Nick Grande
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 ...
On This Day In Axcess History: Stony Brook Shuts Out Hartford in a Commanding Win
(Editor’s Note: This article was originally posted on March 25, 2017 by Tyler Marko.) In the final game of a three-game series with Hartford University, Stony Brook struck a decisive victory in their first conference series of the season with a 14-0 win. After splitting a doubleheader with the Hawks the day before SBU stood on their home turf and made a statement in with a dominant win. Seawolf starter Brian Herrmann earned his second win of the season with a spectacular performance. Herrmann hurled seven shut-out innings, allowing just three hits and three walks while striking out five and improving his already stellar ERA. After the game head coach Matt Senk praised the freshman starter saying, “He’s been terrific and he was terrific again today… The way he performed today is how h...
Nick Grande Decides to Step Away From Baseball
Nick Grande, a 17th round draft pick of the Arizona Diamondbacks, in the 2019 MLB Draft and 2018 All-American SS for Stony Brook University has decided to call it a career after one professional season. He made the announcement on our podcast Wednesday evening. “It’s been a tough couple of months thinking about this but I have a great support system with unbelievable parents that support me in whatever I do and it kind of came down to the fact that I don’t have much left in the tank mentally or physically to go and do it again,” he said.”As I’ve mentioned, playing for Stony Brook was my dream. Obviously getting drafted is everybody’s dream–but playing for Stony Brook and doing well, that’s what meant the most for me. I didn’t expe...
Recapping the 2019 MLB Draft
The 2019 MLB Draft is now complete. Although it took until the 15th round, a number of players with Long Island connections were drafted. Let’s go down the list: 15th round (Baltimore Orioles) – Kyle Martin, RHP, Oceanside 16th round (Milwaukee Brewers) – Michael Wilson, RF, Stony Brook 17th round (Arizona Diamondbacks) – Nick Grande, SS, Stony Brook 18th round (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) – Ryan Smith, LHP, Princeton (Garden City) 25th round (Washington Nationals) – Parker Quinn, 1B, Hofstra 27th round (Chicago White Sox) – Tyler Osik (, 3B, Central Florida (Shoreham-Wading River) 28th round (Colorado Rockies) – Keven Pimentel, RHP, Tampa (Huntington Station) 30th round (Atlanta Braves) – Mitch Calandra, C, Eckerd College (Floral P...
Stony Brook Rolls Past LIU Brooklyn, 9-3
Nick Grande makes a nice play moving away from home plate. Stony Brook leads 3-0 after 1 inning pic.twitter.com/CE6OpChqg2 — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) March 13, 2019 Stony Brook bounced back from Tuesday’s defeat by Iona with a smooth 9-3 victory over LIU Brooklyn. The offense got out to a quick start in the first inning with a three-spot. RBI singles by Brandon Alamo, Chris Hamilton and a sac fly by Evan Giordano gave them so cushion, and they never looked back. Bret Clarke made his first outing of the year and he was sharp; going two shutout innings and striking out two batters. He was named our 2016 Rookie of the Year. If he can rediscover that form, it will be a huge boost for the Sea Wolves. He topped out at 91 MPH in his outing. He was relieved by hard-throwing fresh...
Smithtown West Hopes To Rebound From Tough 2018 Through Experienced Players
In 2018, Smithtown West failed to make the postseason for the first time since 2007. Returning the top two pitchers in their rotation and key players offensively, they believe this year will be different. “We have a returning group that was able to get a lot of experience in 2018. They understand the work that needs to be put in to have success. We should benefit from that greatly,” said Head Coach Al Nucci. Smithtown West will compete in League III this season. Their opponents consist of Smithtown East, Hills East, Newfield, Centereach, Copaigue and Northport. Last season, Smithtown West struggled to put up runs, resulting in four shutout losses. Returning players with varsity experience, they hope this year is different. “A lot of small ball and manufacturing of runs wi...
