NYIT
Bob Hirschfield to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award
Axcess Baseball is excited to announce that Bob Hirschfield is the 2024 recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award Powered by Ken Kortright State Farm Agency. Hirschfield is a legendary figure within the Long Island baseball community and his impact is still felt. While most baseball fans are familiar with his name, some might not be aware just how deep his roots in the game of baseball are. Hirschfield played at St. John’s University from 1966-1970 as a pitcher and outfielder. He was a part of the 1968 team which played in the Division-I College World Series. During his career at St. John’s, he also played for the Cotuit Ketleers in the Cape Cod League and was a member of the USA College All Star team for legendary Miami head coach Ron Fraser. Hirschfield also served in the U...
Conversation With Garrett Scavelli
We are in a new era of college baseball which includes the transfer portal acting as free agency for the big Division-I programs. The reality is that it benefits the Power 5 programs much more than our local teams. In certain cases, however, a program like St. John’s could utilize the transfer portal and upgrade their roster with a player that has excelled at the Division-II level. Garrett Scavelli, a player that thoroughly dominated at Molloy University on his way to being named the 2023 ECC Player of the Year, entered the transfer portal in that summer. Over his 3 year career, he slashed .357/.458/.562 with 121 runs scored, 92 RBIs and 60 extra-base hits. It was a major talking point from local coaches who obviously were interested in Scavelli’s services, but also in the situ...
Ward Melville Grad Nick Vitale Living Out His Dream
By Michael Malaszczyk It is always a source of great pride for Long Island varsity baseball fans to see one of our own make it into the professional ranks. This week, Axcess Baseball had the privilege of sitting down and talking with someone who achieved just that; Nick Vitale of Ward Melville High School was happy to tell us his story, all the way from little league to the Monterey Amberjacks. Nick Vitale comes from humble beginnings on Long Island, and tells a story of finding his love for baseball that we can all relate to. “I started when I was about five years old with T ball like everyone does,” said Vitale. “My dad is my inspiration. Baseball is still his life. He played at Northport High School. He played at Dowling. He was one of the few baseball players ever selected in the Dowli...
Chris Mott Transfers to Hofstra
Hofstra improved their pitching staff this week with the addition of RHP Chris Mott (Sachem East 2015). The grad student was off to an outstanding start to the 2020 season for the defending East Region champs. He compiled a record of 3-1 with a 1.46 ERA and 29 strikeouts over 24.1 IP. Opposing batters hit only .165 against him. In 2019, he was a key cog in the Bears rotation as they made a historic run to the Division-II College World Series. Mott has been resilient in his career. He was originally committed to Dowling College, but the school shut its doors. He then attended Suffolk CC in 2017 before transferring to NYIT in 2018 during the school’s first season in the ECC. He struggled mightily that year, compiling a 10.32 ERA over 11.1 IP. He turned himself into one of the more depe...
OTD: NYIT Advances to Division-II College World Series
The NYIT Bears defeated reigning East Region Champion Southern New Hampshire, 6-3, to advance to the program’s first Division-II College World Series next week in Cary, NY. On May 10, the Bears were shutout, 4-0, by the University of Bridgeport to get eliminated from the ECC Tournament. Now, 15 days later, those Bears are hoisting the trophy that proves they are one of the top-8 teams in the nation. This game did not feature the high drama of Friday night, as E.J. Cumbo got the Bears’ offense going with a three-run shot to open up a 3-0 lead. It was Cumbo’s seventh HR of the season and his 44th RBI of the season. His team totals are unbelievable (.453 AVG, .525 OBP/..692 SLG, 7 HR, 44 RBI, 43 R, 19 BB, 19 K, 22-25 SB). He’s been able to do that in only 159 at bats, which is 50 fewer than S...
OTD: NYIT Captures NCAA East Regional
Head Coach Frank Catalanotto on NYIT’s rapid ascension in his first season pic.twitter.com/le2EN2ND3e — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 18, 2019 One year ago, NYIT closed out their regular season with a loss to Queens College to finish their campaign at 13-25-1. On June 7th, they made waves by hiring 14-year MLB veteran and Smithtown native Frank Catalanotto. The move was a positive step forward for a program that had suffered through 13 straight sub .500 seasons. In less than one year, the program has rapidly ascended into becoming a 35-win team that will now participate in the NCAA Division-II Super Regional next weekend either at Southern New Hampshire or neighborhood-rival LIU Post. The 35 wins is a program record, previously set in 1987. Today they continued their fairy...
