JJ Palumbo
After Stepping Away from Baseball for a Year, JJ Palumbo Ready for Return
You never know what someone is going through. Sometimes even people with a tough exterior can be enduring some type of personal trauma that impacts their day-to-day. JJ Palumbo, a 2023 graduate of Clarke HS and an All-Conference player (.388 AVG, 1.068 OPS, 22 RBIs) was riding high in the summer of 2023. Mid 6: JJ Palumbo rips a go-ahead 2-R double to left field and Clarke leads 3-1 pic.twitter.com/GW8GytCoOt — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 29, 2022 He had just helped lead his team into the Nassau County Class A County Finals where his go-ahead RBI double helped them win Game 1 at Farmingdale State College. Over the summer, he hit the game-tying RBI double to help his team win the LI Boys of Summer College Division Championship at Holy Trinity HS. He was prepared to begin his co...
Ken Kortright State Farm Game of the Week: Gritty Clarke Overcomes 3-0 Deficit, Improves to 14-1-1 On the Season
Final: Clarke 4, Mineola 3 WP: Jarret Sarrantonio Zaim Deljanin: 2-for-3, go-ahead RBI single in fifth Clarke improved to 14-1-1 pic.twitter.com/phxiPgmxQx — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 4, 2023 If you’re going to beat Clarke, you have to take an early lead and continue to pile on and not allow them the chance to build momentum and mount a comeback as they are always capable of. Looking to salvage Game 3 of a crucial three-game series, Mineola took an early 3-0 lead on the road, but were unable to add any insurance runs which allowed the Clarke offense to overcome and ultimately complete the three-game sweep with a 4-3 win. George Neofitidis got the start for the Rams and he got into some early trouble. After retiring the first batter, Mike Duda singled to left field, and...
Nick Berasti, Clarke Cruise to 7-0 Win Over Lynbrook
by Eddie Lennon Today’s Axcess Baseball Player of the Game powered by @GCsports is Clarke’s winning pitcher Nick Berasti. He struck out 5 over 5 and only allowed 3 hits. He secured the 7-0 shutout win for the Rams. pic.twitter.com/YnSTKQgzJx — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) March 28, 2023 Clarke, the 2022 Nassau County Class A runner-ups, improved to 2-0 on the season after a dominant 7-0 win against Lynbrook. Clarke struck early and kept their offense consistent throughout the same, complimenting a tremendous pitching performance by junior Nick Berasti. Berasti got the start for Clarke and Brian Mansfield was on the hill for Lynbrook. Clarke took no time to get on the scoreboard. Right fielder AJ Cumbo got his day started by getting on base with an infield single. He would soon scor...
Clarke Returns Several Key Players From County Finalist Team
.801. That’s the winning percentage (474-118) of Clarke HS since Tom Abruscato took over in 1999. They have been the model of consistency in Nassau County and last year was yet another deep playoff run. Including winning the 2019 Nassau County A Championship, they have appeared in the County Finals in each of the past 3 seasons. They were defeated in a best-of-three by Calhoun at Farmingdale State College. From that team, they graduated three All-County players; Sean Welsh (Molloy), Nick Giardino (Miseridcordia) and catcher Jacob Dandic. That will be difficult to replace. Welsh was the Conference MVP – he batted .489 which included 46 hits. That number is second in program history for a single season. Giardino notched 40 hits – which was fifth all-time. They also graduate...
College Recruiting 101: Joe Palumbo
(Editor’s Note: This is the fifth installment of our “College Recruiting 101 Powered by 1 More Rep Athletics & Fitness” in which we delve into the world of college baseball recruiting. In the first edition we spoke to five fathers who sent their sons to Division-I programs. In the next edition, we spoke to three fathers who are also coaches that had to navigate through the pandemic. In the third edition, we spoke with Glenn Petraitis, who had two sons go through the college recruiting process and is an Emmy-award winning Sports Producer for MSG and NBC Olympics. His younger son, AJ, is a freshman at Le Moyne College. Last week, we speak with George Mason University assistant coach Matt Marsh, who is a Long Island native about his process of recruiting players. In this week’s edit...
