Southampton
Southampton Expects A Competitive Season With Youthful Squad
by Mike Merolle Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s season preview series. RHP Daniel McDonnell (Southampton 2025) @christianmcc23 throws a 4-seam, Sinker, Slider, changeup. FB sits between 81-83, top 85. Holds a 92 grade average. A player to watch. @axcessbaseball @TopTierBaseball @SethKenny @TopTier_HQ #TierBoys pic.twitter.com/61emfzbxRL — Top Tier Aviators LI NY (@TopTierAviators) February 13, 2024 It was an up-and-down season for Southampton as they finished 2023 with a 6-14 record. However, the season did end on a high note with a 2-0 victory over Center Moriches. In his fifth season, head coach Zach Epley is confident in his team’s competitiveness and believes they’re a threat this season. “We are playing in a competitive league this ye...
Where Are They Now: Chris Pike
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared on January 10, 2020 Fear never crossed Chris’ mind. Not in the minor leagues, not at the Division-I level, not in the Long Island Championship. Not even when he was 7-years-old playing on a 9-year-old travel team playing 3rd base just 45 feet away from the batters. It’s not clear how Chris developed his fearlessness but he did admire and adopt the grittiness of the late 90s Yankees; although his favorite player may come as a surprise. “My favorite player growing up was Chad Curtis,” he said citing the 10-year veteran that batted .264 in his career. Just about every Yankee fan from that era cites Derek Jeter as their favorite player, but Pike preferred the player that had to fight tooth-and-nail for his chance. It was a sign of things to...
Southampton Ready to Begin New Era Under Zach Epley
Final: Southampton 9, Babylon 8 Here’s the go-ahead home run by Andrew Smith (3-for-3, 2 HR) pic.twitter.com/4oyXqgo5sK — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 12, 2020 Zach Epley was set to begin his varsity head coaching career with Southampton last year before the shutdown. There will be the added challenge this season of facing a step up in competition as their league consists of Shoreham-Wading River, Center Moriches and Mount Sinai. Regardless, pitching and defense has always been the recipe to success in baseball and Epley in confident in theirs. “I think we really have a good 1-2 punch atop the rotation with Ethan Walker and Steven Kraszewski,” said Epley. Those two were slated to be in the rotation last year along with LHP Sam Schneider, who graduated in 2020...
Where Are They Now: Chris Pike
Fear never crossed Chris’ mind. Not in the minor leagues, not at the Division-I level, not in the Long Island Championship. Not even when he was 7-years-old playing on a 9-year-old travel team playing 3rd base just 45 feet away from the batters. It’s not clear how Chris developed his fearlessness but he did admire and adopt the grittiness of the late 90s Yankees; although his favorite player may come as a surprise. “My favorite player growing up was Chad Curtis,” he said citing the 10-year veteran that batted .264 in his career. Just about every Yankee fan from that era cites Derek Jeter as their favorite player, but Pike preferred the player that had to fight tooth-and-nail for his chance. It was a sign of things to come. The early days Chris immediately jumped int...
Kyle McGowin Hosts Clinic at Southampton Youth Services
Washington Nationals RHP Kyle McGowin hosted. clinic this morning in Southampton for young ballplayers. McGowin (Pierson 2010) is a member of the reigning World Series Champions. “The camp went great,” he said. “It was awesome to see kids from the local tows along with kids from up island! Feels great to share my passion of baseball with the future generation and help guide them in the right direction to achieving their dreams. And it feels great to give back to my hometown! He has overcome some improbable odds to transition from one of the smallest towns on Long Island to the Major Leagues. He was drafted out of Savannah State in 2013 by the Los Angeles Angels in the 5th round following an outstanding season in which he compiled an ERA of 1.49 with a record of 12-1 spann...
