the first inning after the bats of UMBC roughed up Ryley MacEachern.In the ensuing inning they scored a tournament record 11 runs thanks to RBI hits by Malcolm Nachmanoff and Toby Handley and a slew of walks and errors.The scoring wasn’t done after that. UMBC answered with two in the bottom of the second and that’s when Tim Knesnik came in to put out the fire. He ended up recording the victory, throwing four innings of relief while allowing three runs on six hits and four walks with two strikeouts. In the fourth, the Sea Wolves tacked on two more on ...
Stony Brook Advances to Championship Game
Photo Credit: Vinny Messana Casey Baker smacked an RBI single to drive in Jack Parenty–who reached on an error, advanced on a wild pitch and stole third–to give Stony Brook a 4-3 lead that they would hold on to. With the victory over UMBC, the Sea Wolves advance to the championship game of the America East tournament.Tyler Honahan got the start for the Sea Wolves and, after a quick first inning, he ran into trouble in the second. He allowed a walk, single, RBI single and two-run double to fall behind 3-0.The offense backed him in the next half inning. Andruw Gazzola started it off with a single, Jeremy Giles walked and Bobby Honeyman reached on an error while laying down a sac bunt.After a strikeout, Cole Peragine drove two in with a single. Toby Handley hit a sac fly to tie it...
