Johnny Castagnozzi
Q & A With Nassau County Reporter Mike Connors
We had some difficult with the audio in the podcast, so here is a transcript of the audio between Vinny Messana and Nassau reporter Mike Connors. You’ll be releasing your Top-15 players in Nassau County this week, when is that coming out? I’m shooting for Saturday or Sunday this week, but first I will be beginning our third Face of Nassau challenge. It’s a great way to start of the new year. Yep, people want their baseball information– That’s what it’s all about. So let’s talk about some of the top guys. Our list won’t be released until March, but there’s a couple of guys that are no secret in terms of being the top player. Let’s talk first about Wantagh’s Anthony Fontana. What can you tell us about him? Not only does he hav...
Who Would’ve Won a Long Island World Series?
One of the things I would change about the state of baseball in our region is that I would eliminate the New York State tournament in favor of a three-game series between the winner of Class AA and A on Long Island. Why? Because the tournament is hosted in Binghamton and with the exception of the teams that qualify, very few people are able to make the four-hour drive upstate. That is a shame that the players invest all the blood, sweats and tears and then they play in front of a sparse crowd. I think it would’ve been so much more fascinating to see a three-game series between Massapequa and Wantagh to see who the true champions of Long Island are rather than having a large-school and small-school champion. Wantagh was talented enough to play in Class AA the past two years and it wou...
Johnny Castagnozzi Commits to North Carolina
It’s been quite a year for Massapequa‘s young phenom Johnny Castagnozzi. Six months ago he became the first freshman to start on varsity under Head Coach Tom Sheedy and today he announced his verbal commitment to play for the University of North Carolina. He was weighing the possibility of attending Vanderbilt and Notre Dame as well. In between, he also helped the Chiefs to the Class AA Long Island Championship over Commack. One year ago today, we published a feature story on him, just after he put his name on the map by getting ranked as the No. 1 prospect in the 2020 class in the entire state of New York. Originally a SS, he was moved to third due to the presence of LIU Post-commit Chris Wasson. Castagnozzi is a very humble individual that lets his play do the talking. We sel...
Jake Pierre Goes 5-for-5, Hits Walk-Off Single to win Northeast Elite
Jake Pierre walks it off with his fifth hit of the game ! Final: Titans 4, CT Bombers 3 pic.twitter.com/QmwZvDPBKR Axcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) September 18, 2017 Jake Pierre stepped up with the bases loaded, having already compiled four hits on the evening; but he was not content. “I just wanted to win the game for my teammates, trying to go 5-for-5 and do something special for once.” The Sachem North junior certainly did that, as he blooped a single over the third baseman’s head to send the winning run home and propel the LI Titans to a 4-3 win over the Connecticut Bombers to take first place in the 18U Northeast Elite tournament at Baseball Heaven. The sweet-swinging lefty had put the Titans up 1-0 in the first inning on an RBI double to score Phil K...
Team Fontana Takes Inaugural Home Run Derby 35-31
We couldn’t have asked for better weather or a better match up for our inaugural Home Run Derby today at NYIT. In what looked like it would be a blowout, Team McHugh made a furious comeback from a 26-10 deficit to come up just short, by the score of 35-31. Below are some of the highlights from the contest…. Anthony Fontana led off the bottom of the first with a huge round. He hit three home runs and compiled 14 points overall. His sweet swing produced several long blasts pasts the cone in deep right field. The Furman-commit got his team out to a quick 14-0 lead. Both teams exchanged two points in the second inning from James Myler and Jarred Vanderhoof. In the top of the third, the captain Tim McHugh put up four on the board. His power bat generated several massive flies out to...
