Thomas Costarelli
On the Back of a Deep Pitching Staff, East Islip Aspires to Claim Championship
Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s series by George Caratzas Coming off a regular season that saw the East Islip Redmen go 13-5 in league play, before eventually losing in the playoffs, head coach Sal Ciampi Jr. has much of his dominant pitching core returning for 2025. In 2024, the Redmen were carried by their pitching staff, having five pitchers with earned run averages under three. Of their five regular-season losses, four of them were by one run or were games that were decided in the final at bat. This year, all five of East Islip’s big arms are back as they look to claim a championship. “It was disappointing from the standpoint of it ending where it ended,” Ciampi said in an interview with Axcess Baseball. “But, we set ourselves up to b...
East Islip Enters Season With Dominant Pitching Staff
by Max Edelman Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s season preview series. East Islip 4, Hills West 3 (9innings) WP: Jaden Schmidt Nick Rizzo (8 innings, 8k’s, 3 earned, 3 walks) Rizzo: walkoff single in the 9th Thomas Costarelli: 2-3, RBI triple pic.twitter.com/Q0JXJu5sje — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 8, 2023 Whenever a varsity roster is dominated by freshmen and sophomores, it means that a bright future is ahead. And for the East Islip Redmen, the future is now. Despite only having two seniors on their roster last season, head coach Sal Ciampi was encouraged by the team’s season last year, as well as the progress he saw in many of his younger players. “Last year went pretty good.” Ciampi said. “We were a very young team. By ...
Offense Powers East Islip Over the Top Against Hauppauge
by Andy Smith East Islip 11 Hauppauge 6 WP Nick Rizzo Veltman and Kneisel both had 3RBIs for East Islip pic.twitter.com/vbD8CTeub5 — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 1, 2023 It was a cold, windy day but the offenses were hot and tallied a combined seventeen runs by a score of 11-6 with East Islip as the victor. The Eagles got to Nick Rizzo in the first inning and scored three runs off a two-run triple by first baseman Mike Oliveto, who was able to round home plate off a throwing error. The Redmen responded in the bottom half of the frame by putting up four runs to give them a one-run lead. Left fielder Thomas Costarelli got things started with a lead-off single. Then, Alex Johnston reached first, which was followed by a base on balls to Rizzo which loaded the bases. Then following...
