Michael Storms
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...
Justin Harvey’s 2-R HR in Sixth Inning Propels Smithtown East to 5-4 Win
Our @BsbLifestyle101 Player of the Game is Justin Harvey for his game-winning two-run home run in the sixth inning pic.twitter.com/ZrH09z2XBM — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 3, 2019 With the game on the line in the sixth inning of a rivalry game, Justin Harvey was looking for one pitch. He got it, up & in, and he did not miss it. He deposited a 2-R home run to left field to score his brother, Nick, and break a 3-3 tie against Smithtown West. Smithtown East sent Adelphi-commit Michael Storms to the mound. He allowed two runs in the top of the first on an RBI ground out by Jason Weinhaus that scored Eric Reuter and an RBI single to center by John Powlowski to score Jimmy Klee. Brendan Kupka started for West, he allowed the runs right back on an RBI double by Will Kennedy an...
Smithtown East With Unfinished Business in 2019
Heading into the postseason as the number one overall seed in 2018, Smithtown East seemed destined to become Class AA County Champions. After finishing the regular season with a League III regular season title and a record of 16-2, they went on to lose two of their three playoff games and were eliminated as a result. Obviously, they picked a bad time to play their worst baseball of the year, losing to Bay Shore and Connetquot. Returning 15 players from last year, however, Smithtown East expects to repeat their success from last season, while altering the ending with a County Championship. Given the talent they have, they know this is a very attainable goal and they have been knocking on the door for the past several seasons. The clear strength of Smithtown East is their returning pitchers....
How Good is LIU Post’s 2019 Recruiting Class?
Following their 2017 ECC Championship, I was very confident that it was the beginning of a prosperous period for the LIU Post Pioneers. Not just because their current team included the reigning Axcess Baseball Player of the Year (Rob Andreoli), runner-up Rookie of the Year (Noah Lorenzo) and future ECC Pitcher of the Year (James Varela), but also because the residual effect that it would have on the current players on Long Island. Coming from someone who was in that exact situation, I can attest to the fact that there is absolutely a huge percentage of players on Long Island that are looking to a) stay close to home, b) play competitive baseball and c) get a scholarship to keep playing the game they love. For me, it meant attending Adelphi as they were in the midst of a 36-win season. For ...
Storms & Cucchiara Off the Board: What it Means for the 2019 Class
Two of the top 2019 arms came off the board yesterday only a few hours apart from each other. To make things more interesting, they will not only be staying on Long Island, but will be in the same conference. Here’s my thoughts on both: Michael Storms (Smithtown East 2019) to LIU Post The hard-throwing southpaw Michael Storms warming up looking to keep Smithtown East’s undefeated season going pic.twitter.com/FhMCDM7xYE — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 24, 2018 Storms is a prototypical left-handed pitcher, who relies primarily on his fastball-change up combo. He sits 80-82 MPH, but gets a lot more swings-and-misses than you’d expect with that velocity mainly because there’s enough of a difference between his FB and CH velocity that his FB plays harder tha...
Michael Storms Fires CG Gem, Smithtown East Improves to 12-0
Will Kennedy clears the bases with a double to left center field. Top 4 | Smithtown East 4, Bay Shore 1 pic.twitter.com/FKPvr9Cfuh — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 24, 2018 Entering the season, Smithtown East was being picked by many people to win the county championship. It was no secret their pitching staff was stockpiled with talented arms. Michael Storms, one of those highly-regarded pitchers, proved today why many people felt that way but the offense was equally impressive in their 10-1 victory against League III rival Bay Shore. “We knew we had a big target on our back,” said the junior southpaw regarding the feeling entering the season. “We knew when we play, everyone needs to do their job and stay focused and not let it get to our hands–just...
Smithtown East Loaded With Div-I Talent
You can typically look at a team’s JV record and get an idea of how the varsity team will fare the next season. If that’s the case, Smithtown East could be in store for a special season in 2017. Their JV team compiled a 17-1 record last year, and Head Coach Ken Klee will have no shortage of arms to throw out this year. “This is by far the most pitching depth we’ve ever had,” he said. “The sophomores alone may have seven Div-I players,” he added. Many of those are pitchers. Doug Goodwin (4-1, All-League as a freshman on varsity last year), Nick Harvey, Michael Storms and William Kennedy are four high-end arms from the sophomore class alone. They all played for Gregg Sarra’s vaunted HDMH team. And then there’s the upperclassmen. Lead...