Q & A With JJ Palumbo
The phrases “it’s a grind” and “putting in work” often get overused. But when it comes to an athlete on Long Island that embodies what it means to be committed to improving, look no further than Clarke senior JJ Palumbo. The catcher/infielder transformed his body in just over a year – losing fat and putting on muscle – and turning himself into an impact player on Clarke’s team that played in the county finals this season – even knocking the game-winning hit in one of the games against Calhoun. Here is the go-ahead hit by Palumbo. Clarke is 3 outs away and have ace Sean Welsh warming up pic.twitter.com/8KYITmI95B — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 29, 2022 This past week, Palumbo announced his commitment to SUNY Purchase. While m...
JJ Palumbo’s Huge Day Gives Clarke Game 1 Victory Over Calhoun
Postgame interview with JJ Palumbo who went 3-for-4 with the go-ahead 2-R double in the 3-1 victory for Clarke pic.twitter.com/Rn6rnlCJtW — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 29, 2022 Sometimes when you face an ace, you have to tip your cap and hope to bounce back the next day. Other times, you can overcame a late game deficit with a clutch, two-run double to steal a playoff game and go up 1-0 in a best-of-three. Fortunately for the Clarke Rams, it was the latter. They were trailing 1-0 against Calhoun with ace and Diamond Award favorite Brian Chin on the mound. After squandering plenty of opportunities throughout the game including getting a runner thrown out at the plate in the 1st inning, they were able to pull through in a big way in the sixth inning. Designated hitter JJ Palumbo...
Steven Hardiman, Shane Linett Pitch Next Level Past Knights Nation 3-1
by Vinny Messana Baseball is a game of inches, and it was evident in the sixth inning between Next Level and Knights Nation MXE. With runners on second and third and one out, Chris Critchley grounded one to shortstop. Knights’ runner JJ Palumbo was running on contact and had a good jump. Next Level SS made an accurate throw to home and it was a very close play. To the naked eye, it was tough to tell but the umpire called him out at the plate. Upon further review, the runner appeared to have gotten under the tag but without the benefit of review, this was simply an out. The next batter grounded out to SS to end the inning to keep the score at 2-1. Next Level added an insurance run in the home half of the sixth to end with a final of 3-1. The play was a critical moment since the Knight...
Who Were The Top Performers at Monday’s College Showcase
For the second year, we partnered with Diamond Spikes Baseball and MaX Effort Baseball to host a college showcase on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The feel was much different in the pandemic world than last year. We had roughly half the players – who had their masks on throughout the duration of the event – and there was no spectators allowed aside from the 20 college coaches. I feel extremely fortunate that we were able to pull off the event despite the pandemic and I truly believe it will benefit many of the players who attended. The 2023s and 2024s were able to get their first or second experience playing in front of college coaches with every move and metric documented. For the 2021s and 2022s, they will certainly garner some interest from the coaches that were in attendance....
Red All-Stars Cap Dramatic Comeback With Walk-Off Victory
What a fitting way to end an outstanding weekend of baseball at Gameday USA‘s All-Star Weekend. JJ Palumbo reached on an infield single to score the game-winning run as the Red All-Stars overcame a 7-3 deficit in the fifth inning to win 8-7 to defeat the Gold All-Stars. Things got off to a rocky start for the Red All Stars when starting pitcher Alex Marcoline struggled to find the strike zone. He walked the first three batters, coupled with an E6 that allowed four runs to score in the top of the first inning. He bounced back and retired the final two batters of the inning to prevent the game from getting out of hand. Red bounced right back, though, with two runs in the bottom of the first inning with the runs coming on an error and a bases loaded walk to Michael Brocco. The bench was...
Cristino Tufano’s Bases Clearing Triple Keys Huge Rally for 13U Camelot Knights
The 13U Camelot Knights awoke after a lethargic first inning–in which they fell behind 2-0 thanks to two steals of home on 1st & 3rd situations–in a big way. After an RBI single by Zach Rosenzweig scored Alex Murcoline and Liam Fonal drew a bases loaded walk to tie it up, their leadoff hitter came to the plate. The supremely talented Cristino Tufano, who played varsity as an eighth grader at Babylon got into one to deep center field. It went over the center fielder’s head and resulted in a bases clearing triple. This opened up a 5-2 lead for the Knights. Their offense would not let up as they added two more runs on a double steal and also an e2 to make it 7-2. Their starting pitcher Chris Critchley was outstanding once he had the lead. His offense added another run on...
