Tim McHugh
My Playoff Observations
What a chaotic week. What started off as a beautiful Monday with every game being played in 70 degree weather quickly turned into a slog that featured suspended games due to the weather on Tuesday, only one game being played on Wednesday, a productive Thursday, a cold/windy day on Friday and a complete washout today. Plenty of action occurred when the games were actually able to be played and here’s my biggest takeaways so far: The biggest surprise so far has been No. 17 Bay Shore coming out of nowhere to shock both No. 1 Smithtown East and No. 9 Connetquot. Both of these teams feature a myriad of Division-I and II players that have excelled against elite competition for years. Smithtown East threw their Hofstra-commit at them and the Marauders came away with a 7-4 victory on Monday....
Commack Wins Wild Game on Walk-Off Walk
Our @DigmiNation Player of the Game is Sean Coveny of Commack. He smacked a game-tying 2-R shot to right field in Commack’s 4-3 victory over Connetquot pic.twitter.com/kpMCfkF6Vn Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 27, 2018
Tim McHugh’s Grand Slam Caps Comeback Victory for Commack
McHugh on his heroics and the big victory for Commack pic.twitter.com/iPsFTVnEsG Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 9, 2018 If there was one person to avoid seeing with the bases loaded, two-outs protecting a one-run lead it’s TCU-commit, Tim McHugh, who happens to have the best raw power of any player on Long Island. The 6’4″ slugger took the first pitch for a ball before connecting and launching a go-ahead grand slam over the center field wall to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 6-3 lead for the Commack Cougars, who entered the inning trailing 3-1 with only two hits in the game. Reliever Drew Vincent came on to protect the lead and record the victory with a 1-2-3 seventh inning. The game started out with both pitchers dominating. Jake Krzemienski started for the...
What is the Best High School to Recruit From?
One of the realities of being a college recruiting coordinator is that there’s only a finite amount of time to recruit. Sure, there’s an 18-game regular season but they can only make it to high school games when they don’t have their own games! The thing that I’ve noticed since I have followed the Long Island baseball community is that certain schools have produced impact college players that a much higher rate than other programs. Obviously, there are external factors that give certain schools advantages such as the socio-economics of the city, the average income of the parents, demographics, the quality of the school’s head coach/athletic director. There’s about 20 schools that have ran laps around the rest of the island in terms of producing talent. If you ...
Recap of WWBA Underclass World Championship
This weekend I was in Fort Myers for the immensely-popular WWBA Underclass World Championship. There were five Long Island-based teams competing; Motus Academy, MVP Beast, Body Armor Titans, Next Level Baseball and the East Coast Lumberjacks. Here are some of my biggest takeaways from the weekend. With 202 teams in the tournament and college coaches from everywhere–including Power 5 conferences, this is a must-attend event. The facilities of the Boston Red Sox and Minnesota Twins are absolutely gorgeous. If you love baseball as I do, it really reminded me of why I fell in love with the game. With no Major League game being played, I was able to walk around the ballpark and it made me appreciate the rudimentary aspects of the game such as that feeling when you walk through the rotunda...
MVP Beast Cruises Past Premier Baseball 8-0
Final: MVP Beast 8, Premier Baseball 0 (5-inning mercy) WP: Jake Krzemienski Ristano: 3-for-3, 2 RBI pic.twitter.com/YR8LpE6hIP Axcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) October 5, 2017 It is not uncommon for Long Island teams to struggle in national tournament against elite teams, especially in a tournament such as Perfect Game‘s WWBA Underclass World Championship. Someone forgot to tell MVP Beast that, as they mercied Premier Baseball, a team from Texas, by the score of 8-0 in five innings. Head Coach Pete Kritikos was not surprised one bit by his team’s performance. “The guys that have been with us since they were 11-years-old just know what to do,” said Kritikos. “And to be honest with you, we’ve been there before. Whether we’ve won or lost, we&...
