West Babylon
Where Are They Now: Nick Clark
(Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in January 2024) (Photo Credit: Cosmic Fox Media) When it comes to sliding door moments – this one might top the list. During his senior season at West Babylon HS, Nick Clark had already decided he wanted to attend Adelphi University to play basketball. His dream was to play in the NBA. Despite West Babylon’s outstanding team – they won the Suffolk County Championship in 1993 and 1994 – he did not have plans to continue his career after graduation. As fate would have it, legendary Adelphi baseball coach Ron Davies, was attending his West Babylon game to watch his teammate, Mike Rayola. Clark had what he described as his “best game of the year” and Coach Davies asked him if he’d be interested in playing baseball at Adelphi Universi...
West Babylon Prepared to Defend Their Title as Long Island Champs
Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s season preview series. West Babylon has done it ! They comeback and defeat Division, 4-2, to capture the Class A Long Island Championship pic.twitter.com/hhHQzypWoe — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 4, 2023 For the first time in 30 years, West Babylon captured the Long Island Championship in 2023 as they came-from-behind to defeat a powerhouse Division team at Farmingdale State College. It was one of those magical seasons, where they were able to overcame every obstacle in their way including having to beat the No. 1 seed Bayport-Blue Point in the Suffolk Class A Finals. Ultimately, they had their season ended in the NYS Class A Semifinals against Columbia. They finished with an overall record of 22...
GAME RECAP: Jace Alvino Steals the Show in 2-0 Win over Hills West
Penn State-commit Jace Alvino did it all today as he fired a 2-hit shutout with 11 strikeouts and also drove in the game’s only runs in the sixth inning of West Babylon’s 2-0 victory over Hills West @GCsports pic.twitter.com/7uejr5LubQ — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 1, 2023 Entering this series against Hills West, West Babylon knew the task at hand – sweep and win League 5. Hills West entered with a record of 12-2 and they always throw their ace, Clemson-commit Justin LeGuernic, on Mondays. Coach Victor Manzella countered with his ace, Penn State-commit Jace Alvino. He was up to the task. Alvino not only outdueled LeGuernic, but he was responsible for the game’s only runs as he ripped a clutch, two-run single up the middle in the top of the sixth inning to break the...
West Babylon Looks to Take the Next Step in 2023
by Nick Cipolla 2022 was a step in the right direction for the West Babylon Eagles baseball program as they made the playoffs for the first time in 6 years. They finished with a 9-9 league record where they had to face some tough teams that contend for the playoffs every year like West Islip, Smithtown West, and nearby North Babylon. The Eagles are led by head coach Victor Manzella, who took over in 2020 after a stint at Babylon High School. Manzella is certainly responsible for the quick turnaround that saw this team improve drastically since he was hired. “I was extremely proud of my team last year”, said Manzella, “As an ‘A’ school, we qualified for the playoffs for the first time in 6 years in a very competitive league mixed with AA schools. When I took over the program in 2020, I mad...
West Babylon Hungry to Take Next Step and Reach Postseason
West Babylon ties it up 3-3 and they are fired up!! pic.twitter.com/PSQ0Veu61d — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 9, 2021 by Thomas Cregan West Babylon coach Vic Manzella is looking to his group of returning players to help propel them to the playoffs in 2022. Last year in the 2021 season, which was coach Manzella’s first year with West Babylon, the team went 7-11 missing the playoffs by two wins. However, this did not discourage coach Manzella as he called it a “transition year” as it was his first year with the team. In his first year he brought up several freshman and sophomore players and hopes the experience they gained will benefit them for this upcoming season in 2022. West Babylon had two prominent graduates from the 2021 team. Center Fielder Cole Maucere will be their...
Brady Parks, Deer Park Cruise Past West Babylon, 10-1
Anytime you lose your starting pitcher in the second inning with 0 out, it’s never a good thing – but the sting hurts much less when your reliever throws 6 innings of shutout ball. That’s exactly what happened to Deer Park when starter Kevin Houlahan exited in the top of the second inning, after recording just four outs but junior southpaw Brady Parks fired 6 innings of shutout ball, yielding just three hits and striking out three batters to earn the win. The offense had already done the heavy lifting in the first inning when Aiden Connors smacked an RBI double, Angelo Agro followed with an RBI single and Gennaro Trovato followed with an RBI single of his own. The big knock came by nine-hole hitter Nick DeNoyior who ripped a two-run single to open up a 5-1 lead. At that p...
West Babylon Enters 2021 Counting on Maucere To Do Some Damage
by Ben Diamond Head coach of the West Babylon baseball team, Victor Manzella is in the same boat as other coaches going into this season. They lost a few players from his roster due to the pandemic canceling the 2020 season. Although, his senior class last year wasn’t as big as his senior class this year which is eleven players. Last year he lost players like second baseman Jack Rankin, who would have been an impact player on his roster. This year, Manzella has a few players on his roster that he expects to make an impact this season. His center fielder, Cole Maucere, who Manzella says will be the player that has the biggest impact on the team because not only will he patrol center field but he will also help out on the mound. He is a lefty with big pop in his bat, and a great outfield arm...
Matt McHugh, Nick Baldino Lead East Islip to 4-0 Win Over West Babylon
East Islip breaks through in the seventh inning on a two-run single by Nick Baldino. They lead 4-0 as we head to the bottom of the seventh pic.twitter.com/r19Pgt4kid — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 30, 2019 Matt McHugh was pitching like he had a plane to catch. He needed just 72 pitches to fire a complete game 1-hit shutout in a 4-0 victory over West Babylon. “I was trying to get guys out as quickly as possible is what I was trying to do,” said McHugh. The problem was his counterpart, St. Joseph’s-commit Tyler Gamba was doing the same. Inning-after-inning each pitcher was mowing down the opposition. In fact, the teams were able to complete five innings in one hour as each pitcher was throwing strikes and working quickly. The Redmen offense, which had been str...
West Babylon Hoping To Improve Through Young Core
Coming off an 8-12 season, West Babylon comes into 2019 hoping to be competitive in an extremely tough conference. The largest obstacle they face heading into the season is inexperience. In total, they return one senior. While their age may show early on, their young core of players will have the privilege of playing a significant amount of varsity baseball, benefiting them for the future. West Babylon’s extremely tough schedule consists of Hills West, Eastport-South Manor, Kings Park, East Islip and Happauge. Offensively, West Babylon has some bright spots, but some holes to fill. Their lineup will be led by junior (IF/RHP) Jack Rankin. As a sophomore, he finished with a .322 average. Behind Rankin in the lineup is Tristan Santiago and sophomore Cole Maucere. Maucere has prior varsi...
