Shaun Manning
Long Island Lutheran Enters 2024 as Three-Time Reigning PSAA Champs
by Max Edelman Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s season preview series. And this is how the game ends. Bases loaded, 2 outs Final: LuHi 14, Portledge 4 LuHi captures 3rd consecutive PSAA Championship pic.twitter.com/XU3YEjzlvW — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 11, 2023 In a school known around the country for its basketball, the Long Island Lutheran Crusaders are beginning to make their mark on a different sport. Head coach Shaun Manning, who is entering his fifth year at Long Island Lutheran, who is fresh off winning his third straight PSAA championship, looked back on last season, and looked ahead to the future. “Last season we won the PSAA championship for the third time in a row.” Manning said. “We lost in the quarterfinals in th...
GAME RECAP: LuHi Captures Third Straight PSAA Championship
Tommy Bressmer was named League MVP and he had 2 hits in today’s victory for Long Island Lutheran @GCsports pic.twitter.com/4zqTJ9x5qx — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 11, 2023 On an absolutely beautiful May afternoon, Long Island Lutheran hosted Portledge in a rematch of last year’s PSAA Championship. Much like the weather, it was a perfect first inning for the Crusaders, who batted around, scored 9 runs with the exclamation point coming on a two-run triple by Marcus Harrison to break the game completely open and LuHi never looked back. Long Island Lutheran took advantage of several miscues and walks by Portledge in the first inning and forced a pitching change after the 9th batter of the inning. They didn’t stop there, as the Crusaders sent four more batters to the ...
LuHi Looking for 3-Peat as PSAA Champs
Jack Coogan went 3-for-3 with 2 triples, 2 walks and 3 RBIs as LuHi captured their second straight PSAA Championship with a 15-2 victory (plus ice shower) pic.twitter.com/ysaKn40t7K — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 12, 2022 It was another great season for Long Island Lutheran under head coach Shaun Manning as they captured the Private School Athletic Association Championship for a second straight season. They lost in the New York State tournament to Stony Brook Prep, but that shouldn’t overshadow what they did during the regular season in which they started 11-0 and defeated a tough Portledge team in the PSAA Championship at LuHi. They also defeated Collegiate HS in the New York State tournament prior to their loss to Stony Brook. In that championship game, LuHi showed thei...
Long Island Lutheran Poised to Repeat in 2022
by Daniel Lopes Coming off of a 2021 season in which they won the Private School Athletic Association (PSAA) championship, Long Island Lutheran and head coach Shaun Manning is pleased with the progress his squad has made in the last year. “I was really happy with what we were able to accomplish last spring with all the baseball we were able to play, between the Boys of Summer preseason league and the PSAA season,” said Manning. “We ended up getting in a bunch of contests, and it was really good for our kids.” This year’s team has almost perfect continuity from last season, as all but one player returns from the roster. However, the lone graduate from the team leaves a big hole, as their captain Harrison Leone has moved on to college. Leone was an important part of the roster, especia...
New York City Captures the 1st Annual Mike Leiderman Cup
Maritime HC Charlie Barbieri discusses the impact that Mike Leiderman had on his career and why tonight was about celebrating his life pic.twitter.com/58PhA5wJmQ — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) August 18, 2021 Oh what a night! The first annual Mike Leiderman Cup took place last night at SUNY Maritime between rosters composed of players from New York City and Long Island. The game was competitive, with New York City winning 3-1, holding off a late LI rally that all occurred with two outs and nobody on in the 9th, but the reason for the event was to honor the life of Mike Leiderman and raise money for the ALS Foundation. From that standpoint, it was a resounding success as we were able to raise $5,000 for the cause. The evening began with 3x World Series champ and New York Mets Hall o...
LuHi Leaning On Exceptionally Young Group in 2020
There’s young teams and then there’s what the 2020 Long Island Lutheran team is comprised of. Shaun Manning‘s squad will enter the season with 0 seniors, two juniors and 15 players that are either sophomores or younger. The program, coming off a 12-win season, is very much in a transitional phase. Last year’s group was comprised of many seniors. “Eighty five percent of the innings were thrown by seniors. The other 15 percent were thrown by Richie Ratchford,” said Manning. Only a sophomore, he will be counted on to anchor the rotation. Manning noted he is the “only proven quantity on the mound” and there’s six or seven other candidates to fill out the rotation. Another important piece of the team is junior Harrison Leone, who is one of t...
Up Next Powered By The Yard Sports Academy: Paul Napolitano
(This is the third installment of our popular ‘Up Next’ Series in which we spotlight the top underclassmen on Long Island. None of the players have appeared in a varsity game yet, but we are confident they soon will. The first two features were Jayden Stroman and Liam Stemmler. Check out the Yard Sports by clicking here.) Playing at a small high school has its pros and cons. While it may be more difficult to garner attention as media outlets don’t typically cover the games as frequently, it does give a freshman an opportunity to crack the starting lineup right off the bat and have an impact for four seasons. In the case of Paul Napolitano, who has an older brother at Kansas and has already started turning heads with his performance on the national travel circuit, he could...
Joe Durso Commits to St. John’s University
When it comes to baseball programs in the northeast, St. John’s University is at the mountain top in 2019. They have been for the past several seasons, since Stony Brook‘s cinderella run in 2012. They have made the NCAA Tournament 37 times, won nine Big East Championships, made it to Omaha six times for the Div-I College World Series and sent over 100 players to professional baseball. Simply put, they look for the best players. So when a Long Island player commits to St. John’s just before his junior season in high school and having not played varsity yet, it’s significant. They’ve pinpointed several of the region’s top players before they’ve rose to prominence, most recently Jake Lazzaro in 2017. Joe Durso became the latest player to join the list...
