Kellenberg
Where Are They Now Powered by Prime Performance: Chris Cappas
It’s been over 7 years since Kellenberg’s thrilling 1-0 victory over St. John the Baptist at Hofstra University in which their sophomore stud, Jason Diaz, was electric and struck out the final batter to secure the second straight title for the Firebirds. It remains the last championship for Kellenberg. The Catholic League Player of the Year was senior LHP Chris Cappas who went 6-1 on the mound and allowed just 1 run over 39.1 innings (0.18 ERA) with 53 strikeouts. He ended the season on a 25.1 inning scoreless streak. He was equally as impactful at the plate, he batted .434 with 3 HRs, 23 RBIs and just one strikeout. Cappas, along with a group of seniors, formed a bond that he believes is the reason they were so successful on the field. It doesn’t hurt, however, that they...
GAME RECAP: St. Anthony’s Holds Off Kellenberg, 3-2, to Advance in NSCHSAA Playoffs
by Tucker Terranova Farmingdale State College hosted the NSCHSAA Quarterfinal Round on Sunday afternoon featuring two matchups between the top four seeds in perhaps Long Island’s most historic and competitive conference. The latter of the day’s action showcased the No. 2 Kellenberg Firebirds and No. 3 St. Anthony’s Friars duking it out for the right to advance to the semifinals. The two rivals met twice in the regular season with Kellenberg sweeping the season series. However, they knew this was a different team than the one they faced in April. St. Anthony’s entered the playoffs as the hottest team in the conference, boasting a 7-1 record in the month of May. They maintained their momentum today, edging out Kellenberg in a gritty 3-2 victory. “We’ve had a good mindset all season but put ...
GAME RECAP: Sean Atkinson Fires Six Shutout Innings in Holy Trinity’s 7-0 Win over Kellenberg
by Max Edelman FINAL: Holy Trinity 7 – Kellenberg 0 Sean Atkinson tosses six scoreless innings, and Holy Trinity shuts out Kellenberg at home. pic.twitter.com/xlI4yO1X85 — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 30, 2024 Sean Atkinson’s six shutout innings helped the Holy Trinity Titans cruise to a 7-0 shutout home victory over the Kellenberg Firebirds in a Catholic League matchup. The Titans only allowed four hits in the contest, and scored two runs in the first inning and never looked back en route to victory. On the mound, Atkinson was dominant. In six innings of shutout ball, Atkinson struck out six, only walked one and allowed only four hits. Atkinson was also a threat at the plate, as he went two for three with a double and a RBI. Atkinson was one of two Titans to collect mu...
GAME RECAP: Jimmy Ernst Has 3 Hits & 4 RBIs in Kellenberg’s 13-3 Win
by Aaron Diaz Here is Jimmy Ernst as Player of the game for the Firebird’s. Ernst went 3-4 with multiple RBI in today’s game against Chaminade. pic.twitter.com/YatiqhkkZH — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 18, 2024 The Kellenberg Firebirds beat the Chaminade Flyers in a 13-3 game on Wednesday, April 17 in a rainy day slugfest for the Firebirds. The Firebird’s relentless offense stopped the game in the bottom of the sixth with the mercy rule in effect. Catcher Jimmy Ernst propelled Kellenberg from behind the plate and from the batter’s box going 3-4 with four RBIs in the game. “Everything was working,” Ernst said. “The Pitchers were hot and the bats were hot. We put the ball over the plate and hit the ball to move guys over.” Even though Kellenberg would get t...
Kellenberg Returns 16 Players From 17-Win Team
by Max Edelman Despite a strong season for the Kellenberg Firebirds in 2023, which saw the team finish with an overall record of 17-8, the Firebirds ultimately fell short of their goal of winning a Catholic League championship. Although the ending wasn’t ideal, head coach Pat Miles, who is entering his 4th year as the head coach of Kellenberg’s varsity team looked back on what he believed was a strong season for his team. “We had a really good season.” Miles said. “We won a playoff game against St. Dominic’s in the losers bracket which sent us to a game against St Anthony’s. Unfortunately for us, it was the only time we lost to them last season. Obviously, 17-8 is a great season, not what we wanted, but that’s how we wrapped it up.” The big loss for Kellenberg comes in the form of An...
Steven Hardiman On Overcoming Adversity to Become a College Pitcher
Steven Hardiman (Kellenberg 2022) was recently named Hampton Collegiate Baseball League’s Pitcher of the Week. The Bentley southpaw went six innings for the Southampton Breakers, allowing two unearned runs, two hits and one walk with 8 strikeouts as his team clinched a playoff berth. For the season, he struck out 30 batters over 24.1 innings. While every athlete faces some type of adversity along the way, most of those hardships pale in comparison to what Hardiman faced. When he was just five years old, he had an ABC tumor in his right femur bone that caused a multitude of problems. He broke his femur bone three times, needed two rods, four screws and a plate put in his leg which necessitated five surgeries. The doctors told his family they didn’t know if he was going to be abl...