Transcript of IG Live With Frank Catalanotto
(Photo Credit: NYIT Athletics) Vinny Messana (VM): For those that don’t know, Frank Catalanotto– Long Island native. Graduated from Smithtown East. Played 14 years in the MLB. .291 batting average and took over the head coaching duties from NYIT. Had a meteoric rise, 37 wins and led them to their first College World Series appearance in program history. You guys were off to a good start this year, did it feel like you guys were on the verge of getting on a roll? Frank Catalanotto (FC): We were excited for conference play to get started. We felt like there were a few things that had to be cleaned up and we were cleaning them up. We ran into a tough Southern New Hampshire team that beat us three games in a row. But we learned a lot from that. They were the better team but we knew there...
OTD: LIU Post and NYIT Split Battle on the Boulevard
(Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared on April 27, 2019) In a crucial ECC double header this afternoon at Angelo Lorenzo Field, LIU Post and NYIT split the two games with NYIT taking the first game and LIU Post salvaging the split in the second. Here’s how it went down: Game 1: LIU Post sent ace James Varela to the mound against a high-powered NYIT lineup, who countered with Chris Mott. The Pioneers got off to a quick start in the first with a RBI singles by Dave Brehm and Anthony Vaglica. They added another run in the third on an RBI ground out off the bat of Jimmy Mendyk. With their ace on the hill, it appeared like that would be enough but Varela did not have his best stuff on this afternoon. The Bears forced Varela’s pitch count up early and Ben McNeill ripped a two-ru...
OTD: Ryan Kuskowski Launches Walk-Off HR to Complete Comeback for NYIT
Ryan Kuskowski on his walk-off HR against Mercy pic.twitter.com/XszI1SAsxh — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) March 31, 2018 In what took nearly four hours, Ryan Kuskowski wasted no time sending one over the fence in the tenth inning delivering the victory for NYIT. The Bears trailed 5-0 before they came to bat in the first inning, but never wavered in their optimism and were able to complete the comeback to win Game 1 of their double header against Mercy by the score of 11-10 in 10 innings. Starter Matt Bartnik departed with two outs in the first inning and the Bears trailing by five, but reliever D.J. Masuck came in and fired 5.1 shutout innings to allow the Bears’ bats get to work. They scored three in the first, one in the second and two in the third to take a 7-5 lead after three ...
On This Day In Axcess History: Matt DeAngelis’ Walk-Off Single Propels NYIT to DH Sweep over Queens
Walk-off by Matt DeAngelis and NYIT completes the comeback, 5-4, and the sweep over Queens! pic.twitter.com/YvwzAL4CKm — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) March 30, 2019 NYIT has found all sorts of ways to win ballgames this year. Frank Catalanotto‘s squad continued their winning ways with a DH sweep over ECC rival Queens College on Saturday afternoon by the scores of 13-5 and 5-4. Here’s how it went down: Game 1 D.J. Masuck got the start for the Bears, he ran into immediate trouble when he allowed a leadoff home run to freshman John Strauss, but that lead would not last long for the Knights. The Bears got on the board in the second inning on an RBI single by Nick Tedesco to score Matt Malone. The real action occurred in the third inning, when the bats exploded for seven runs, beginning...
On This Day In Axcess History: NYIT Continues to Roll, Sweeps Molloy to Improve to 12-4
NYIT holds on. Final score: 7-5 pic.twitter.com/gbzFg5UKaq — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) March 24, 2019 (Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on March 24th, 2019. Photo Credit: Adam Rubin.) NYIT was on a mission this weekend, as they attempted to stay hot and continue their streak of strong play into the ECC Conference schedule. They were successful winning game one 7-5, and game two 5-3, keeping them perfect in conference play. Game one saw the Bears lineup produce timely hit after timely hit. It started with Chris Campbell, who got the scoring started with an RBI single in the second. The scoring would continue, and they would get extend the lead to 4-0 thanks to a double play scored a run and Ben McNeill’s RB single and an unearned run. E.J. Cumbo continue...
Brandon Alberto: I’m Set On Coming Back
Editor’s Note: Brandon Alberto is a 2015 graduate of Newfield, and the captain of New York Tech. He is currently in his redshirt-senior season, after missing 2019 while recovering from Tommy John surgery. He spoke with us following the abrupt ending to the 2020 NCAA season. Alright, so let’s start off with the NCAA abruptly cancelling the 2020 season. Can you tell us where you were when the decision came down ? We were in the middle of a game against Felician. None of us knew at the time – actually we were winning 20-8 or something. The coaches pulled me over and said ‘Berto go get hot!’ And like, I’m our closer so I was like ‘what – what do you mean get hot?’ We were winning by 12 or 13 runs, I pitched two days prior and they were like...
