Matt Hogan
Matt Hogan Fires No-Hitter Against Smithtown West
Matt Hogan on his no-hitter against Smithtown West pic.twitter.com/FTpv502c4o — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 13, 2018 by Frank Farnacci Vanderbilt-commit Matt Hogan threw a no-hitter today, leading his Half Hollow Hills East Thunderbirds to a 5-0 win over Smithtown West Bulls. “I was feeling pretty good, but honestly it was just the defense behind me today. Everyone was making plays. There were no errors in the field,” Hogan said. His humility was admirable considering he struck out eleven with a powerful fast ball and a biting curve ball. “I’ve seen Matt pitch now for three, four years at the varsity level”, said Hills East Manager Tim Belz. “Today he took a little bit off, pounded the zone, got ahe...
Hills East Tops Smithtown West, 2-1
by Frank Farnacci A chilly March afternoon did not deter Half Hollow Hills East’s Reis Henderson in his first varsity start as he led Hills East to a 2-1 victory over Smithtown West in Dix Hills today. Henderson persevered while working in-and-out of trouble through the first three innings hurling a two hitter with seven timely strikeouts over 5.2 IP. “He had a little bit of a high pitch count early as he worked in-and-out of trouble”, said Hills East Manager, Tim Belz. “He gave up only two hits which was phenomenal and kept us in the whole game. His strikeouts were in big spots and he really gutted it out.” The game started with Henderson walking the first two batters but then he settled down getting consecutive fielder’s choices and a foul out to keep Smithtown West off the scoreboard....
Prep Baseball Report to Host LI Showcase on February 23
We are pleased to announce we will be providing full coverage of Prep Baseball Report’s Long Island Showcase on Friday, February 23 at All Pro Field House in East Setauket. We will be taking photos, videos and scouting the players. The top players will appear on our social media accounts and potentially be selected to our exclusive Preseason Top Players list. Additionally, there is expected to be a large turnout of college coaches in attendance. Prep Baseball Report is an independent scouting company that is focused on amateur baseball, they are represented in 40 states throughout the country. Each state has their own director and scouting team that allows them to have a firm grasp of the baseball scene. Each player will receive a video and profile on the Prep Baseball Report website...
Long Island Titans Hold Media Day
The Long Island Titans held their annual college signing day to celebrate their high school seniors that have committed to play college baseball at the Div. I, II, III or Ju-Co level. In total, 51 players are committed to play at the next level from their Class of 2018. Some of the most notable programs include Vanderbilt, Fordham, Stony Brook, Northeastern, Furman, East Carolina, Creighton and Cornell. Sixteen of the 51 are Div-I scholarships. Those players are Chris Buehler (LIU Brooklyn), James Cardinale (Hofstra), Jason Coules (Fordham), Anthony D’Onofrio (Hofstra), Mark Faello (Hofstra), Will Feil (Albany), Anthony Fontana (Furman), William Gilbert (Cornell), Mike Handal (Fairfield), Matt Hogan (Vanderbilt), Edward Jarvis (Northeastern), Kyle Johnson (Stony Brook), Tyler Ma...
5 High School Seniors That Could Get Drafted in 2018
As the season wore on, it seemed I was hearing about more and more players that had risen their stock and impressed scouts in various tournaments in places such as East Cobb, Diamond Nation or Baseball Heaven. In addition to the amount of Div-I commits there were, a handful of other players rose to the next level; where they might hear their name called on draft day in June 2018. Only Ben Brown and Brian Morrell wound up getting drafted from the 2017 class–a slight disappointment considering how many players seemed to have the chance at it. In 2018, though, I expect as many as five Long Island seniors to get drafted out of high school. Here’s a rundown of the players that have already garnered interest from the local MLB scouts… Franklin Parra (Copiague LHP) The Dominican...
Sal Agostinelli: The Story of How An Undersized Long Island Catcher Became One of the Most Influential Men in Professional Baseball
(Editor’s Note: Story was originally published on Nov. 12, 2016. We will have coverage of the Agostinelli Memorial Tournament beginning tomorrow at Baseball Heaven.) It was 1993 when Jay Hankins approached the Triple-A catcher for the Philadelphia Phillies with a question. “Hey Sal, did you ever think about being a scout?” “The only thing I know about scouting is that it’s old guys in chairs,” Sal responded. “Well, I think you would make for a good one,” he stated. As fate would have it, that catcher was Long Island native Sal Agostinelli, who went on to accept a position as the area scout for the Phillies and his area would be New York and New Jersey. As time went on and he had success in his coverage area, the front office tasked him with more and more territory. The next year was ...
Creatine: Important for Baseball Players?
