By Neal Heaton One of the things people always ask me is–“how did you get noticed by the University of Miami?” Well, things are very, very different than they were in 1978. First off, the school only recruited from the list of the top 25 or so players in the country and I was fortunate enough to have had a good enough junior year that I was on their list and they found me. For the average Long Island baseball player, though, that may not be an option. On the bright side, there’s so many more resources available to you in 2017 than I had coming out of Sachem HS in the ’70s. So here is my advice given my years of experience involved in this baseball community on how you can pick which college you want to attend based on your baseball ability and your academic prowess without wasting your tim...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21tXRbacI4k It was a thrilling season on the diamond once again. Between high school and college, we covered 85 games not counting the seven game tournament in the Dominican Republic in February, which featured two teams of Long Island-based All-Stars playing at the beautiful minor league facilities of several Major League teams. You can read about that here. Here are a couple “best of” awards based only on the games that we covered. Feel free to include your thoughts in the comment section: Pitching Performance of the Year: Jason Diaz (May 30th vs St. John the Baptist) Final: Kellenberg 1, St. John the Baptist 0 WP: Jason Diaz (4-Hit Shutout, 10 K) Kellenberg wins CHSAA Championship for consecutive year pic.twitter.com/SVUCaB11Be aXcess B...
Final: Kellenberg 1, St. John the Baptist 0 WP: Jason Diaz (4-Hit Shutout, 10 K) Kellenberg wins CHSAA Championship for consecutive year pic.twitter.com/SVUCaB11Be aXcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) May 29, 2017 It was the year of the strikeout for the Kellenberg Firebirds. Their rotation of Chris Cappas, Jason Diaz and Andrew Williams combined for a sub 1.00 ERA. Fittingly, it ended with a strikeout and a dog pile on the mound. Today it was the youngest of the trio–sophomore and University of Miami-commit Jason Diaz that stepped up and fired a four-hit shutout in a 1-0 victory over St. John the Baptist to deliver the Firebirds to a consecutive CHSAA Championship. He struck out 10 and walked two, looking mature beyond his years. The only offense needed was senior and CHSAA Play...
The firebirds shutout the Chaminade flyers 2-0 at Mitchell Feild pic.twitter.com/UytNg7G9dZ aXcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) May 24, 2017 By Johnny Vaccaro Pittsburgh-commit Chris Cappas did it all for the Kellenberg Firebirds at Mitchel Field in tonight’s 2-0 shutout over Chaminade in the CHSAA playoffs. He extended his scoreless innings streak to 25.1 IP in the process. At the plate, he went 2 for 3 with a triple, an RBI, and 1 run scored. On the mound, he pitched 6.2 IP, allowing no runs on 5 hits, 2 walks and 6 strikeouts. It was a stellar performance by the MLB Draft hopeful Cappas. I want it really bad,” he said in regards to wanting to repeat as CHSAA champs. “We won last year and were gonna repeat this year. Its a great feeling and I...
Final: Kellenberg 3, St. Anthony’s 0 WP: Chris Cappas (5-1) Kellenberg clinches No. 1 seed and bye in the postseason next week pic.twitter.com/Ju8iKeHfuv aXcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) May 12, 2017 With first place on the line, Kellenberg put the ball in the hands of the reigning CHSAA Pitcher of the Year, Chris Cappas, and let him do what he does. The senior, who has routinely silenced the opposition’s bats this season, did that today as well. He fired 6.2 shutout innings, earning his fifth win of the season, and delivered Kellenberg their second consecutive CHSAA regular season title. He was supported by captain Jack Delaney, who ripped a two-run single in the fifth inning to left-center field, which was the difference in this game. Cappas extended his scoreless str...
Not a bad start to the varsity career for University of Miami-commit Jason Diaz. The sophomore fired three perfect innings with seven strikeouts during an overpowering outing this afternoon against St. Mary’s in a mercy win for Kellenberg. The reigning CHSAA champs wasted no time getting the offense going with a huge first inning. After back-to-back walks to Terrance Murray and Andrew Steidle, third-place hitter Justin Renner brought them both in with a long HR to left to make it 3-0. After Nick Quatromani reached on an error and James May walked, Diaz reached on an error to load up the bases. Robert Chesney drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 4-0 and Brett Carpentieri increased the lead to 6-0 with a two-run double. Renner recorded his fourth RBI of the inning when he drew a bases l...
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...
Today the College Coaches Camp was held at the LI Indoor Sports Field in Ronkonkoma and it featured a wide array of schools, featuring many Division-I programs. Notre Dame, James Madison Seton Hall, UCONN, Stony Brook, Fordham, Boston College, Penn State, Old Dominion, Hofstra, St. John’s, Fairfield, Farleigh Dickinson and Rhode Island were the Division-I programs in attendance to watch the best unsigned 2017, ’18 and ’19 graduates. Also in attendance was St. Joseph’s and LIU Post. The best pitchers were Jason Diaz (Kellenberg ’19), Liam Pulsipher (Center Moriches ’18) and Nick Payero (Monroe Township ’18). I came away most impressed with Brad Malm (Pat-Med ’17), Anthony Amato (Smithtown West ’17) and Nathan Hampson (Victor ’18) ...