Ward Melville
Tools of Intelligence: Talking with the Catchers of Long Island’s Recent Aces
by Pat Duryea Pitchers are unique animals. No one pitcher is the same. Each pitcher has a unique mix of pitches, movement, and velocity. To find those wrangling the pitchers, you look no further than right behind home plate. The catcher. Nobody knows a pitcher better than their catcher. Catching is far from a passive profession, they must strategize just as much as any pitcher and do a whole lot of dirty work. But as we examine the top pitchers in Suffolk County across the past two seasons there is no better perspective to hear from, than that of their catchers. Pat-Med 2, Sachem East 0 WP: Josh Knoth (6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 15 Ks) S: Jack Costello Jayden Kennedy: RBI double, bases loaded walk Pat-Med will face No. 1 Connetquot tomorrow pic.twitter.com/ORo94RMhrG — Axcess Baseball LI (@axc...
Ward Melville Looks to Build on 19-Win Season
by Max Edelman Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s season preview series. Paul Gibson Award winner Charles West gets the start for the Suffolk All Stars against Nassau in the Grand Slam Challenge pic.twitter.com/cOlUKKZTMK — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 14, 2023 Last season, the Ward Melville Patriots rode a 19-win season to the conference finals. Unfortunately for the Patriots, it wasn’t meant to be. Head coach Lou Petrucci, who is going into his 17th season as head coach of Ward Melville, looked back on what was a good season, despite it not ending with a conference championship. “We won 19 games.” Petrucci said. “We advanced to the conference finals, it was a good season for the boys. I’m disappointed on how it ended, lost to P...
Up Next Powered by State Farm Ken Kortright Agency: Andrew Poxon
(Editor’s Note: This is the 15th installment of the “Up Next” series in which we highlight the top underclassmen on Long Island. Previously we highlighted Everett Zarzicki, Brian Brower, Stellan Zangari, Ryan Bush, Bryce Cutrone, Justin Ortiz, Colin Raymond, Jagger Adamo, JD Duffy, Chris Sultana, Matt Zambriski, Tucker Brown, Christian Calabro and Derek & Ryan Yormack. Special thanks to State Farm Ken Kortright Agency for sponsoring this year’s series.) Sometimes it’s easy to forget how young a player is, when they carry themselves a certain way and play at a high level. It’s even easier to forget when they are head & shoulders above their competition – both literally and figuratively. Fourteen-year-old, 6’3 RHP Andrew Poxon was light...
GAME RECAP: Charles West Fans 12, Derek Savicki Hits Sac Fly to Send Ward Melville to Conference Finals
Ward Melville is moving on! Pinch hitter Derek Savicki hits a walk-off sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 9th and the Patriots eliminate Longwood with a 3-2 win Ward Melville will face Pat-Med tomorrow pic.twitter.com/AlrqSGiNEN — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 22, 2023 With the bases loaded, 1 out and the game tied 2-2, Ward Melville junior Derek Savicki was called upon to pinch hit against Longwood RHP Louis Kaleb. “All I was thinking is hit the ball hard,” said Savicki. “I knew that if I put a ballin play, good things would come from it. I tried my best to stay as relaxed as possible, knowing how big of a spot I was in a I knew I had to get the job done for my whole team,” said Savicki. He was able to elevate a pitch to deep center field that was tracke...
Ward Melville Ready to Continue Winning Tradition
by Andy Smith The captain delivers! Tom Ribaudo crushes a 3-R HR to give Ward Melville a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the sixth pic.twitter.com/llOyO2d6th — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 5, 2022 Ward Melville is coming off another successful season. The Patriots finished with a record of 16-9 and qualified for the playoffs once again. The Patriots season came to an end after losing to Longwood in the Long Island Class AA Semifinals. Head Coach Lou Petrucci reflected on what lessons were learned during the season. “We learned how to battle through adversity and the importance of concentrating on every pitch.” Petrucci is entering his 17th season as the head coach of the Patriots. Petrucci, a native of Connecticut, played college baseball before taking on the responsibilities of ...
Where Are They Now Powered by the BK7 Brand: Jeff Towle
When Jeff Towle set the single-season HR record at Suffolk CC with 10 in 2018 it was an exciting moment for the Ward Melville grad. He was able to accomplish the feat in a mere 28 games. To make it more impressive, Towle graduated high school in 2015 with no intention of playing another game. He had been committed to Pace to play football and did not play even a summer ball game since the county championship against Connetquot. The Early Days Jeff was born and raised in Stony Brook to a sports-loving family. His grandfather coached varsity football at Newfield HS for 15 years, his uncle played baseball at Suffolk CC and his younger brother would grow up loving baseball. For Jeff, his favorite sport was football, calling it his “first love.” When it came to baseball, he grew up ...