Q & A With Blue Chip Collegiate League Player of the Week Kenny Hirschfeld
Kellenberg has been a consistently strong program over the past several years. The highlight was certainly the back-to-back CHSAA Championships in 2016-2017 but they also made it to back-to-back finals in 2021 and 2022 where they ran into Chaminade both years. One of the man contributors on those teams was catcher Kenny Hirschfeld, who is now at New Haven. Kenny is playing in the Blue Chip Collegiate League where he was named Player of the Week after batting .500 with 2 doubles, one HR, 7 runs scored, 4 RBIs and he threw out 2 runners. I had a chance to speak with him and here’s what he had to say… Can you discuss your decision to attend New Haven and how you’e enjoyed your time there? One of the reasons why I chose the University of New Haven was because I knew that the ...
GAME RECAP: Nicholas DelVecchio Goes 4-for-4, Gabe Klarikaitis Pitches Well, Holy Trinity Wins 5-3
Nick DelVecchio went 4-for-4 with an RBI and 2 runs scored out of the leadoff spot for Holy Trinity in the 5-3 win over Kellenberg @GCsports pic.twitter.com/0Lpb3v7ZAx — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 26, 2023 Coming off yesterday’s 2-1 loss at the hands of Wake Forest-commit Andrew Koshy, Holy Trinity knew they needed to do some home cooking as they look to play for a bye in the NSCHSAA postseason. The Titans wasted zero time, putting up two runs in the first inning which was already more than they were able to compile in the previous game. They did not look, and they were able to capture the critical 5-3 win against first place Kellenberg to split the series. Kellenberg sent junior Matt Reiter to the mound against Holy Trinity’s Gabe Klaritkaitis. After a scoreles...
Kellenberg Motivated to Take Next Step
by Brian Honka Mid 3: 1-2-3 inning for Koshy. Kellenberg trails 2-0 pic.twitter.com/bVgfcDcw5y — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 20, 2022 Kellenberg comes into the season with aspirations to bring a championship home once again. They saw their season come to an end against Chaminade in the last two seasons in the CHSAA Finals. They won back-to-back titles in 2016-17. They had a great season overall finishing at 17-9. They shined on the mound with a team ERA of just under 2.00. In total, they graduated 16 players. Ryan Glupe is one of the players that had a big impact on the team who graduated as he led the team with back-to-back gems in the playoffs against St. Anthony’s and Chaminade which helped the team fight off elimination and make it to the championship. Another big-time ...
Up Next Powered by Eye Q Investigations: Jack Durso
Uncommitted 6’3 LHP Jack Durso (Kellenberg 2025). Fastball up to 86 MPH. Player to watch pic.twitter.com/h7iRKIEIAR — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) January 24, 2023 (This is the 13th installment of our weekly “Up Next Series Powered by Eye Q Investigations” in which we highlight the best underclassmen from across Long Island. Previously, we featured Miguel Sime Jr, Matt Cruz, Luke Coats, Michael Gardner, Tyler Scarry, Kenny Meliere, Jaiden Zoller, Max Donacea, Keegan McElligot, Lucien Saint Cyr, Jayden Gigante and CJ Alfano. Make sure to check out Eye Q Investigations by clicking here) When Kellenberg had their run of back-to-back CHSAA Championship in 2016 and 2017 they did so in large part to their dominant pitching staff. While there were certainly contributors all over the roste...
Ken Kortright State Farm Game of the Week: Chaminade Defeats Kellenberg, 5-1, in Game 3 of NSCHSAA Championship
“It was always the Flyers” That was the popular rallying cry that was seen on social media recently as Chaminade attempted to run it back and win their third consecutive NSCHSAA championship. For the seniors, however, it was really their second title since Chaminade does not typically call up underclassmen to varsity and their 2020 season was wiped out due to the pandemic. With the most talented team that Long Island has seen in decades, the Flyers rolled through the league and won their first two playoff games to qualify for the championship series against Kellenberg. After surprisingly losing the first game of the series, 4-3, they came roaring back to win Game 2, 8-1, and then held off a resilient Kellenberg team today, 5-1, to earn a three-peat. Playing in 94 degree tempera...
Sadier Vicioso Outduels Andrew Koshy, Holy Trinity Wins 5-1
Holy Trinity LHP Sadier Vicioso on the 5-1 victory over Kellenberg pic.twitter.com/dYfwuBwjZB — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 20, 2022 What a difference a year makes. Holy Trinity won 2 league games in 2021 and after yesterday’s convincing road win at Kellenberg, they are 8-2. But these past two weeks haven’t just been wins, they defeated two of the best pitchers on Long Island in Kyle Chase and Andrew Koshy. Two flamethrowing Division-I commits that would’ve given them fits last year – both wins for the Titans who are led by their own ace, Sadier Vicioso. Vicioso, a southpaw, with big game acumen improves to 4-0 on the season after the 5-1 win. In the postgame interview, you can hear the tone that the Holy Trinity players have adopted. They are tired o...