Team Fontana Takes Inaugural Home Run Derby 35-31
We couldn’t have asked for better weather or a better match up for our inaugural Home Run Derby today at NYIT. In what looked like it would be a blowout, Team McHugh made a furious comeback from a 26-10 deficit to come up just short, by the score of 35-31. Below are some of the highlights from the contest…. Anthony Fontana led off the bottom of the first with a huge round. He hit three home runs and compiled 14 points overall. His sweet swing produced several long blasts pasts the cone in deep right field. The Furman-commit got his team out to a quick 14-0 lead. Both teams exchanged two points in the second inning from James Myler and Jarred Vanderhoof. In the top of the third, the captain Tim McHugh put up four on the board. His power bat generated several massive flies out to...
Anthony Fontana and Tim McHugh Select HR Derby Teams
We live tweeted the draft picks for the 2017 Axcess Baseball Home Run Derby last night. The event will take place on Saturday, September 9 at NYIT beginning at 2pm. Tim McHugh won the coin toss and selected James Myler first overall. Anthony Fontana used his first selection on Logan O’Hoppe. Here are the full teams. Team Fontana: Anthony Fontana, Wantagh 2018 Logan O’Hoppe, St. John the Baptist 2018 Vinny Pagano, Commack 2020 Will Feil, Wheatley 2018 Kyle Johnson, Newfield 2018 Jarred Vanderhoof, Longwood 2018 Mark Faello, Plainview-JFK 2018 Team McHugh: Tim McHugh, Commack 2019 James Myler, Longwood 2020 Johnny Castagnozzi, Massapequa 2020 Charles Rainone, Deer Park 2018 Peter Zielinski, MacArthur 2018 Chris Peralta, Valley Stream South 2018 Travis Honeyman, Massapequa 2020
Home Run Derby Field Set
The highly-anticipated Axcess Baseball Home Run Derby will take place on Saturday, September 9 at the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) in Westbury. It will include 12 of the best high school power-hitters on Long Island beginning at 2 pm. The two captains will be Anthony Fontana (Wantagh ’18) and Tim McHugh (Commack ’19). The players they will fill their teams with will be Johnny Castagnozzi (Massapequa ’20), Logan O’Hoppe (St. John the Baptist ’18), Anthony Carleo (North Shore ’18), James Myler (Longwood ’20), Jarred Vanderhoof (Longwood ’18), David Falco (Center Moriches ’19), Nick DeMicco (Plainedge ’18), Will Feil (Wheatley ’18), Peter Zielinski (MacArthur ’18) and Charlie Rainone (Deer Park ’18). The ...
Commack Wins First County Championship Since 1997
Commack does it!! They are the 2017 Suffolk Class AA Champions ! Commack 8, West Islip 6 WP: Jake Krzemienski pic.twitter.com/00g1i7pt9V aXcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) May 31, 2017 One week before the season, the Commack baseball team didn’t know who their Head Coach would be. This was a team coming off a 14-win season and a playoff run with arguably the best staff on Long Island. Three months later they are celebrating their first Suffolk County Class AA championship since 1997 after their 8-6 back-and-forth victory over the reigning Long Island Champion West Islip Lions. Senior Pete Theodorellis, who tied the game up at 6-6 in the sixth inning with a double off the fence–and fired 8.2 IP yesterday–never wavered in his optimism with this team. Even during that ...
Commack Pulls Off Comeback Walk-Off In Extra Inning Thriller To Take Game One, 2-1.
First year Commack head coach Bryan Bonin was fired up with his team taking game one of the Suffolk County Class AA finals from West Islip. The first of a three game set was a classic pitcher’s duel in every sense of the term between WI senior Joe Valentino and Commack’s senior ace, Peter Theodorellis. West Islip scored one in the top half and Commack responded with two of their own to win it. “That was just a tough win, we teach the guys all season long to just stick together and good things will happen; do what we practice, and it worked out for us today, we got one more to win.” said Bonin. The intensity of this extra-inning game was felt throughout, as St. John The Baptist has one big section of bleachers forcing opposing fans to sit together. Theodorellis and Valentino both had ...
