One of the most prolific collegiate hitters over the past three seasons has found a new home in professional baseball. Jesse Russo, a three-time Axcess Baseball All-Long Island member has signed with the Trois Rivieres of the Canadian American Association. Last season he played with the Alpine Cowboys of the PECOS League. That was after finishing up a phenomenal three-year career at SUNY Old Westbury in which he hit .386 with a .431 OBP and .582 SLG in 2018. He also participated in our Axcess Invitational in May at Hofstra which featured the top college seniors in the region. He becomes the eighth player from that game to sign a professional contract joining Giovanni Dingcong, Joey Pena, Bobby Honeyman, Aaron Pinto, Chris Pennell, Frankie Moscatiello and David Palmer. The first four of whi...
Senior Adam Heidenfelder will be anchoring the rotation pic.twitter.com/UnEyFlV8bf Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) September 22, 2017 Despite losing to Mount Saint Marys College in the first round of the Skyline Conference tournament, the SUNY Old Westbury Panthers baseball team has high hopes and confidence heading into 2018. “I am the most positive coach. I never talk about the negatives,” said head coach Rod Stephan. The Panthers, 20-16 (10-8 Skyline) in 2017, have only 12 players returning with 10 freshmen and four new transfers which doesn’t include John Fogarty, who did not play last season. “We’re young. And when I say we’re young, it means we’re going to be good for a while,” said Stephan. For coach Stephan, this is ...
(Photo Credit: Old Westbury Athletics) Jesse Russo is not content with the numbers. The two-time All-Long Island selection is coming off consecutive seasons in which he batted .399 with a total of 47 stolen bases and 80 runs scored for the Old Westbury Panthers. Players of his ilk, however, never are content with their results and are always hungry for more. “When you start off 0-for-20, it’s tough to get your average up,” said the 2014 graduate of Clarke HS jokingly. Even despite the uneven starts to the past two seasons, he has put up numbers on par with the best players on Long Island. He is focused on improving the start to his 2018 season. “I’ve always thrived off of higher velocity, so when we face 82 or 83 MPH early on in the season, it takes a little b...
Senior Adam Heidenfelder will be anchoring the rotation pic.twitter.com/UnEyFlV8bf Axcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) September 22, 2017 Today I was down at the Jackie Robinson Athletic Complex, home of the SUNY Old Westbury Panthers, to get a good look at the team they will be going to battle with during the 2018 season. They are coming off a 20-16 campaign, but had their season cut short by No. 5 Mount St. Mary’s in a shocking upset. They graduated 12 players, notably two-time All-Long Island SS Tommy Ziegen, CF Kevin Lao, C Carlos Balmaceda, 3b Michael Cardino in the lineup and RHPs Daniel Aguilo and Trey Pizzutello from the rotation. With that being the case, the performance and leadership of the returning players that they do have is critical. Second baseman Jesse Russo ha...