Nick Cipolla
Cyclones Take Down Team Francisco in 11u Memorial Day Championship Game
by Nick Cipolla Yet another summer of Long Island Baseball is officially underway as Memorial Day tournaments have been played and champions have been crowned. The Massapequa Cyclones Gold 11u team was on the winning end of the first tournament of the summer as they were able to take down Team Francisco Notorious 9 Select on a beautiful day for baseball at Cantiague Park by a score of 11-7. This game was full of action early on as Team Francisco jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first thanks to a Jacob Font RBI groundout but that lead wouldn’t last long. The Cyclones would get things going almost immediately in the top of the first. With two on and no one out, Charlie Puricelli laces a two-run double to center field to give the Cyclones a 2-1 lead. From this point on, the...
West Babylon Looks to Take the Next Step in 2023
by Nick Cipolla 2022 was a step in the right direction for the West Babylon Eagles baseball program as they made the playoffs for the first time in 6 years. They finished with a 9-9 league record where they had to face some tough teams that contend for the playoffs every year like West Islip, Smithtown West, and nearby North Babylon. The Eagles are led by head coach Victor Manzella, who took over in 2020 after a stint at Babylon High School. Manzella is certainly responsible for the quick turnaround that saw this team improve drastically since he was hired. “I was extremely proud of my team last year”, said Manzella, “As an ‘A’ school, we qualified for the playoffs for the first time in 6 years in a very competitive league mixed with AA schools. When I took over the program in 2020, I mad...
Bayport-Blue Point Looks Towards 2023 With Hopes of a Deep Playoff Run
by Nick Cipolla Final: Bayport-Blue Point 9, Center Moriches 1 WP: Ryan Costa pic.twitter.com/PPIIEIDcnV — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 19, 2022 2022 was just another normal year of Bayport-Blue Point Phantoms baseball. A second place finish in their league with a 14-6 overall record while making it to the playoffs is per the status quo for the Phantoms as they have made it to the Suffolk County playoffs for 24 consecutive seasons. The one blemish on this season was that they would see their season end against the team from the next town over, Sayville. The Phantoms are led by head coach Jim Moccio. The Phantoms will have some big shoes to fill in 2023 as they unfortunately lost a trio of studs to graduation following the 2022 season. All-County infielder Trey McGowan (‘22) w...
Led by Reigning Carl Yastrzemski Award Winner, Pat-Med Ready to Go
by Nick Cipolla Last year was a memorable one for the Raiders as they continued their winning ways, finishing 13-5 in League I and clinching another playoff berth in the process. Pat-Med looked like a contender to win the County Championship, but unfortunately they were bounced from the playoffs by Floyd, ending one of their best seasons in recent memory. We were able to talk with head coach Anthony Frascogna about the season and the upcoming season. “Solid season with a disappointing ending”, said Frascogna, “We have to make fielding the ball a priority this season. Have to be able to overcome some of the external forces that weigh in on the game sometimes.. making errors didn’t allow us to do that”. The Raiders will only be losing two guys from their core in 2022, Outfielder Tyree ...
Hills East Poised for Playoff Appearance
by Nick Cipolla Half Hollow Hills East had a .500 season overall in 2022 going 10-10 overall. However, it wasn’t enough to make the playoffs as their 8-10 league record proved to be costly as they missed out on playoff baseball by a single game. Despite the unfortunate ending to the year in 2022, the Thunderbirds had some positives to take away from this season. Coach Tim Belz was pretty open about his team’s performance in 2022. “We finished 8-10 last season and we’re only 1 game away from qualifying for the playoffs”, Belz said, “there were numerous opportunities for us to make it to the playoffs but the ball just didn’t bounce our way when we needed it to. The two non league wins were against playoff teams but a couple of tough losses is what kept us out”. The Thunderbirds gradua...
Hauppauge Looks to Rebound in 2023
by Nick Cipolla The Hauppauge Eagles had a rare down season in 2022. They finished with a record of 4-14 in league play. It was always going to be a challenge as they had to replace their top 5 hitters from 2021 due to graduation. Coach Josh Gutes seems to look towards the future after the tough 2022 season. “I think the bad taste of last year will actually be a positive for us heading into this year”, said Coach Gutes, “Last year was the youngest team we’ve had since I took over in 2014. We started five sophomores and a freshman. We had plenty of talented younger guys but we just didn’t have quite enough overall to be as competitive as we normally are. Our lack of experience last year will undoubtedly help us this year. We have 14 returning players. We don’t have a senio...
