by Max Edelman (Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s season preview series.) Final: Mount Sinai 20, Rocky Point 6 WP: JT Caruso (5 IP, 6 Ks) Derek Menechino: 4 hits, 2 runs, RBI JT Caruso: 2 hits, 3 runs, 4 RBIs Castro: 3 hits, 4 runs Mount Sinai advances to face Sayville pic.twitter.com/q4VJ3bmYVQ — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 19, 2023 After serving as an assistant coach for the Mount Sinai Mustangs since 2016, Ryan Pembroke is preparing for a new challenge in 2024, as he is taking over as the head coach.The Mustangs, who finished the 2023 season with a 12-12 record, look to improve upon a season in which they just barely got into the playoffs. “We actually just squeaked by to get in.” Head Coach Ryan Pembroke said. “We were hampe...
Jacob Rentz earned his second win of the season and Bennie Franquiz continued his incredible start to the season with a 3-hit day including an RBI single to break a scoreless tie in the fourth. @GCsports pic.twitter.com/fQAazht5Tf — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 22, 2023 With the game tied 0-0 in the top of the fourth inning and a runner on second, Mount Sinai‘s shortstop, Bennie Franquiz, stepped to the plate against hard-throwing left-handed pitcher Nick Frusco. In most circumstances, a team would prefer the lefty-lefty match up. But with a .650 hitter at the plate, this was a scenario it would’ve made sense for an intentional walk. Franquiz made him pay with an RBI single up the middle to send his dugout into a frenzy and give Mount Sinai the 1-0 lead. They adde...
by Andy Smith Deslauriers continued on how he bounced back after being down early. pic.twitter.com/iQSaJ4FERo — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 3, 2023 It was a low-scoring affair on a cold windy day. While both starting pitchers only surrendered one run combined, there were many batters left on base. In the opening frame, Ayden Deslauriers and Brady McGowan of ESM hit two consecutive singles. Then, following a stolen base by McGowan and a base on balls by cleanup hitter Tristan Gatchalian, who then swiped a bag, the Sharks had two men in scoring position. However, Mount Sinai starter and Mercy College commit Max Reichenbach worked out of the early jam to keep it scoreless. Reichenbach finished the day with four shutout innings and six punchouts. Bennie Franquiz was the fSS f...
by Andy Smith Mount Sinai began the 2022 season losing their first three games to Sayville. The Mustangs went on to win 16 out of 17 and reached the Suffolk County Finals, but fell to a talented Rocky Point team. However, Head Coach Eric Reichenbach believes his team has the potential to make another run. They won the Long Island Conference V Championship over Island Trees in 2021 led by a young roster that was perhaps one year ahead of schedule. The 2022 roster and this year’s team features many of those players that won it all and know what it takes to get over the top. Reichenbach has been at the helm of Mount Sinai Baseball for the last 18 years, and has been a member of the staff for 25 years. Reichenbach played college baseball at the University of Tennessee and Saint John...
By Blake Buscemi Batuyios goes the distance, Mount Sinai takes the win. Final: Mount Sinai 6, SWR 2 pic.twitter.com/O0eywBOZHR — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 18, 2022 It was a battle of two aces as Chris Batuyios took on Billy Steele in Suffolk Class A Conference IV pool play at Shoreham Wading River High School this afternoon. Both are highly regarded arms in the conversation to win the Paul Gibson Award, so this was expected to be a low-scoring game before it started. Steele, who committed to West Point last year, had yet to give up a run going into this start and has consistently been sitting over 90 MPH with his fastball. Batuyios, a St. John’s commit, is an arm who consistently fills up the zone with strikes while also striking out twice as many hitters as he has innings p...
Chris Batuyios strikes out 3 batters to end the game. Mount Sinai wins the Conference V Long Island Championship pic.twitter.com/ZmZmwIGRbW — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 20, 2021 “I told these guys it’s hard to get to the top, but it’s even harder to stay there,” Mount Sinai head coach Eric Reichenbach said in regards to defending their Long Island Championship which was the first in program history. They defeated Island Trees in a wild one, 8-6, at St. Joseph’s College as ace Chris Batuyios struck out the final hitter to seal the deal. One could make the case that Mount Sinai was expected to compete for a championship in 2022, yet found a way to win it last season. Reichenbach agreed with that statement. “I thought we were a year away, so ...
By Nicholas Cipolla Chris Batuyios strikes out 3 batters to end the game. Mount Sinai wins the Conference V Long Island Championship pic.twitter.com/ZmZmwIGRbW — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 20, 2021 In a game that will be talked about for years to come, Mount Sinai achieved the goal every team on Long Island tries to do at the beginning of the year. And that goal was to win the Long Island Championship In a game full of clutch hitting, spectacular defensive plays, and a little bit of controversy, Mount Sinai outlasted Island Trees winning by a score of 8-6. The game started off like most games do. Max Reichenbach worked around a hit batter to keep Island Trees off the board in the top half of the inning. Robby Stephens did his part by retiring the first three batters he faced...
It doesn’t get much better than 10 elimination games across Long Island to crown County Champions. Scratch that, it doesn’t get ANY better than that. The games ranged from Sag Harbor to South Side, and the great majority of them were close. I wish I could be at all the games but that’s just not possible, so I took my best guess as to which game to cover. I started at Sachem East, stayed for a few innings and made the short drive to Selden for Newfield’s game. The decision worked out well as Commack got out to an early 4-1 lead then I went to a Newfield and the score was 0-0 in the second inning. Here’s all the action. Nassau III South Side defeated Manhasset, 2-0, on the road behind a complete game, two-hit shutout by Danny Russell. This was a remarkable turn ...
Go-ahead 3-R HR by Joey Marchese puts Shoreham-Wading River up 5-3 in the top of the fourth pic.twitter.com/kyV05kSkBA — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 12, 2021 Hits from the bottom of the lineup and lead changes are two signs of a competitive, compelling game of varsity baseball. When you combine the two, it’s even more thrilling. With one swing of the bat, Shoreham-Wading River’s eight-hole hitter, Joey Marchese, gave the Wildcats the 5-3 lead over Mount Sinai. They wound up tacking on two more, and holding on to defeat the Mustangs on the road by the score of 7-5. Marchese stated that he “was standing in the box and looking for a fastball to hit hard – got my pitch and took a good swing and got it out,” said the 6’4 slugger. With the victory...
by Ben Diamond Mount Sinai head coach Erik Reichenbach, like most other coaches, finds it difficult to have any expectations for this coming season, with his players having been unable to play on a high school field in over a year. Reichenbach knows this year’s group is young, with a lot of juniors and sophomores, who he hasn’t seen play since they were freshman and eighth graders. He does coach a handful of his players over the summer so he knows that they have been putting in work, but other than the handful of players, he doesn’t know the work the rest of the team has put in. “It’s hard to have expectations when you have a group of kids that haven’t played on a high school baseball field in a year.” Reichenbach said. “Most of my team is returning, but majority are young juniors an...
Coach Eric Reichenbach knew he had an extremely young team in 2019. In fact, it featured six freshmen that received regular playing time – the most in his 16 year tenure. “I didn’t know what to expect going into the season with all those freshmen,” said Reichenbach. “Playing varsity as a freshman is like playing four years up. They certainly exceeded my expectation – we wound up competing for a league championship until the last week of the season,” he added. His team composed of six freshmen wound up finishing with a league record of 9-6 – losing in the postseason to East Islip – but a remarkable feat for such a young team. What they did have was three senior pitchers and the League MVP in SS T.J. Werner. “T.J. is everything you&...