Joe Valentino
Commack Wins First County Championship Since 1997
Commack does it!! They are the 2017 Suffolk Class AA Champions ! Commack 8, West Islip 6 WP: Jake Krzemienski pic.twitter.com/00g1i7pt9V aXcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) May 31, 2017 One week before the season, the Commack baseball team didn’t know who their Head Coach would be. This was a team coming off a 14-win season and a playoff run with arguably the best staff on Long Island. Three months later they are celebrating their first Suffolk County Class AA championship since 1997 after their 8-6 back-and-forth victory over the reigning Long Island Champion West Islip Lions. Senior Pete Theodorellis, who tied the game up at 6-6 in the sixth inning with a double off the fence–and fired 8.2 IP yesterday–never wavered in his optimism with this team. Even during that ...
Commack Pulls Off Comeback Walk-Off In Extra Inning Thriller To Take Game One, 2-1.
First year Commack head coach Bryan Bonin was fired up with his team taking game one of the Suffolk County Class AA finals from West Islip. The first of a three game set was a classic pitcher’s duel in every sense of the term between WI senior Joe Valentino and Commack’s senior ace, Peter Theodorellis. West Islip scored one in the top half and Commack responded with two of their own to win it. “That was just a tough win, we teach the guys all season long to just stick together and good things will happen; do what we practice, and it worked out for us today, we got one more to win.” said Bonin. The intensity of this extra-inning game was felt throughout, as St. John The Baptist has one big section of bleachers forcing opposing fans to sit together. Theodorellis and Valentino both had ...
West Islip Takes Game 1 Over Ward Melville With 1-0 Win
West Islip accomplished the main goal in a Class AA Suffolk County semifinal three-game series; win on the road to play tomorrow at home with a 1-0 series lead. Senior RHP Joe Valentino stepped up for WI and earned the W, throwing 6.2 scoreless innings with seven Ks, five walks and four hits. The Patriots called upon LHP Chris Buehler to face WI at home, he was tagged with the tough-luck loss after allowing one earned run over seven innings with seven Ks, four walks and three hits. “It has been like this every game, we’re a team that prides itself on pitching and defense, Ward Melville is a very similar team to us,” said WI head coach Shawn Rush. “Throughout the season we’ve had numerous games like this; this is what we’re bred for, this is our style of play.” Despite being known for stron...