North Babylon Primed for Postseason Return
by Nick Cipolla North Babylon was one of the biggest surprises in Section XI in 2022. The Bulldogs had a team with only 25 innings of combined varsity experience from their pitching staff before the season began, but that didn’t stop them from going 11-7 and making the playoffs. They even flirted with the league title, something that many felt was impossible for the Bulldogs in 2022. North Babylon’s head coach Steve Corrado is very happy with the growth of his team over the last two seasons. “In 2021 we graduated most of our pitching and infield”, said coach Corrado, “We went into last year with only 25 innings pitched of experience. In contrast we have 97 innings of pitching experience coming back for 2023. We never felt out of a game last year and the team showed great resilience from th...
Oceanside Hoping Year of Experience Leads to Growth for Young Core
by Nick Cipolla Drone shot from Farmingdale and Oceanside’s scrimmage last night at Brooklyn Cyclones stadium pic.twitter.com/AOgALI06v7 — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 24, 2022 Two years ago, Oceanside was the Cinderella Story of the year as they had a group of young, unproven guys snuck into the Nassau County playoffs by winning their final game of the season. The Sailors then upset Farmingdale and made it back to the Nassau Final 4 where their season would end, but the future looked extremely bright. Unfortunately for the Oceanside Sailors, they ended up missing the playoffs for the first time in coach Mike Postilio’s 10 years as a head coach in 2022. There was a lot to take away from the previous spring and it seems like Postilio looks towards the positives. “We sta...
Farmingdale Looks to Reload after a Strong 2022 Campaign
by Nick Cipolla 🚨 Sophomore Jordan Welch hits an opposite field walk-off HR to complete the comeback win for Farmingdale and deliver Massapequa their first loss of the season 🚨 pic.twitter.com/FK8STX7jor — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 2, 2022 In the 2022 season, Farmingdale was one of Nassau County’s best teams. They finished the regular season with an 11-4 league record while having a plethora of studs on the roster. Unfortunately, their run ended in the Nassau AA Final against rival and perennial powerhouse Massepequa, who won their 5th straight county title. Farmingdale Head coach Frank Tassielli felt that he had a championship level roster in 2022. “We felt pretty good against whomever our opponents would be”, said Tassielli, “We had a great mix of players from all grade le...
North Shore Looks to Rebound Back to Winning Ways
by Nick Cipolla North Shore 4, Seaford 0 WP: Matt Nochawitz (CG 1 hit Shutout, 1 BB, 6 Ks) Gavin Goss 2 for 2, double, 2 RBI Gavin Butler 2 for 3 Matt Ryan 1 for 3, RBI Double pic.twitter.com/Oq0ckwHVYw — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 29, 2022 Sometimes in baseball, you have to fight an uphill battle due to having more experienced and talented teams in your league. That seemed to be the case in 2022 for the North Shore Vikings as they finished 7-11, missing the playoffs for the first time in over two decades. Most teams look at a losing season as a negative, but North Shore’s head coach Scott Lineman seems to have found the silver linings that come with a losing season. “We were a young team that played in a very difficult conference”. Said Coach Lineman, “Even though we...
Holy Trinity Looks to Improve Off of Strong 2022 Season
by Nick Cipolla Final: Holy Trinity 5, Kellenberg 1 WP: Sadier Vicioso RBI singles by Sean Maddi, Nico Quiroz, Nick Mace Holy Trinity improves to 8-2 pic.twitter.com/34mvZueHUB — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 20, 2022 Holy Trinity is another CHSAA school that is coming off of a good 2022 season and should not be taken lightly by the rest of the league. The Titans finished their 2022 season with a combined 15-6 overall record while sweeping or splitting 6 of their 7 league series while going 4-2 against the city division and a playoff berth. Coach Dan Luisi feels that there is a lot of firepower on this roster and is very excited to get going with the season. “This team is filled with really skilled baseball players, many of them will continue their baseball career at great col...
MacArthur Looks to Continue its Baseball Tradition in 2023
by Nick Cipolla MacArthur 6, New Hyde Park 0 WP: Matt Sarni (CG, 0 R, 1 H, 1 BB, 12 Ks) Ryan Castrillon 2-3 with 2 RBI Sarni has yet to allow a run this year in 18 innings and has allowed only 2 hits and struck out 24. pic.twitter.com/JDNRoGIBmG — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 21, 2022 MacArthur High School baseball team is one of the models of consistencies on Long Island and they always find a way to be competitive and make a run at the Championship. The 11-Time Nassau County Champions found themselves in the Nassau County semifinals in 2022 but were unable to finish the job against Clarke High School, losing in a three game series. They finished with an overall record of 19-6. Despite the loss, the MacArthur Generals look to be a competitor for the Nassau County title in 20...
