JJ Gatti
Chaminade Enters 2023 as 3-Time Defending Champs, Reigning NYS Champs
John Downing fires a complete game and Chaminade captures the first ever CHSAA NYS Championship pic.twitter.com/0zCtFUooL1 — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 12, 2022 To say that 2022 was a dream season for Chaminade would be an understatement. Legendary Head Coach Mike Pienkos, who has won 650 games and led the Flyers to an incredible 20 NSCHSAA Championships during his tenure. Pienkos was named Axcess Baseball’s Coach of the Year this past season as he led the Flyers to a 25-2 record and they captured the first ever New York State Catholic League Championship after two hard-fought games at St. John’s University. Chaminade Head Coach Mike Pienkos was named the High School Coach of the Year Powered by the BP Group pic.twitter.com/rSuKWiRTRL — Axcess Baseball LI (@axces...
Chaminade to Receive Axcess Team of the Year Award
John Downing fires a complete game and Chaminade captures the first ever CHSAA NYS Championship pic.twitter.com/0zCtFUooL1 — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 12, 2022 2022 was a dream season for the Chaminade Flyers and they are set to be rewarded for it. The Flyers compiled a record of 25-2 – and captured the first ever New York State CHSAA Championship with two hard fought victories in the tournament. Additionally, both of their losses on the season were by one-run. It was perhaps the greatest group of talent a Long Island team has put together this century. They had double-digit Division-I commits on the roster (that number will continue to climb as more of the underclassmen commit), and their entire 2022 class of 15 are all now on college rosters. The stats are remarkabl...
Next Level Holds Off Late Rally for 4-3 Win
Final: Next Level 4, Team Francisco 3 WP: JJ Gatti @BCprospects pic.twitter.com/EJx8x4fS72 — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 18, 2022 Familiar faces squared off in Saturday’s early morning match up between Next Level and Team Francisco Notorious 9 in the Blue Chip Prospect Father’s Day tournament. Despite a late rally by Team Francisco, it was Next Level who held on by the score of 4-3. Next Level sent JJ Gatti to the hill. He is coming off winning the first ever NYS CHSAA Championship with Chaminade last week and had one of the best seasons of any Long Island pitcher (7-1 record, 0.89 ERA, 54.2 IP, 70 Ks). Gatti fired a 1-2-3 inning against the impressive top of the lineup for Team Francisco of Dominick Carbone, Antonio D’Amore and Jason DeCaro. In the home hal...
Chaminade Enters Title Defense With 15 College-Committed Seniors
Chaminade has captured the 2021 CHSAA Championship with a 4-1 win over Kellenberg ! pic.twitter.com/jmozQfolci — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 10, 2021 Before Chaminade even takes the field for their title defense in 2022, first they have to finalize their roster. That may seem like a formality for a team returning 15 college-committed players. But it isn’t – in fact they had 51 players try out for the varsity team. That’s an incredible number in this era. “The competition at our tryouts is intense,” said head coach Mike Pienkos, who is entering his 40th season at the helm. They just captured their 17th CHSAA title in program history over Kellenberg. “I am blessed with a talented class, I mean the class is just loaded,” he added. Loaded...
JJ Gatti Commits to the University of Dayton
JJ Gatti capped a great 2021 season with his recent college commitment to the University of Dayton. The college, which is located in Ohio, competes in the Atlantic-10 conference and reached the conference championship this past season and also the last full season in 2019. Gatti is a a talented RHP that helped lead Chaminade to the CHSAA Championship this season in a sweep over Kellenberg. He will enter the season as one of the favorites to capture the Pitcher of the Year. I had a chance to speak with him and here’s what he had to say… Can you talk about your experience with the college recruiting process and why you chose Dayton? My college recruiting process was filled with many ups and downs as I’m sure goes for most people. I had went from being on nobody’s rada...
Chaminade Barreling Towards Another CHSAA Championship
If you thought this was the year that Chaminade was going to be vulnerable – you were sorely mistaken. After capturing the CHSAA in 2019 and graduating that entire team in ’19 and ’20, they are now one game away from repeating as champs. They briefly struggled earlier this season as they stumbled out of the gate with a 3-3 record but now they have found their cruising altitude at the right time. The Flyers defeated Kellenberg in Game 1 of the NSCHSAA Championship Series by the score of 10-1 behind an all-around team effort and dominant pitching – which has been the hallmark for the program for decades. Coach Mike Pientkos’ squad excelled not only on the mound, but also in the field and on the base paths today; outplaying Kellenberg in every regard. They even g...
Vin Roman’s RBI Single Delivers 2-1 Win For Chaminade
Final (8 innings): Chaminade 2, St. Anthony’s 1 WP: Andrew Heiderstadt Vin Roman go-ahead hit to score Anthony Lods pic.twitter.com/7wqqhZAOgZ — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 30, 2021 When you hear about the CHSAA being the most competitive league on Long Island, it’s because of the parity. This week was an excellent example in the series between Chaminade and St. Anthony’s. In the rematch of the 2019 championship series, the teams exchanged victories on Tuesday and Wednesday in the first two games of the series setting the stage for today. Chaminade was able to come away with the 2-1 victory, with the go-ahead run scoring in the top of the 8th inning on an RBI single by Vin Roman to score Anthony Lods – who led off the inning with a walk. As is usually...
Chaminade Prepares for a Title Defense Season Unlike Any Other
The Chaminade Flyers are the 2019 NSCHSAA Champions with a 3-1 victory over St. Anthony’s pic.twitter.com/czHcPb827e — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 27, 2019 Mike Pienkos is entering his 39th season as Chaminade‘s head coach. He has won over 600 games and guided the Flyers to yet another NSCHSAA title in 2019 – the 16th in program history. This year will probably be his biggest challenge, though, as he will tell you. The program has been built up to the point where he knew there would be a tremendous pool of talent to select from on the first day of tryouts. In a normal year, that wouldn’t be the slightest issue as he would take the next three weeks to narrow down the roster and then use the scrimmages to find the right lineup and pitching staff. In a COV...
Next Level Captures Blue Chip 16U Invitational
When two fundamentally sound teams match up in the championship game of a tournament, it is certain to be determined by one or two mental mistakes. That was the case between Next Level Baseball and the Taconic Rangers on Wednesday’s 16U Championship game of the Blue Chip Invitational. In a scoreless game in the top of the fourth, speedster Nick Ungania ripped one into the left center field gap for a clean hit. The two outfielders, however, took inefficient routes and the ball scooted between them and towards the fence. Ungania turned on the afterburners and came all the way around to score on an inside-the-park HR. Leading up to this point, the game was going just about as crisp as a 16U game will go. Both starting pitchers were effective – Robbie Gilchrist for Taconic and JJ G...
