Mike Palazzolo
Re-Visiting The 2016 Top Prospects on LI List
It’s been five years since I really started following high school baseball here on Long Island. Back during the 2016, I tried to really immerse myself in the game and I was covering games 5 days per week – while bartending at Lombardi’s on the Bay on the weekend – so I did miss out on some action at times. But through conversations with high school and travel ball coaches, I attempted to compile a list of the Top 10 prospects on Long Island. This was not meant to be a prediction of who would have the longest and most successful career, but in that snapshot in time I wanted to gage who had the highest ceiling as a prospect. Like anything else in media, it got some attention from people that enjoyed it while others scoffed at it. I can laugh now, because I really had ...
February 17 Recap
Saturday was the second day of the season for many teams in our coverage area, and was a pretty busy day. Five different teams played in six games and went 4-2 overall. Division-I: St. John’s: The Red Storm improved to 2-0 with a 1-0 road victory over Campbell University that took 10 innings. Kevin Magee and Joe Kelly dominated for St. John’s in this pitcher’s duel. The pitching duo combining to allow just three hits over 10 innings pitched with an astounding 18 total strikeouts and no walks. The few hits that Campbell mustered were all singles that came in different innings as their hitters were completely stifled. In a game with very little offense, it took a sac fly on a deep foul out for senior outfielder Jamie Galazin to score the games only run. The Storm’s pitching has dominated in ...
Defensive Player of the Year Award Finalists Announced
We will be hosting our third annual Awards Banquet on Saturday, January 6 at Villa Lombardi’s. Among the several awards we will be handing out will be the Defensive Player of the Year Award to the top high school player on Long Island. The four finalists are: E.J. Cumbo (Clarke 2017, NYIT) Brad Malm (Pat-Med 2017, Albany) Logan O’Hoppe (St. John the Baptist 2018) Mike Palazzolo (Hills East 2017) We are planning an evening to remember with special guests at the beautiful Villa Lombardi’s. It will be a great way to celebrate another enjoyable season of baseball here on Long Island with the people that made it all possible! **If you would like to purchase tickets to the event, you can do so by clicking here.**
Fall Ball Series: Stony Brook
Double barrel action with Brian Herrmann and Kris Killackey pic.twitter.com/zNqkpZNGmj Axcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) September 28, 2017 Strong defense and base running has been a hallmark of Stony Brook through out Head Coach Matt Senk’s tenure. Entering his 28th season at the helm, the Sea Wolves’ skipper’s attention to detail is pretty remarkable. While I observed their practice today, they spent roughly 30-35 minutes practicing every type of bunt scenario. No detail was too small to be accounted for. While he was monitoring the batters’ mechanics on their bunts, another coach was timing their sprinting speed to first and another coach was on the base paths directing the fielders. With runs at a premium in the America East, these defensive strategies co...
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...
Which Players From Long Island Could Get Drafted This Year? Part 1
This is a year where there is a higher-than-normal amount of players with professional caliber playing on Long Island. There might not be a first-round pick, but there will be plenty of Day 3 guys. To discuss them all, it will be broken into a multi-part series. Here is the first group. Jesse Berardi (Commack ’14, St. John’s ’18) You won’t find anyone that says a bad word about Berardi. He won the Carl Yastrzemski Award in 2014 and was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies. His makeup is off the charts and everyone adores how he respects the game and hustles at all times. He was regarded as the best defensive shortstop to come out of Long Island since Shawon Dunston. His bat has come along and all of a sudden he developed power which only enhances his value. Assuming...
