Jake Guercio
OTD: Jake Guercio’s Big Day Leads West Islip Over North Babylon
(Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared on April 14, 2018.) In a makeup game, the West Islip Lions defeat the North Babylon Bulldogs 15-6. Fordham-commit Jake Guercio went 3-for-3 with a three-run home run, three RBI and two stolen bases. West Islip improves to 6-2 while North Babylon falls to 5-3. Jordan Piht gets the win for West Islip while Evan Christopher earns the loss for North Babylon. “I don’t think the score was really indicative of the game,” says West Islip head coach Shawn Rush. “We had some big hits in some big spots…Any time you get out of North Babylon with a victory is a good day,” he added. West Islip got the scoring started early, with Jimmy Loeffler driving in Guercio on a RBI double. Senior Anthony Ippolito would drive in Loeffler on a double in the next...
Handal’s Clutch Hitting Late Helps Nassau Take Down Suffolk
Some of the best High School seniors on Long Island competed in the Blue Chip Challenge on Friday night in a Nassau versus Suffolk County All Star Game. In a night where the best Suffolk and Nassau Seniors on the Island played in a nine-inning exhibition, it was the Nassau squad who came out victorious in a close 5-4 win. Suffolk got the scoring started early as they took the lead in the top of the first inning on a Will Shaw sacrifice fly to bring in Jake Guercio. Guercio started the game with a scorching double into the right centerfield gap. Suffolk later tacked on a second run in the top of the third inning before Nassau could get on the board at all. A wild pitch allowed Guercio to score for the second time after he reached base with a single. Finally, in the bottom of the third innin...
Cinquemani’s Double Delivers West Islip’s Third Suffolk AA Title in 5 Years
For the third time since 2014 West Islip captures the Suffolk County Class AA title ! pic.twitter.com/yc8SLZY0Dh — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 28, 2018 Two years ago, Shawn Rush was playing Kan Jam with his sophomore outfielder Jake Guercio following their victory over East Meadow in the Long Island Championship at a team barbecue. “We were just crushing everyone and he said to me ‘this is fun let’s do it again in two years’!’ Coach Rush said recounting the memory. They moved one step closer to being able to play another game of Kan Jam and by playing in another Long Island Championship with their thrilling 3-1 victory over an exciting and dangerous Eastport-South Manor team. Undefeated Ryan Foran had a no-hitter through four innings, but ran into...
West Islip Runs Win Streak to 20; On Verge of Third AA Title in 5 Seasons
That’s 20 consecutive wins for West Islip! Sophomore Bobby DiCapua has 8 of those. He’s our @DigmiNation Player of the Game after recording a CG win allowing just 2 R in the Lions 7-2 victory over Eastport-South Manor pic.twitter.com/vrEFbZaiFi — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 27, 2018 West Islip continued their other-worldly play as they used a four-run third inning to cruise past Eastport-South Manor, 7-2, for their 20th consecutive win. Sophomore ace, Bobby DiCapua, fired a complete game, allowing two runs on seven hits with three strikeouts to win his eighth consecutive decision of year to put the Lions on the precipice of their third Class AA title since 2014. DiCapua did just enough to earn the third spot of the rotation entering the season, according to Head Co...
West Islip Runs Win Streak to 19; Advances to 3rd AA Final Since 2014
No. 2 West Islip brought their bats against No. 3 Commack as they defeated the Cougars and are moving on to the Suffolk Class AA Finals. They will be looking to claim their third AA title since 2014. They will enter the series with a 19-game win streak. The Lions beat Commack 10-2 on Friday thanks to 12 hits and a stellar pitching performance from starter Anthony Cinquemani who allowed just two runs en route to a complete game. These two schools met last year in the AA Finals but with a different outcome as last year Commack moved on to the Long Island Championship and this year it was West Islip’s turn to advance. West Islip got the scoring started right out of the gate as they scored two runs in the first inning off of Commack starter James Cardinale. The Hofstra-commit hit West Islip le...
My Playoff Observations
What a chaotic week. What started off as a beautiful Monday with every game being played in 70 degree weather quickly turned into a slog that featured suspended games due to the weather on Tuesday, only one game being played on Wednesday, a productive Thursday, a cold/windy day on Friday and a complete washout today. Plenty of action occurred when the games were actually able to be played and here’s my biggest takeaways so far: The biggest surprise so far has been No. 17 Bay Shore coming out of nowhere to shock both No. 1 Smithtown East and No. 9 Connetquot. Both of these teams feature a myriad of Division-I and II players that have excelled against elite competition for years. Smithtown East threw their Hofstra-commit at them and the Marauders came away with a 7-4 victory on Monday....