Q & A With Tommy Ruehle
2022 was another strong season for Ward Melville. The perennial powerhouse once again made the playoffs before losing to Longwood. One of the main reasons for their success was great starting pitching and junior RHP Tommy Ruehle was a big part of that. He compiled a record of 6-3 with a 3.13 ERA. They will be counting on him once against This past week he announced his commitment to Southern Arkansas. I had a chance to speak with him and here’s what he had to say… Can you explain your experience with the college recruiting process and why you chose Southern Arkansas? These past couple months have been ups-and-downs with colleges and whether or not the school was the right fit for me personally. When SAU was brought in as an option, I felt that I couldn’t let this o...
Ken Kortright State Farm Agency Game of the Week: Billy Bullock Fires Gem in 4-1 Win to Sweep Ward Melville
Postgame interview with Sachem North RHP Billy Bullock pic.twitter.com/rZxjlojBeP — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 30, 2022 Whether you scored it a hit or an error, it’s undisputable that Billy Bullock fired a gem and Sachem North completed a huge sweep over League II rival Ward Melville in a 4-1 victory at Bill Batewell Field. Bullock has been outstanding all season for the Arrows who improved to 8-4 in league play. He noted that “nobody was talking about us when the season started,” and now they are three games behind the reigning Long Island Champs, Commack, in the standings. The Arrows wasted no time getting on the board against Ward Melville starter and UCONN-commit Charles West. They got a leadoff single by Bullock, and RBI double by Billy McKinney and R...
Ward Melville Grad Nick Vitale Living Out His Dream
By Michael Malaszczyk It is always a source of great pride for Long Island varsity baseball fans to see one of our own make it into the professional ranks. This week, Axcess Baseball had the privilege of sitting down and talking with someone who achieved just that; Nick Vitale of Ward Melville High School was happy to tell us his story, all the way from little league to the Monterey Amberjacks. Nick Vitale comes from humble beginnings on Long Island, and tells a story of finding his love for baseball that we can all relate to. “I started when I was about five years old with T ball like everyone does,” said Vitale. “My dad is my inspiration. Baseball is still his life. He played at Northport High School. He played at Dowling. He was one of the few baseball players ever selected in the Dowli...
Tom Ribaudo’s Three-Run Blast Propels Ward Melville to 4-2 Win
Ward Melville catcher Tom Ribaudo following his late game heroics in the 4-2 victory over Commack pic.twitter.com/JGicHCGMmL — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 5, 2022 When Commack and Ward Melville square off, there is guaranteed to be some sort of dramatic finish. We’ve seen it time-and-time again, most notably that 2019 semifinals matchup at Ward Melville. This game did not feature nearly as much offense or ejections, but there was an exciting finish with an exclamation point from the captain. Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning against reliever Matt Mayer, Ward Melville captain Tom Ribaudo stepped to the plate after a 4-6-3 double play briefly took some of the life out of the home faithful. A walk drawn by Rob Looney flipped the lineup and brought up Ribaudo....
Ward Melville Ready for New Challenges of League II
By Daniel Lopes Phillies prospect Ben Brown (Ward Melville 2017) getting some work in. Fastball back up to 95. The 6’6 RHP has a minor league career ERA of 3.41 pic.twitter.com/zZOpsd4UDD — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) January 30, 2022 After a 13-5 season in 2021, head coach Lou Petrucci and his Ward Melville squad are ready to enter a new era of the program, as they will play in League II for the first time of Petrucci’s career with the program. “I’m going to miss all of my friends in League I,” said Petrucci. “But I’ll try to make new friends in League II.” As they make this transition, they will be without two key players and leaders who have since graduated in Luke Gacovino and Mikey Mortilla. Petrucci praised Gacovino’s ability to lead the team even during an uncertain s...
What is the Best School to Recruit from on Long Island?
This idea originally came to me about five years ago when I was covering a Shoreham-Wading River practice before the season. Looking around, it appeared they had more talent some many college teams and I remember thinking that a college coach could’ve done most of their recruiting just from that team. They wound up winning 20 consecutive games and capturing the Class A Suffolk County Championship that season. That was in 2017 and since then a lot has changed. But at the same time, the cream always rises to the top and many of the best programs on Long Island have been the best programs for several decades. Some have their peaks and valleys, but this list will focus on the best of the best – the ones you can always count on will be there come playoff time, the ones that produce ...
