NYIT
Saturday’s College Recap (2/24) Presented by The Schwarz Institute
A terrific day of baseball yesterday featuring walk-off home runs, a no-hitter and a dramatic late-inning grand slam. To read the recap of our coverage of SUNY Maritime, click here. Let’s just right into the rest of the action. Division-I: As always, let’s start with Division-I. After falling yesterday, Stony Brook came out on top Saturday against Southeastern Louisiana, escaping with a 7-4 victory. Heading into the 5th inning, Stony Brook was trailing 3-1. Fast forward to the 6th inning and they held a 6-3 lead, thanks to a five-spot in the 5th. The five-run inning featured another Michael Wilson home run, as he delivered with a grand slam to put the Seawolves in a comfortable position to win the game. From this point forward, Stony Brook only allowed one more run over five in...
Q & A With West Islip RHP Mike LaDonna
(Editor’s Note: It was yet another successful season for the West Islip Lions. They captured their third Suffolk County Class AA Championship since 2014. They had a 22-game winning streak prior to being defeated in the Long Island Championship by Massapequa. One of the main reasons they were able to have such an incredible season was the performance of junior Mike LaDonna. He was the winning pitcher in the County Championship against Eastport-South Manor, showing off his mental toughness and fastball with a complete game effort. Following the season, he announced his commitment to Division-II NYIT to play for Frank Catalanotto. Not content, he went out and led the football team to within a few years of a County Championship against regining Div-I LIC Champs Lindenhurst. I had a ch...
Mike Draskin: Why I Chose NYIT
(Editor’s Note: Mike is a 2019 graduate of Half Hollow Hills West HS in Dix Hills. He is a very talented C/3B that recently committed to NYIT following a strong season for the co-League 4 Champs. The following words are his own…) From the first time I had stepped foot on campus, met the coaching staff and heard the opportunities within the program, I knew it was a dream to play for the Bears at New York Institute of Technology. Over the summer, I had reached out to my high school coach for Half Hollow Hills West, Coach Tom Migliozzi, saying that I needed more connections with colleges that he was close to. I told him NYIT was somewhere I would love to play, especially because they has just hired Long Island baseball legend Frank Catalanotto. I met him when I was only ten years ...
Art Canestro Reflects On Professional Career, Growing Up on LI
Art Canestro was never nervous on the mound–except maybe for this time, he admitted. Pitching in the first ever game at Coors Field, there was a capacity crowd of 60,000 people despite being a Spring Training game. “I just remember looking up in the stands and being blinded by the people. It was just a wall of people. I was never nervous pitching, but that time there was definitely some butterflies,” says the current Head Coach of Calhoun HS. “I didn’t even really get to enjoy it; it was over after eight pitches. I got two pop outs and a ground out and the inning was over,” he added. That was the closest he got the big leagues, but the left-handed pitcher enjoyed a glorious high school career at Wellington C. Mepham HS. He graduated prior to the inceptio...
Fall Ball Series: NYIT
Brendan Dowd (East Islip 2016) will be moving to the outfield and expected to produce runs pic.twitter.com/S2ddLzk9Dx Axcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) September 26, 2017 The “Battle of the Boulevard” has long been the name of the sports rivalry between NYIT and LIU Post. Until this year, however, baseball was not a part of that conversation as they did not compete in the East Coast Conference (ECC). “The reclassification is a great opportunity,” said Head Coach Bob Malvagna, who will be entering his fifth season at the helm. “The ECC has tremendous programs and I’m very impressed with the coaches in the conference. They’re all working hard to build programs just like we are. It’s a very big positive,” he added. Regarding the ...
Hofstra’s Offense Explodes in 14-3 Win over NYIT
Sometimes you just need some good home cookin’. That was the remedy for the Hofstra Pride, who ended a four-game losing streak with a 15-hit attack in a 14-3 win over NYIT. David Leiderman led the way with four hits in five at bats and Tom Archer drove in four runs and Vinnie Costello added three RBI as well. “It was really nice to get some quality at bats against a very good pitcher in (Elias) Martinez,” said Head Coach John Russo. “Happy to see Archer, Leiderman and (Vito) Friscia have good days,” he added. Friscia got the scoring started with an opposite field HR to right field to put the Pride up 1-0. It displayed how strong the sophomore catcher is that he barely squared the ball up and it still went soaring over the fence to the opposite field. The Bears...
Ninth Inning Dooms NYIT
All eyes were on Elias Martinez today at Angelo Lorenzo Memorial Field. The big RHP impressed all the scouts on hand with a dynamite fastball and a big curveball that produced seven strikeouts while allowing only three hits over 8.1 IP. It was what happened after he left, though, that resulted in a 6-2 loss at the hands of Sacred Heart University. “I thought he commanded the zone well,” said pitching coach Al Sontag. “He had all the stuff working–he got ahead of batters. He went into the ninth inning with under 90 pitches, we wanted to give him a chance to try and get a ‘W’, but once he got over 100 pitches I thought it was time to get him out. He made one bad pitch all day.” The Bears took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning on a ...
NYIT Leaning on Trio of Hard Throwers
Last Season’s Record: 17-26 Key Additions: Ben McNeill (SS), Brendan Dowd (C), Nicholas Vitale (SS/2B), Ryan Kuskowski (C), Nicholas Tedesco (1B) Key Subtractions: Joe Daru (OF), Dixon Marble (RHP) The New York Institute of Technology looks to continue their steady improvement under head coach Bob Malvagna. The NYIT Bears are the last independent school in the NCAA Division I baseball program, therefore, their goal for their season is different than most teams. They’re not looking to make conference tournament at the end of the year, their focus will be growing as a team. As Coach Malvagna said of his expectations, “Every year we improve is a positive.” Strengths: The Bears’ starting pitching will be their biggest strength this season. This class of seniors are the first group that Malvagn...
