Nick Roselli
Led by Diamond Award winner, Division Hungry to Take Next Step
by Brian Honka Division had a young team last year that consisted of six sophomores who had big contributions to the team’s 19-7 overall record and 14-4 league record in which they finished 1 game behind South Side for the league title. The team fell one game short of reaching the Nassau Class A County Finals as they lost in game 3 of the semifinals to eventual LI Champs Calhoun. The team will miss the production and contributions from Mike Knapp, a 2-time All-County RHP, who is now pitching at Molloy, Jack Taggart, an All-Conference pitcher, and Chris Powers, an All-League OF. The team will be looking for another great season out of Joe Yovino who is a senior catcher that put up a .467 AVG, crushed 7 home runs with 30 RBIs and 27 runs scored. Additionally, he stole 15 bases, compil...
Despite Graduating Conference III MVP, Division Still Loaded With Talent
by Mike Anderson Like a Long Island varsity baseball powerhouse typically would, Division did not disappoint in 2021. They finished the year at 14-4 overall, going 14-2 in league play. They won their 39th league championship in program history simply by riding their strong culture, according to head coach Tom Tuttle. “We just have a really good culture and players that commit to the program, and that’s the reason why we’re successful year-in and year-out,” Tuttle said. They did graduate a pair of very impactful seniors: shortstop Nick Roselli and pitcher Will Giuliani. Roselli was Conference III Player of the Year and an All-Long Island selection, and now plays Div-I baseball at Binghamton. His stats were absurd – as he broke a school-record by batting .619 with a .701 (!) OBP....
Sean Lane Captures the 2021 Axcess x Baseball Lifestly HR Derby
We’ve hosted three HR Derbies and this was by far the most electric. Eight of the top power hitters on Long Island gathered at Diamond in the Pines and fireworks ensued. The participants were: Sean Lane (St. Dominic) Nick Roselli (Division) Kyle Kozlowski (Holy Trinity) Dylan Banner (Plainview JFK) Jack Halloran (Westhampton Beach) Anthony Lods (Chaminade) Mikey Brunetti (Manhasset) Evan Virno (Bellport) Sean Lane put on an absolute performance in the first round, smashing 12 home runs which was the most of any player. Nick Roselli and Dylan Banner each hit 9 HR and Kyle Kozlowski hit six to round out the top 4 that qualified for the semifinals. In the semifinals, both Sean Lane and Nick Roselli advanced to reach the finals. In the finals, Roselli set a high bar with 7 HR, but Lane f...
Stock Watch: Which Players Rose Their Stock the Most During the Season?
2021 has basically been the year of the retail investor. We’re all familiar with AMC and $dogecoin but you’re not going to find stock advice in this article. But similar to stocks, some players experienced a meteoric rise during the high school season. This isn’t about which players simply performed the best – this is about who performed the best relative to what the expectations were this year. Here’s a breakdown from my vantage point – and I’ve seen (almost) all these players in person. 2021s Coltrane Calloway, Bay Shore The Seton Hall-commit was outstanding all season in leading Bay Shore to the Suffolk II title game against Huntington. He was named Conference II MVP and had a strong case for the Carl Yastrzemski Award. At the plate, he batted a...
League MVPs Announced
It’s always an exciting day when the League/Conference MVPs are announced because after the Long Island Championships, you’re expecting a slow news day and then the list drops and it’s another hit of news. To be fair, the list didn’t actually drop but I was able to find out the winners and here they are. Quick note: Nassau opted to award a Most Valuable Position Player as well as Most Valuable Pitcher, whereas Suffolk just named one player. Naturally, many players in Suffolk will feel slighted if they felt they had a case to win. The next big announcement will be the two Diamond Award winners as well as the Carl Yastrzemski Award, Paul Gibson Award and Silver Slugger. Nassau County: I- Vin Mallon (Massapequa), Liam Carroll (Massapequa) II- Co-Winners: Patrick Sanche...
Mike Knapp Fans 13, Division Holds Off Manhasset, 3-2
Final: Division 3, Manhasset 2 WP: Mike Knapp (5 IP, 13 K) James Sill had go-ahead RBI single pic.twitter.com/fzPt8dqAHd — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 11, 2021 Inning after inning, Division was able to narrowly hold onto their lead over Manhasset. First starting pitcher Mike Knapp and then reliever Frank Vespa made pitches when their backs were firmly against the wall. They left runners at the corners in the first inning and the third inning, stranded bases loaded in the fourth inning and the sixth inning and runners at 2nd & 3rd in the 7th. They held on by the skin of their teeth by the score of 3-2. Division’s Head Coach Tom Tuttle said that’s what they expect from their staff: “At Division that’s what our pitchers are expected to do – we ta...
Tom Tuttle Enters 13th Season Leaning On Inexperienced Bunch
Division is headed back to the County Championship for the second year in a row! FINAL: Division 5 Bethpage 1 (F/14) pic.twitter.com/1DZ0DqayCK — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 25, 2019 The irony about the 2021 season is that –at least in the beginning – the best programs may be at the biggest disadvantage. While it may sound hard to believe, it’s because of the cancellation last year. The strongest programs in 2019 typically featured senior-laden teams. Those players have all since graduated and the current seniors all played JV or earned modest playing time in 2019. Division is one of the strongest programs on Long Island. They have made the County Finals six of the previous 12 seasons and have made the postseason every year since 1974. Head Coach Tom Tuttle, ...
Ventimiglia’s Arm, Roselli’s Bat Lead Titans-Quattrini to a Thrilling Victory
Here’s the walk-off by Nick Roselli in the bottom of the 9th for the 1-0 victory. One of the best games you’ll see pic.twitter.com/UUivIBcKTd — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 19, 2020 Ho-ly smokes. What a game! The Long Island Titans-Quattrini outlasted Junior Ducks-Caputo in a classic victory, 1-0, in 9 innings to capture the 18U Northeast Elite tournament at Baseball Heaven. The game featured two brilliant arms, RHP Tommy Ventimiglia (Longwood 2021) and Brendan Williams (West Hempstead 2021) at their absolute best and not giving an inch. The game had the feel of a fall classic with each team’s ace leaving everything on the mound and it was truly inspiring to watch. Ventimiglia wound up striking out a career-high 17 batters over 9 innings, while Williams ...
Division Enters 2020 Highly Motivated
by Joseph Langan With a record of 20-3, Coach Tom Tuttle and his Division High School Dragons found themselves playing for the Class A County Championship title for the second consecutive year. Riding hot on a nine-game winning streak Division seemed unstoppable, that was until they matched up with the Clarke High School Rams. Clarke put out Division’s fire in the best of three title games. Coach Tuttle, disappointed by the leadership in his key senior players, knows that to be successful a good core of leaders is one of the most important parts of his team. “We played our two worst games at the most important time of the year. After our loss to Clarke in the finals last season the major issue we had was a direct result of the poor leadership from some of our seniors. We had some seniors ...
Get To Know Nick Roselli
Nick Roselli is a left-handed batter with a sweet swing and a smooth glove in the infield. More importantly, he has proven himself to be a winning ballplayer that is a menace on the base paths. He announced his verbal commitment to Sacred Heart University last week, becoming the latest 2021 grad to come off the board. I had a chance to talk to him, and here’s what he had to say… Can you explain your experience with the college recruiting process and why you chose Sacred Heart? Tom Downey, Travis Quattrini and the rest of the Titans’ organization does a great job of making sure we play in the right tournaments with the most exposure. Every tournament we played in, there were multiple colleges at every one of our games. Coach Tuttle and Coach Robins, from Divi...