The Effects of Creatine Supplementation on Muscle Growth and Why It’s Important for Baseball Players Jarad Vollkommer, CSCS Has anyone ever told you to be careful with your Creatine supplementation because it “damages your kidneys”? Or, that it really has no effect on muscle growth and is clinically unsafe? These are some of the common misconceptions in the field of exercise science. Fortunately for you, this article is giving you the real science behind Creatine. Creatine has been the most widely studied supplement. It’s importance to muscle growth is well known, and has been backed by numerous scientific studies. In this article, we will review how Creatine is used by your cells, why it is important for baseball, and how it feeds your muscles to grow! So…What is ...
Pat-Med Pulls Off Huge Upset of No. 3 Hills East, Advance to Semis
Final: Pat-Med 4, Hills East 3 WP: Angelo Sciandra No. 3 Hills East is eliminated pic.twitter.com/m2HFo2zlbD — aXcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) May 19, 2017 To say that Pat-Med came in with the chips stacked against them would be an understatement. As the No. 14 seed against No. 3 seed Hills East, they would have to pull off all their victories on the road. They put a sophomore, Randall Alejo, up against Vanderbilt-commit Matt Hogan and they had a number of sophomores playing prominent roles in the game. None of that mattered, as they pulled off the upset with a 4-3 victory to advance to the Class AA semifinals against Commack beginning on Monday. “We wanted to kind of represent our league, and we did a nice job, we’ve had great at bats for the past few weeks,” said...
Half Hollow Hills Little League Providing Unparalleled Experience for Young Ballplayers
Over the years, many elite ballplayers have graduated from the Half Hollow Hills high schools. Some recognizable names are John Mincone, Alex Aurricchio, T.J. Pecoraro, Tommy D’Alessandro, Adam Brown and Stephen Woods. They all played in the Half Hollow Hills little league program at one point, according to the President of the league, Steven Muraco. The league has been home to a tremendous amount of kids in general–peaking at 1,700 in 2000, but has since leveled out around 1,000 since that time. They have spring, summer and fall leagues. Despite many kids playing other sports through out the season, they have been able to maintain their numbers in the fall when football and soccer are in-season. A big reason for this, according to Muraco, is the league’s reputation for ...
aXcess Baseball 2017 Top HS Players on Long Island
Here is our list of the Top HS Players on Long Island for the 2017 season: Pitchers: Matt Boyko, Clarke (2017) Brad Camarda, Hills West (2017) Chris Cappas, Kellenberg (2017) Harrison Cohen, Cold Spring Harbor (2017) Jason Coules, Bellmore JFK (2018) Jason Diaz, Kellenberg (2019) Antonio Deodato, Wheatley (2017) Mark Faello, Plainview-JFK (2018) Luke Hansen, Southold (2018) Jimmy Joyce, Wantagh (2017) Bobby Lewis, MacArthur (2017) Brian Morrissey, Commack (2017) Brian Morrell, Shoreham-Wading River (2017) Max Nielsen, Ward Melville (2019) Peter Theodorellis, Commack (2017) Nicholas Trabacchi, Smithtown West (2017) Liam Pulsipher, Center Moriches (2018) Catcher: Logan O’Hoppe, St. John the Baptist (2018) Matt Pelcher, Calhoun (2020) Infield: Johnny Castagnozzi, Massapequa (2020) Antho...
Recap of Dominican Republic Trip
What a tremendous experience it was for the 20 players who were a part of Sal Agostinelli‘s All-Star team this past week in the Dominican Republic. The competition was top-notch. All players were either already signed and playing on the Dominican Summer League teams of their respective organizations or very worthy of being signed. In fact, a number of Dominican players were signed right on the spot after their performances on the field. All five of the games were played in front of several MLB area scouts. Here are some notes from the five games. There were 2 teams–one from the class of ’17 and ’18 and one from ’19 and ’20. Each team played the Dominican Summer League teams from the Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, Texas Rangers...
Introducing the No. 1 Prospect on Long Island
by Vinny Messana Every great player needs a defining moment. For Matt Hogan that came on April 29 against Smithtown West. With his team, Half Hollow Hills East, trailing 7-6 in the bottom of the seventh, the sophomore stepped up to plate with his buddy, Mike Palazzolo, on second base. He smacked a walk-off two-run shot to center field to give the Thunderbirds the 8-7 victory and hand Smithtown West one of their three losses this season. “I just happened to be the guy to get up at the plate and swing the bat,” said the uber-polite sophomore. While it’s true that he was the one with the bat in his hand, not many hitters in the northeast region–let alone League III in Suffolk County–can match what he can do at the plate. On his April 20 home run against Smithtown...
