James Varela
Joshua Loeschorn Receives 2019 Axcess Baseball Pitcher of the Year
In what has become somewhat of a tradition, another LIU pitcher has received the Axcess Baseball Pitcher of the Year Award. Joshua Loeschorn joins Jake DeCarli (2015) and James Varela (2018) as recipients of the award given to the top collegiate pitcher on Long Island. While being regarded as the best in anything is impressive, doing so as just a freshman makes it even more remarkable. The N.J. native entered the season as a relative unknown but quickly put himself in the conversation of best pitcher in ECC. That is no easy task as the reigning ECC Pitcher of the Year and Axcess Baseball Pitcher of the Year shared a dugout with him. Varela virtually re-wrote the Pioneers record book for pitchers, but Loeschorn is certainly on the right track. He compiled an unblemished record of 10-...
LIU Post and NYIT Split Battle on the Boulevard Presented by Muddy Locker Sports
(Today’s game coverage is brought to you by Muddy Locker Sports. Please check them out by clicking here!) In a crucial ECC double header this afternoon at Angelo Lorenzo Field, LIU Post and NYIT split the two games with NYIT taking the first game and LIU Post salvaging the split in the second. Here’s how it went down: Game 1: LIU Post sent ace James Varela to the mound against a high-powered NYIT lineup, who countered with Chris Mott. The Pioneers got off to a quick start in the first with a RBI singles by Dave Brehm and Anthony Vaglica. They added another run in the third on an RBI ground out off the bat of Jimmy Mendyk. With their ace on the hill, it appeared like that would be enough but Varela did not have his best stuff on this afternoon. The Bears forced Varela’s pi...
2018 Axcess Baseball Award Winners Honored
With the coverage that we’ve been doing of the younger age groups, sometimes it’s easy to lose sight of the players that are performing well at the highest levels. We announced the winners of the 2018 Axcess Baseball Awards and they accepted their plaques this week. Below are the winners of each. Axcess Most Valuable Player (College) Nick Grande (Stony Brook) Axcess Man of the Year (High School) Logan O’Hoppe (St. John the Baptist) Axcess Rookie of the Year Travis Zurita (SUNY Maritime) **Not pictured* Axcess Cy Young James Varela (LIU Post)
James Varela To Receive 2018 Axcess Baseball Cy Young Award
James Varela will receive the 2018 Axcess Baseball Cy Young Award for his outstanding performance this season. As a junior, he broke several program records. He finished with a record of 11-1, ERA of 2.40, 116 strikeouts over 101.1 IP. He also fired seven complete games (six consecutive) and three shutouts. He held the opposition to a batting average of .185. There were several criteria considered for this award: ERA Record Innings Pitched Strikeouts Level of Competition Historical Significance Conference Statistics For those who follow me on Twitter, you know that I am a proponent of disregarding win-loss record for starting pitchers in the Major Leagues. That does not apply to the amateur level because the elite pitchers typically go deeper into games than in the big leagues. Varela comp...
2018 Axcess Baseball Cy Young Finalists Announced
There is never a shortage of high-end arms on Long Island. 2018 was no exception, but there were two college arms that stood above the rest. Typically, we have three finalists but adding a third would be a disservice to these two. John Rooney (Hofstra) : 8-2, 1.23 ERA, 3 CG, 95.0 IP, 51 H, 108 K, .166 AVG Rooney skyrocketed his value after a strong showing in the Cape Cod League during the summer of 2017. He continued that momentum and never looked back. The 6’5″ 225 lb southpaw was lights-out from day 1 of the season, not allowing a run until his fourth outing of the season. In his third outing, he fired the first six innings of a combined no-hitter and put himself on the national radar. During his March outing against UNC-Wilmington, I was in attendance and watched him silenc...
James Varela Continues Outstanding Season With CG Shutout, 4-0
Final: LIU Post 4, Molloy 0 WP: James Varela (9 IP, 0 R, 6 K) The Pioneers advance to face No. 1 St. Thomas Aquinas tomorrow at 12pm pic.twitter.com/WlG1LmE4rs — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 10, 2018 It’s been one of those seasons for James Varela of LIU Post. The junior RHP has been lights-out from his first start of the season. Today was no different in his complete game shutout over No. 2 Molloy in the first-round of the ECC Tournament. The Pioneers came away with the 4-0 victory, advancing to the winner’s bracket of the tournament. The Pioneers went down 1-2-3 in the first inning but the bats went to work in the second inning. Cleanup hitter Dave Brehm got things going with a single to left field. Michael Manzione was the next batter and he launched a deep fly b...
