Kyle Rausch
OTD: Which LI Players Performed The Best At The New York State Games
The three-day NY State Games took place from June 25-27 at Binghamton University, Union-Endicott HS, Maine-Endwell HS and Vestal HS. The event featured 340 of the top players from New York playing in front of roughly 90 college coaches. Long Island was well-represented and featured some well-recognized players if you’ve been following us for the 2018 season. Some of the players that performed well come as no surprise, but a couple players really put themselves on the map with eye-opening performances. I spent a lot of time interacting with the Division-I coaches. Several of them asked by opinion on players that I have watched this season, and I was able to kind of pick their brains as well in terms of their opinions on our local players. Below is my takeaways and which players performed th...
Matt Brown-Eiring Throws CG Shutout to Send Connetquot to AA Finals
Coach Rob Burger is going to the Suffolk AA Finals in his first year at the helm for Connetquot pic.twitter.com/0IhOa1ufp0 — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 30, 2019 There are a lot of similarities between 2017 Commack and this year’s Connetquot team from the insane amount of talent right down to having a first-year Head Coach. Just as those Cougars did two years ago, the T-Birds are headed to the Suffolk AA Finals, one year after losing in the Final 4 on their home field to Eastport-South Manor. This year’s team was not going to be denied. They defeated No. 7 Longwood, 2-0, in Game 3 of the semifinals. Coach Burger was undecided about who to send to the mound following yesterday’s loss. “We were in the office just sitting around for about 45 minutes and Ma...
Longwood Looks to Repeat as League I Champs
Rausch and Longwood HC Ryan McSherry spoke to Axcess Baseball after the game following the Lions’ dominant win, while the rest of the team enjoyed the victory in the background. pic.twitter.com/fBYRABZwHA — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 17, 2018 From three wins to outright League I champs in just one season. It was an incredible resurgent season for Longwood in 2018 under Head Coach Ryan McSherry. It came as no surprise to him, though. “We knew we had high ceiling guys,” he said in reference to their 2017 season in which they started primarily sophomores and juniors. “They just needed a year to transition,” he added. They certainly did that, outlasting Ward Melville to win the League 1 Champs and finishing with a record of 18-6 overall. With a pitching st...
Who Has The Best Tools on the Island?
Regardless of where you’re from, who your parents are, what size you are and what your nationality is, if you’re good you will be found. People love to diminish baseball for being a sport that is tilted towards the upper-middle class that can afford to travel the nation. That is simply not the case. A good scout will locate the top players in their area. Look no further than Kyle McGowin, who hails from the smallest town in New York (Sag Harbor) or Franklin Parra who came from the Dominican Republic and made a name for himself in extremely quick fashion at a school not commonly associated with baseball prowess (Copiague). With the 2019 season right around the corner, I will attempt to name the tools associated with being an impact baseball player and name the players that posse...
Insider Notes: HS Seniors That Are Making a Strong Case to Get Drafted
Every year around this time we think we have a good idea who will get drafted in June. The reality is that there’s no way to predict the future; players performances are wildly unpredictable and that’s not even factoring things out of their control. For example, I thought a player like Angelo Navetta would have gotten drafted had he performed exceptionally well in 2018. All he did was slug .616 with 49 RBI, showing that his 2016 season was no fluke and he is every bit as talented offensively as he is defensively. Still, he wasn’t drafted. Don’t tell me his size is a deterrent, because there were position players under 6’0″ drafted across the nation. Then there’s Matt Hogan, who I thought just needed to prove he was healthy to be considered a pro pl...
Where Things Stand With the Top Prospects in the 2019 Class
Yes it may seem like the 2019 draft is a long time away, but the reality for MLB organizations is that the preparation began immediately following the 2018 draft. Area scouts have had workouts and will continue to monitor their high-follows very closely from now until June. Below is a list of the eight players I believe have a chance to get drafted next year, and how they have evolved since I first watched each of them. Jason Diaz, RHP, Kellenberg Jason Diaz set such a high standard for himself that it was always going to be difficult to continue to outperform expectations. Having a 94 MPH at 16-years-old can be a blessing and a curse. From my perspective, I was blown away with him as a sophomore. His natural stuff, his composure, the similarities to Marcus Stroman, etc, put himself in eli...
Kyle Rausch: Why I Chose Navy
(Editor’s Note: Kyle Rausch catapulted himself onto the scene this season and put an exclamation point on a terrific season with an 8-for-13 postseason hot streak that helped carry Longwood into the postseason before ultimately getting eliminated by Commack. He is among the top power hitters in the class, (hitting six HRs in a one-week span earlier this month), has an exceptional arm in CF and has great blood lines with a Div-I baseball player in the family (brother, Sean). He committed to the U.S. Naval Academy yesterday. The following words are his own…) Although I have not made too many, I understand many decisions in life may be difficult. My decision to pursue an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy was easy. The opportunity to attend a prestigious institution to continue...
Krzemienski Dazzles; Fans 14 As Commack Advances
Our @DigmiNation Players of the Game are Jake Krzemienski and James Cardinale following Commack’s 4-1 victory. They will look to end West Islip’s 17-game win streak tomorrow pic.twitter.com/UrN4lABQU5 — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 23, 2018 No. 3 Commack put up four runs in the first inning against Southern New Hampshire-commit Danny Owens and received a lights-out performance from LHP Jake Krzemienski, to defeat No. 6 Longwood, 4-1, to advance to the semifinals of Suffolk AA playoffs tomorrow against No. 2 West Islip. It was one of those days that when an opposing team had one opportunity to capitalize when a dominant pitcher was in a jam. That occurred in the top of the fourth with Longwood threatening against Commack ace Krzemienski. The red-hot Kyle Rausch smac...
My Playoff Observations
What a chaotic week. What started off as a beautiful Monday with every game being played in 70 degree weather quickly turned into a slog that featured suspended games due to the weather on Tuesday, only one game being played on Wednesday, a productive Thursday, a cold/windy day on Friday and a complete washout today. Plenty of action occurred when the games were actually able to be played and here’s my biggest takeaways so far: The biggest surprise so far has been No. 17 Bay Shore coming out of nowhere to shock both No. 1 Smithtown East and No. 9 Connetquot. Both of these teams feature a myriad of Division-I and II players that have excelled against elite competition for years. Smithtown East threw their Hofstra-commit at them and the Marauders came away with a 7-4 victory on Monday....
