Next Level
Q & A With US Naval Academy-Commit John Carroll
A playoff no-hitter ! Chaminade 1, St. Dominic 0 WP: John Carroll (6.2 IP, 0 H, 2 BB, 0 R) S: James D’Alessandro (.1 IP) Chaminade will face Holy Trinity tomorrow at 4pm in the winner’s bracket pic.twitter.com/93SKLSAU4r — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 21, 2023 When it comes to the hierarchy of baseball achievements – firing a no-hitter in the playoffs ranks right near the top. In Major League Baseball, only Don Larsen, Roy Halladay and the Houston Astros (combined no-hitter started by Cristian Javier) have accomplished the feats. While it certainly wasn’t a big league game, Chaminade junior southpaw John Carroll did his best impersonation of them on his May 30 start against St. Dominic. Since that time, Carroll has continued to excel. He pitched 32 innings during su...
Steven Hardiman On Overcoming Adversity to Become a College Pitcher
Steven Hardiman (Kellenberg 2022) was recently named Hampton Collegiate Baseball League’s Pitcher of the Week. The Bentley southpaw went six innings for the Southampton Breakers, allowing two unearned runs, two hits and one walk with 8 strikeouts as his team clinched a playoff berth. For the season, he struck out 30 batters over 24.1 innings. While every athlete faces some type of adversity along the way, most of those hardships pale in comparison to what Hardiman faced. When he was just five years old, he had an ABC tumor in his right femur bone that caused a multitude of problems. He broke his femur bone three times, needed two rods, four screws and a plate put in his leg which necessitated five surgeries. The doctors told his family they didn’t know if he was going to be abl...
Orlin & Cohen Game of the Week: CPD Baseball Grinds Out a Win Over the B1 Seminoles
by John Sullivan Josh zambrano is the muddy locker player of the game. He had a 2 RBI single as well as a scoreless inning on the mound pic.twitter.com/JZCMzefxkp — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 19, 2023 On Wednesday night, CPD Baseball and the B1 Seminoles faced off in a 14u matchup at Holy Trinity High School. From the jump, the game was very competitive and it was clear that both teams brought their ‘A’ game. CPD got things started on offense immediately in the first. After Casey Gates hit a one-out single and advanced to third base on an error, Nicholas Sweeney drove him in with a single up the middle and CPD led 1-0 heading into the bottom half of the inning. In the bottom of the first, Fred Klauck tossed a scoreless inning for CPD, despite giving up a walk and...
Q & A With Blue Chip Collegiate League Player of the Week Kenny Hirschfeld
Kellenberg has been a consistently strong program over the past several years. The highlight was certainly the back-to-back CHSAA Championships in 2016-2017 but they also made it to back-to-back finals in 2021 and 2022 where they ran into Chaminade both years. One of the man contributors on those teams was catcher Kenny Hirschfeld, who is now at New Haven. Kenny is playing in the Blue Chip Collegiate League where he was named Player of the Week after batting .500 with 2 doubles, one HR, 7 runs scored, 4 RBIs and he threw out 2 runners. I had a chance to speak with him and here’s what he had to say… Can you discuss your decision to attend New Haven and how you’e enjoyed your time there? One of the reasons why I chose the University of New Haven was because I knew that the ...
Up Next Powered by Eye Q Investigations: Kenny Meliere
(This is the sixth installment of our weekly “Up Next Series Powered by Eye Q Investigations” in which we highlight the best underclassmen from across Long Island. Previously, we featured Miguel Sime Jr, Matt Cruz, Luke Coats, Michael Gardner and Tyler Scarry. Make sure to check out Eye Q Investigations by clicking here). Next Level Baseball has been one of the most consistent travel organizations in the region over the past decade. This season was no exception. A big reason for their success is the presence of the talented players in the CHSAA. Clearly the most talented league on Long Island, the Catholic League is home to several high-end Division-I and II players each season – many of them play their summer ball for the Next Level. One of those players is ChaminadeR...
Ryan Morash Fires Gem in 5-0 Win for Next Level
by Brian Honka Final: Next Level 5 – South Shore Elite 0 pic.twitter.com/TO95qxWXxV — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 15, 2022 Next Level Baseball took on the South Shore Elite in a 16U Northeast Elite tournament. Both pitchers were on their A game pitching to contact with the defense behind them making the plays Next Level would be able to break through in the second inning as they would be able to string together a walk and an RBI single from Collin Anderson to take the lead 1-0. Followed by an RBI double from Ryan Surdich making the score 2-0. Ryan would come in to score on an E8 to extend the lead to 3-0. Next Level would add to their lead as Jaden Alverez would lead off the 4th inning with a walk and stole second base on the next pitch moving to 3rd on a fielder’s c...
