James Cardinale
Re-Visiting The 2016 Top Prospects on LI List
It’s been five years since I really started following high school baseball here on Long Island. Back during the 2016, I tried to really immerse myself in the game and I was covering games 5 days per week – while bartending at Lombardi’s on the Bay on the weekend – so I did miss out on some action at times. But through conversations with high school and travel ball coaches, I attempted to compile a list of the Top 10 prospects on Long Island. This was not meant to be a prediction of who would have the longest and most successful career, but in that snapshot in time I wanted to gage who had the highest ceiling as a prospect. Like anything else in media, it got some attention from people that enjoyed it while others scoffed at it. I can laugh now, because I really had ...
Three-Run Third Propels Body Armor to 4-2 Win over Titans-Parso
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbifqwX4G7M&t=1s In a battle filled with current and future Div-I prospects, it was a third inning rally that enabled the Body Armor Titans to come out victorious in a friendly rivalry. In what was dubbed “McGregor vs Mayweather“, Titans-Parso took an early 2-0 lead in the top of the second on a two-run double by Nick Ungar (Connetquot ’18) on a well-struck ball off James Cardinale (Commack ’18) into left center field to score Will Feil (Wheatley ’18) and Chris Peralta (Valley Stream South ’18). That was all the offense they would muster up on this day against a loaded pitching staff. Kyle Johnson (Newfield ’18) came on in relief in the third inning and worked around a walk and a single to Mike Handal (Garden Cit...
Insider Notes: Why Hofstra Chose Cardinale, Who’s Next to Commit?
One of the top uncommitted players in the 2018 class is now off the board with James Cardinale committing to Hofstra University today. Many more to come in the upcoming weeks. Why did Hofstra identify Cardinale as a top player? James Cardinale (uncommitted) is one of the top arms on the class of 2018. He is looking to pitch the Cougars to the LIC pic.twitter.com/CefHlApUWi aXcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) May 31, 2017 For one, Cardinale is a very polished pitcher. He has clean mechanics, very smooth arm action and command of a fastball, curveball and change up. His velocity remains in the 79-82 MPH range, which doesn’t typically translate to the Div-I level, but he certainly has room to improve still. With their current coaching staff, they have traditionally leaned towards u...
James Cardinale Commits to Hofstra
One of the top class of 2018 players on Long Island is now off the board with James Cardinale (Commack) committing to Hofstra University. They also received verbal commitment today from Ryan Paul Rue of Pennsylvania–a highly-regarded player. Hofstra did a great job identifying the top players in the class and they now have inked Cardinale in addition to Mark Faello (Plainview JFK) and Anthony D’Onofrio (Wantagh) I had the opportunity to speak with Cardinale and here’s what he had to say… Can you talk a little about the recruitment process and how the Hofstra commitment came to be? Ever since I was little I’ve always wanted to play baseball at a high-level and stay in the northeast area. I’ve always wanted to prove that northeast baseball can be just as g...
Who are the Top Uncommitted Class of 2018 Prospects?
We are about to enter the portion of the year when the top players entering their senior years of high school will announce their verbal commitment to colleges–if they haven’t done so already. A handful of the Class of 2018s have already committed. Players like Mark Faello, Jason Coules, Matt Hogan, Anthony D’Onofrio, Logan Doran, Bobby Vath, Logan O’Hoppe, Liam Pulsipher, Anthony Fontana and Jake Guercio are already off the table. Here’s the best players still on the board. Joe Litchhult (Hills East LHP, 1B) The big left-handed pitcher had a phenomenal season for the League III Champs. He really showed what kind of pitcher he is. He throws in the low-to-mid 80s, he has very clean and repeatable mechanics and he has command of a changeup and breaking ball as w...
Commack Wins First County Championship Since 1997
Commack does it!! They are the 2017 Suffolk Class AA Champions ! Commack 8, West Islip 6 WP: Jake Krzemienski pic.twitter.com/00g1i7pt9V aXcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) May 31, 2017 One week before the season, the Commack baseball team didn’t know who their Head Coach would be. This was a team coming off a 14-win season and a playoff run with arguably the best staff on Long Island. Three months later they are celebrating their first Suffolk County Class AA championship since 1997 after their 8-6 back-and-forth victory over the reigning Long Island Champion West Islip Lions. Senior Pete Theodorellis, who tied the game up at 6-6 in the sixth inning with a double off the fence–and fired 8.2 IP yesterday–never wavered in his optimism with this team. Even during that ...