Anthony Fontana and Tim McHugh Select HR Derby Teams
We live tweeted the draft picks for the 2017 Axcess Baseball Home Run Derby last night. The event will take place on Saturday, September 9 at NYIT beginning at 2pm. Tim McHugh won the coin toss and selected James Myler first overall. Anthony Fontana used his first selection on Logan O’Hoppe. Here are the full teams. Team Fontana: Anthony Fontana, Wantagh 2018 Logan O’Hoppe, St. John the Baptist 2018 Vinny Pagano, Commack 2020 Will Feil, Wheatley 2018 Kyle Johnson, Newfield 2018 Jarred Vanderhoof, Longwood 2018 Mark Faello, Plainview-JFK 2018 Team McHugh: Tim McHugh, Commack 2019 James Myler, Longwood 2020 Johnny Castagnozzi, Massapequa 2020 Charles Rainone, Deer Park 2018 Peter Zielinski, MacArthur 2018 Chris Peralta, Valley Stream South 2018 Travis Honeyman, Massapequa 2020
Travis Honeyman Commits to Boston College
Travis Honeyman becomes the first player from the class of 2020 to verbally commit to a Div-I college. He committed to Boston College this evening. (The following story is from June 29th) He might’ve only been in sixth grade at the time, but Travis Honeyman vividly remembers watching his older brother, Bobby, star for the Massapequa Chiefs in the early part of the decade. “I went to every home game and I just remember saying ‘I can’t wait for when it’s my turn,’ said the now-15-year-old. With the Chiefs taking home the 2017 Long Island Class AA championship this year, Travis–now in ninth grade but playing on the JV10 team–is closer to making that goal a reality. “I’m even more excited now,” he said. In fact, he was able to live vicariously through his two best friends who were called up. B...
Home Run Derby Field Set
The highly-anticipated Axcess Baseball Home Run Derby will take place on Saturday, September 9 at the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) in Westbury. It will include 12 of the best high school power-hitters on Long Island beginning at 2 pm. The two captains will be Anthony Fontana (Wantagh ’18) and Tim McHugh (Commack ’19). The players they will fill their teams with will be Johnny Castagnozzi (Massapequa ’20), Logan O’Hoppe (St. John the Baptist ’18), Anthony Carleo (North Shore ’18), James Myler (Longwood ’20), Jarred Vanderhoof (Longwood ’18), David Falco (Center Moriches ’19), Nick DeMicco (Plainedge ’18), Will Feil (Wheatley ’18), Peter Zielinski (MacArthur ’18) and Charlie Rainone (Deer Park ’18). The ...
Insider Notes: Why Hofstra Chose Cardinale, Who’s Next to Commit?
One of the top uncommitted players in the 2018 class is now off the board with James Cardinale committing to Hofstra University today. Many more to come in the upcoming weeks. Why did Hofstra identify Cardinale as a top player? James Cardinale (uncommitted) is one of the top arms on the class of 2018. He is looking to pitch the Cougars to the LIC pic.twitter.com/CefHlApUWi aXcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) May 31, 2017 For one, Cardinale is a very polished pitcher. He has clean mechanics, very smooth arm action and command of a fastball, curveball and change up. His velocity remains in the 79-82 MPH range, which doesn’t typically translate to the Div-I level, but he certainly has room to improve still. With their current coaching staff, they have traditionally leaned towards u...
Up Next: Travis Honeyman
He might’ve only been in sixth grade at the time, but Travis Honeyman vividly remembers watching his older brother, Bobby, star for the Massapequa Chiefs in the early part of the decade. “I went to every home game and I just remember saying ‘I can’t wait for when it’s my turn,’ said the now-15-year-old. With the Chiefs taking home the 2017 Long Island Class AA championship this year, Travis–now in ninth grade but playing on the JV10 team–is closer to making that goal a reality. “I’m even more excited now,” he said. In fact, he was able to live vicariously through his two best friends who were called up. Both of them, Johnny Castagnozzi and Chris DeSousa, are supremely talented players that will be part of the next wave of el...
2017 Season in Review
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...
Matt Carey’s RBI Hit, Strong Pitching Leads Oceanside to 6-4 Victory Over Massapequa
In an emotionally-charged rivalry like Massapequa-Oceanside, it pays to keep things simple. That’s what Oceanside’s junior RHP Matt Carey did that today in a crucial victory against a conference rival. “I just try to block everyone out, pitch the ball and strike everyone out,” said the NYIT-commit. Not only did he pitch very well–recording the win with six solid innings of work and 10 strikeouts, allowing three runs–he also smacked the go-ahead hit in the top of the seventh innings to propel Oceanside to the 6-4 victory. He came out of the gate guns blazing with eight strikeouts through the first four innings, using a high-octane fastball and a quality curveball to keep the Chief hitters guessing. Their offense got going against Dan Gdanski (Cortland-com...