Next Level Captures the Axcess World Series
Final: Next Level 3, Real Ballers 2 Erik Paulsen strands runners on 2nd & 3rd with a strikeout to close out the Axcess World Series pic.twitter.com/vSRnqug5F9 — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) September 11, 2022 You couldn’t have scripted this one any better. The No. 1 and No. 2 seeds squaring off against each other in the Axcess World Series. With runners on second and third and 2 out, Next Level LHP Erik Paulsen Jr – who came on in relief from 1st base – recorded a strikeout to end the game after 6 consecutive foul balls to start the at bat. Paulsen painted the inside corner with a fastball to end it. The game could’ve ended a batter before as Adam Agresti grounded a chopper to short but it snuck under the glove of Paul Napolitano to allow a run to score ...
Axcess Invitational Playoff Picture
After three days of chaos, championship Sunday is here! Here are the playoff matchups: 13u Semifinals: 8am: Moriches 1: No. 1 Black Diamonds vs No. 4 B1 Seminoles Okon Moriches 2: No. 2 CT Cubs vs No. 3 LI Jr Ducks 13u Finals: 10am: Moriches 1: Winner of 1/4 vs Winner of 2/3 14u Semifinals: 8am: Moriches 3: No. 1 Vendetta vs No. 4 CPD Moriches 4: No. 2 Seminoles-MF vs Seminoles-CJ 14u Finals: 10am Moriches 3: Winner of 1/4 vs Winner of 2/3 15u Semifinals: 10am Moriches 2: No. 1 Islip Owls vs No. 4 Next Level Moriches 4: 5 Star National vs B1 Seminoles Black 15u Finals: 2pm Moriches 2: Winner of 1/4 vs Winner of 2/3 16u Semifinals: 12pm: Moriches 1: No. 1 B1 Seminoles-Skoller vs No. 4 LI Mudcats Moriches 2: No. 2 Jr Ducks Baez vs No. 3 B1 Seminoles Tracy 16u Finals: Moriches 1: Winner of 1...
Next Level Makes Comeback Behind Klarikaitis’ to Beat LIB 5-3
by Chris Prystupa Here’s Gabe Klarikaitis on his huge relief outing today. He came into the game in the bottom of the 3rd with bases loaded and got out of the jam. He continued to finish the rest of the game, logging 6k’s and earning the win against LIB. pic.twitter.com/csyaq0eWPk — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 2, 2022 It was a beautiful Friday evening for a 4th of July tournament matchup between Next Level baseball and LIB Select. The scoring got started right away for Next Level who would take advantage of a throwing error that gave them an early lead. In the bottom half of the second inning, LIB would tie and take the lead as they managed to get guys on base by putting the ball in play. James Kass and Michael Duda would be the ones to cash in on the RBI’s as they both brou...
Next Level Mounts Comeback to Win, 6-3
by Blake Buscemi Paul Napolitano discusses his approach at the dish and Next Level’s goals for the rest of the season. pic.twitter.com/ZgwVC22tpI — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 18, 2022 The second game of the day was a matchup of two highly competitive organizations: MVP Beast and Next Level Baseball. The pitching matchup featured John Ruchalski of Next Level and Michael Lombardo of Team Beast. They both matched zeros in the first inning as Ruchalski induced three groundouts and Lombardo induced two fly outs as well as being helped out by catcher Wyatt Fritton, who threw out a runner stealing. Beast scored the first runs of the game in the top of the second by the means of a successful squeeze executed by Nicholas Columbano and a throwing error by the catcher the next batter ...
Up Next Powered by the Yard Sports Academy: Mikey Cervoni
This is the ninth installment of the popular series “Up Next” Powered by the Yard Sports Academy in which we highlight the top underclassmen on Long Island. Previously, we featured Centereach OF Logan Norman, Garden City LHP Gabe Beschloss , Connetquot INF Ryan Kiendle, Clarke MIF Nick Berasti, Miller Place SS Alex Strickland, Pat-Med OF Robbie Melo, Holy Trinity 1B Kyle Kozlowski, and West Babylon 1B Jace Alvino. Make sure to check out the Yard Sports Academy here. Chaminade has proven to be a fertile ground for high school baseball players over its history but especially over the past handful of years. The class of 2022 is no exception as all 15 players are committed to a college. That is just a prelude to the next few graduating classes as both 2023 and 2024 are stocked with high-end pl...
JJ Gatti Commits to the University of Dayton
JJ Gatti capped a great 2021 season with his recent college commitment to the University of Dayton. The college, which is located in Ohio, competes in the Atlantic-10 conference and reached the conference championship this past season and also the last full season in 2019. Gatti is a a talented RHP that helped lead Chaminade to the CHSAA Championship this season in a sweep over Kellenberg. He will enter the season as one of the favorites to capture the Pitcher of the Year. I had a chance to speak with him and here’s what he had to say… Can you talk about your experience with the college recruiting process and why you chose Dayton? My college recruiting process was filled with many ups and downs as I’m sure goes for most people. I had went from being on nobody’s rada...
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