Jake Guercio’s Big Day Leads West Islip Over North Babylon
In a makeup game, the West Islip Lions defeat the North Babylon Bulldogs 15-6. Fordham-commit Jake Guercio went 3-for-3 with a three-run home run, three RBI and two stolen bases. West Islip improves to 6-2 while North Babylon falls to 5-3. Jordan Piht gets the win for West Islip while Evan Christopher earns the loss for North Babylon. “I don’t think the score was really indicative of the game,” says West Islip head coach Shawn Rush. “We had some big hits in some big spots…Any time you get out of North Babylon with a victory is a good day,” he added. West Islip got the scoring started early, with Jimmy Loeffler driving in Guercio on a RBI double. Senior Anthony Ippolito would drive in Loeffler on a double in the next at-bat. “[It was a] hard fought ...
Jake Guercio Diagnosed With Torn ACL, Will Miss Remainder of Season
Another big injury for a top-tier Long Island prospect. West Islip outfielder Jake Guercio, Fordham-commit, was diagnosed with a torn ACL and will undergo surgery on April 24. It is a huge loss for the reigning Long Island Class AA championship and for the young outfielder who was garnering looks from MLB scouts after a tremendous sophomore season. He recorded a hit in all but one game during their championship run and also led the football team to the Long Island Championship as the starting quarterback. While the injury is certainly a terrible break, he will have a chance to return for his senior season next year. His father, Phil, stated that Fordham already acknowledged that they will honor their scholarship and their Head Coach, Kevin Leighton, has been nothing but supportive.
West Islip Looks to Protect their Crown
Watch our West Islip season preview. They are coming off their second Class AA Long Island Championship in three years, They compiled an overall record of 25-6 last year and will be returning some significant talent, headlined by Fordham-commit Jake Guercio, Pace-commit Greg Tsouprakos, Felician-commit Kyle O’Neill and uncommitted senior Joe Valentino.
aXcess Baseball 2017 Top HS Players on Long Island
Here is our list of the Top HS Players on Long Island for the 2017 season: Pitchers: Matt Boyko, Clarke (2017) Brad Camarda, Hills West (2017) Chris Cappas, Kellenberg (2017) Harrison Cohen, Cold Spring Harbor (2017) Jason Coules, Bellmore JFK (2018) Jason Diaz, Kellenberg (2019) Antonio Deodato, Wheatley (2017) Mark Faello, Plainview-JFK (2018) Luke Hansen, Southold (2018) Jimmy Joyce, Wantagh (2017) Bobby Lewis, MacArthur (2017) Brian Morrissey, Commack (2017) Brian Morrell, Shoreham-Wading River (2017) Max Nielsen, Ward Melville (2019) Peter Theodorellis, Commack (2017) Nicholas Trabacchi, Smithtown West (2017) Liam Pulsipher, Center Moriches (2018) Catcher: Logan O’Hoppe, St. John the Baptist (2018) Matt Pelcher, Calhoun (2020) Infield: Johnny Castagnozzi, Massapequa (2020) Antho...
2016 Year in Review
It was a very enjoyable year covering the Long Island baseball scene. We began the year with 1,400 twitter followers and are now at 3,220 which means many of you missed out on some of the top stories from this year. In this post, I will take you through the highlights of the year: January: -Mike Scioscia and Dr. Luga Podesta host “Injuries in Baseball” Symposium at Ward Melville HS. February: -BOTI travels with Hofstra to cover their season-opening at No. 4 ranked Texas A&M Aggies. April: -First episode of BOTI Weekly airs. We ultimately had 7 episodes in 2016. You can watch them all here. May: -We completed the Top 10 Long Island prospect series with a feature story on Matt Hogan of Hills East. You can see the entire list here. -Game-ending throw by...
Biggest Storylines Heading Into 2017
With the calendar turning to January, all eyes are on 2017 and baseball players are preparing to get back on the diamond. 7. What does West Islip do for an encore? They are coming off their second Long Island championship in three years. They return Jake Guercio (Fordham-commit), Greg Tsouprakos (Pace-commit), Joe Valentino along with a talented crop of freshman and sophomores such as Anthony Cinquemani. Still, it will be difficult for them to replace the production and consistency that Lou Antos, Ray Weber, Nick Valenti and James Kory provided over the past three seasons. There’s no doubt that they will be a playoff team, but it will be too tall of an order to expect another 20-win season. What Coach Shawn Rush has built has been pretty spectacular, but losing all those high-caliber...
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