Ward Melville
Predictions For Suffolk Class AA
The beautiful thing about traveling around to indoor facilities in the winter is that it gives me a chance to see how kids have evolved since last season. Since the Long Island Championship last June, players had additional opportunities to improve their game over the summer and increase their strength over the winter. I feel like with all that being said, I have a pretty good feeling as to who the top players and teams are across Long Island. Today, we will focus on Suffolk Class AA, where many of the top players in our region reside. From a scouting perspective, I’m looking forward to see how those select few players answer the bell and attempt to be this year’s version of Franklin Parra and Logan O’Hoppe on draft day. From a journalistic standpoint, I’m excited t...
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Ward Melville Ready to Compete for a Class AA Title
Many teams would consider a 15-8 season–including a playoff win–a success. However, this is not the case for Ward Melville. As one of the most successful programs on Long Island over the past decade, any season that ends short of a championship is short of their ultimate goal. After their worst season in seven years, the Patriots are ready to compete for a title once again. The main obstacle Ward Melville faces this season is their strength of schedule. Not only is League I arguably the most talented league on the island, but all teams return a significant amount of impact players from last season. Their opponents include Longwood, Sachem East, Brentwood, Pat-Med, William Floyd and Central Islip. Evidently, Ward Melville will have their hands full. Fortunately for them, they re...
Lou Petrucci Wins Steve Lembo Award
(Photo Credit: Ray Nelson) Ward Melville Head Coach Lou Petrucci received the Steve Lembo Memorial Award last week at the annual N.Y. Pro Baseball Hot Stove League dinner in Great Neck. Petrucci has not only been one of the most successful Head Coaches in Long Island since taking over 12 seasons ago (6 League I titles, 1 Long Island Championship) but he has sent dozens of players to Divison-I programs and an unprecedented three pitchers drafted in the past decade (Steven Matz, Anthony Kay, Ben Brown). Additionally, seven of his former players are now Division-I coaches. The Patriots have compiled a .673 winning percentage during his tenure, which trails only Tom Migliozzi, Jim Moccio and Ken Klee among active coaches with 9 or more years of experience in Suffolk County. “I wish to th...
Ryan Martin Dominates, Next Level Cruise Past Motus Academy 4-1
Next Level gets on the board first on an RBI single by Aidan Larkin pic.twitter.com/yVA7qqSTFU — Axcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) October 13, 2017 by Hailey Julian Tonight kicked off the 11th annual Antonia Agostinelli Memorial Tournament at Baseball Heaven. Next Level Baseball 2019 took on Motus Academy in a match up of two star-studded teams, but it was Next Level who came away with a 4-1 victory thanks to a three-run first. The first three batters reached base for Next Level and they cashed in when Aidan Larkin (Chaminade 2019) ripped an RBI single to left field. They added two more runs on a steal of home by Will Kennedy (Smithtown East 2019) and a sac fly by Roman Dorosh (Sachem East 2019) who just narrowly missed an opposite field grand slam. The offense was more than...
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&...
Insider Notes: September 4th
Today Newfield hosted Ward Melville in a scrimmage. The game featured several high-end players which is why I was in attendance. Below are my takeaways from the game: Rhode Island-commit Bobby Vath started the game for Newfield and he went four innings. He was very impressive. I first watched him at a showcase two years ago. He’s improved his velocity substantially since that time. He now works in the 87-88 MPH range with his fastball. He is a Div-I pitcher in every sense. He has terrific command of his fastball and throws a sweeping 11-5 breaking ball that he commands as well. Aside from hitting the first batter of the game on his curve, he displayed very good command. His coach was very pleased with his performance, he fanned the second batter on a high fastball. It really showed h...
Suffolk Class AA Power Rankings
Prior to the season, I wrote up some predictions for Suffolk Class AA based on my observations from the previous season and the improvement I saw from each team in the off season. So far, those predictions are looking pretty good. Here’s the top 10 teams in Suffolk Class AA right now. The obvious limitations to this list is that I’ve been covering games in Nassau and the CHSAA as well, so I haven’t yet gotten to see all the teams in Class AA, but within the next two weeks I should be able to. Here’s my best stab at it. 10) Deer Park (8-4) One of the biggest surprises this year, they have been led by senior Connor Hewlette, who already has four wins and Robert Belotti, who has three. They also have a fairly easy schedule remaining, which gives them a good chance at a...
Logan Doran’s Walk-Off HR Leads Ward Melville to Dramatic Victory Over Pat-Med
It’s hard to have a better inning than Ward Melville sophomore Logan Doran had in the ninth inning. The shortstop made an absolutely stunning diving play with his back to home plate to end the top of the ninth inning and followed it up with a lead off walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth to deliver the Patriots a 4-3 victory in a crucial League I match up against Pat-Med. After the game, Doran sounded mature beyond his years when asked about his emotions in such an emotionally-charged game. “I made an error, so I had to come back and make a great play,” said the highly-sought after sophomore. “I just saw a fastball coming up and I put a good swing on it. This is a big rivalry between us,” he added. Final: Ward Melville 4, Pat-Med 3 Sophomore Logan Dora...