2018 Axcess Baseball Award Winners Honored
With the coverage that we’ve been doing of the younger age groups, sometimes it’s easy to lose sight of the players that are performing well at the highest levels. We announced the winners of the 2018 Axcess Baseball Awards and they accepted their plaques this week. Below are the winners of each. Axcess Most Valuable Player (College) Nick Grande (Stony Brook) Axcess Man of the Year (High School) Logan O’Hoppe (St. John the Baptist) Axcess Rookie of the Year Travis Zurita (SUNY Maritime) **Not pictured* Axcess Cy Young James Varela (LIU Post)
Nick Grande to Receive 2018 Axcess Baseball Most Valuable Player Award
Following an outstanding 2018 season, Stony Brook SS Nick Grande will add one more piece of hardware to his collection. The Smithtown West grad will receive Axcess Baseball’s Most Valuable Player Award. During his sophomore season, he posted an incredible season slashing .377/.468/.560 with 59 runs scored, six HR, 28 RBI and 32 stolen bases. He also played stout defensively. For his feats, he was named All-American. Coming out of high school, he was ranked by us as the No. 6 prospect on Long Island, but has certainly continuously improved and is now considered a draft prospect this season. He comes from a baseball family, as his father was the Head Coach of Island Trees HS for 14 seasons and played collegiately at Farmingdale State College. He cited Derek Jeter as his favorite player...
Fall Ball Series Presented by The Greene Turtle: Stony Brook
Nick Grande (Smithtown West 2016) takes a two-strike pitch and drives it for a single. He was named All-American in 2018 after compiling a .377/.468/.560 slash line with 32 stolen bases pic.twitter.com/nLyTqy8WDz — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 24, 2018 It’s been six years since their improbable run to the College World Series, but the “Omaha Effect” still has a positive impact on the Stony Brook baseball program. When you look around the field, you see talented players that may have previously opted to attend powerhouse programs in other parts of the nation had the Sea Wolves not boosted their value with that incredible 2012 season. Their run of sending players to the professional ranks continued in 2018 when 3B Bobby Honeyman and closer Aaron Pinto were s...
Nick Grande Named First-Team All-American
It’s been an outstanding 2018 season for Stony Brook sophomore SS Nick Grande (Smithtown West 2016). He was a key cog in the Sea Wolves’ 32-win season which ended just short of winning the American East Championship. He capped that season with being named First-Team All-American by Collegiate Baseball, an accomplishment not often achieved by shortstops from the northeast. His season, though, speaks for itself. He hit the ground running from Day 1 at finished the campaign with a triple slash line of .377/.468/.560 with six HR and 32 stolen bases. He drew 28 walks and was also hit by 10 pitches. He committed only seven errors at shortstop in 226 chances for a fielding percentage of .970. With this historic season, he now puts himself in the conversation for the 2019 MLB Draft. He...
LI Road Warriors Overcome Six-Run Deficit To Take Game One of the HCBL Championship Series, 11-8
Folgers gets it done for LI!! A grand slam in the ninth!!! Road Warriors lead, 11-8, with 2 outs now. pic.twitter.com/WMYvoEH1fT — aXcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) July 31, 2017 The Road Warriors showed up to Aviator Field hungry for a win. The game was started with a first pitch lead off homer for Nick Grande (Smithtown West ’16, Stony Brook). The middle infielder would have himself a monster day at the plate leaving the park twice with two dingers. He finished his day 3-for-5 with two HR and four RBI; his third hit of the day started the Road Warriors ninth inning rally. “ I think our lineup had a great day overall top to bottom,” said Stony Brook sophomore Grande. “The goal was to come out here and set the tone, we fell behind but showed a lot of resiliency wh...
Smithtown West Leaning On Young Arms to Lead the Way
They took Ward Melville to the absolute edge before finally getting defeated by a passed ball in the eighth inning of the Suffolk County Class AA quarterfinals. Regardless, winning 17-games is always a tremendous accomplishment for a team. They will, however, have to replace a terrific pitching staff that featured Brandon Lamanna (five wins), Rob Tamarro (four wins) and John Craft (five wins). They will be looking to a group of four young promising arms to fill that void. Nick Trabacchi, Anthony Amato, Nick Grande and Mike Zito will all be counted on to lead the way. Eleventh year Head Coach Al Nucci stated that all four of those arms are capable, but are untested because they were not needed last year, given their dominant rotation. Grande will have a much larger role than a pitcher–...
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