Game Recaps
Pat-Med Wins Wild One Over Sachem East 12-8
If you like pitching duels this one was not for you. Pat-Med avoided a series sweep with a 12-8 win over Sachem East in a wild game that took over three hours and featured several lead changes. The story of the game was Albany-commit Brad Malm smacking a three-run HR in the first inning and also just narrowly missing another one in the sixth inning, that was ultimately a two-run double to put the Pat-Med Raiders up 6-4. “I felt like I was seeing the ball very well and my teammates and I put together a few great innings which helped, not only the pitchers but, the whole team,” said the senior SS. The game was far from over at that point, though. Sachem East bounced back and tied the game on a solo shot by Brendan Ryan before Pat-Med broke it open with four runs in the seventh in...
Joe Muchnicki Tosses No-Hitter in First Varsity Start
When the doctor took a look at the MRI, he recommended surgery right away. “He couldn’t believe I wasn’t in excruciating pain–he said the bone could break at any time,” said Joe Muchnicki recalling the low-point of last year. The injury, which is believed to have been caused by wear-and-tear, required five plates being placed in the knee joint, at the bottom of his femur bone. He was in a wheelchair for a week, followed by crutches for five weeks and no baseball activity for eight months. For a high school junior, that is crushing. He missed the crucial time for college recruiting–not to mention a summer of being a kid. While some people would sulk–the John Glenn RHP stayed focus and began his physical therapy. He finally threw off a mound for the ...
Patch Dooley Fans 15, Fires One-Hitter in 2-1 Victory over Smithtown East
It was a phenomenal pitching duel between Hills East ace Patch Dooley and Smithtown East’s Doug Goodwin this afternoon. Both starters dominated, but Dooley was the star–fanning 15 in a one-hitter and leading the charge in a 2-1 victory. Dooley threw a complete game, the one run he allowed came on the only hit allowed, a home run down the left field line by Andrew Canino to lead off the fourth inning. However, he came back strong recording 11 of the game’s final 12 outs on strike outs, and finishing with 15 Ks. After the game he said, “My curveball was working, I was spotting my fastball and my team did a great job of toughing out two runs to get the win.” Hills East only mustered four hits themselves, but smart base running helped put those who did get on get ...
Wantagh Routs Bellmore JFK in Rematch of Nassau Class A Finals
Jimmy Joyce stated that the reigning New York Class A champs wanted to send a message today. That message was sent with a seven-run first inning. The hard-throwing Hofstra-commit struck out nine over four shutout innings in the season opener, while touching 92 MPH with his heater in the first inning. Wantagh put up seven runs in the first inning highlighted by an RBI single by Joyce, two-run double by Anthony Fontana and two-run double by Trevor Fagan. They added five in the second, one in the third and four in the fourth. Leadoff man Anthony D’Onofrio ripped a single, double and triple in the first two innings. Joyce battled command issues in the first two innings, but settled down and found his groove. He allowed only a single in the third inning and made quick work of his final tw...
Shoreham-Wading River Smacks Three HRs, Morrell Fires Four No-Hit Innings in 8-3 Win
Shoreham-Wading River began their redemption tour in dominating fashion in today’s season opener against Mount Sinai. Miles Kelly, Dean Stalzer and Vinny Uzzi smacked HRs and Brian Morrell fired four no-hit innings with six strikeouts in their 8-3 victory. Head Coach Kevin Willi stated that the reigning Carl Yastrzemski Award winner was on a strict 75-pitch limit this afternoon and he hit that after four innings due to the strikeouts and four walks. He was also pleased with their at bats. “We had 11 hits and drew eight walks in our six innings, so guys were working at bats, which is nice to see,” said the third-year Head Coach. Stalzer, a potential X-Factor for them, had a terrific afternoon. The senior ripped a double and drew two walks in addition to his home run. He mi...
A.J. Verga Lights-Out in Varsity Debut, Floyd Wins 6-0
Floyd sophomore A.J. Verga fired a one-hit shutout in his varsity debut today against Longwood by the score of 6-0. Head Coach Paul Longo stated that he was “very proud” of his LHP for stepping up and performing that well in his first start of the season. He struck out five Longwood batters. Niko Rodriguez smacked a two-out two-run double in the fifth and that provided all the offense he would need. His pitching coach, Neal Heaton, stated that he has vastly improved since his time working with him and he threw very well this winter. Floyd is coming off an 8-win season, but they now have a potentially dynamic 1-2 punch in the rotation with Verga and senior RHP Robert Brust, who was the catcher today. They will play again on Wednesday as Floyd looks to win the series.
Dan Gdanski Comes Within One Out of No-Hitter, Massapequa Wins Opener 6-0
Massapequa RHP Dan Gdanksi could not have scripted this one any better. The Cortland-commit came within one-out of throwing a no-hitter in his first varsity start. He allowed a double with two outs in the seventh but struck out the final batter to finish off a masterful 6-0 one-hit shutout in the season opener against Syosset. “A win is our first priority,” said the senior RHP. “I pitched pretty well–I was hitting my spots today. My defense did a great job behind me. We just played together as a team today,” he added. It was a pitcher’s duel early on. Syosset’s Griffin Laine pitched very well through four innings, allowing just a single to DH James Zupo. Massapequa Head Coach Tom Sheedy knew the team would be very excited on Opening Day and did not...
St. John’s Takes Two From Maine
by Troy Mauriello The St. John’s Red Storm showed that they can win games in a number of ways with a sweep of a doubleheader over Maine Saturday in Queens. St. John’s home opener saw Red Storm starter Sean Mooney toss the program’s first complete game since 2015. The Johnnies used that effort to cruise to a 3-0 victory. “Pretty much all four pitches were working,” Mooney said on his afternoon. “Fastball on both sides was working, changeup down in the zone was working, curveball to my glove side was really moving and cutting, said the hurler. Mooney was masterful on the afternoon, allowing just four hits in nine innings of work. Although he struck out only three, Mooney did not walk a batter and threw just 99 pitches. He was frequently ahead in the count and pitched to contact, which ended ...
Suffolk CC Crushes Tompkins Cortland
They called the game between Suffolk CC and Tompkins Cortland CC at nearly 11 P.M. last night after seven innings with Suffolk leading 11-3. This was the second game of a double header for Tompkins, and Suffolk’s fist game since March 4. Designated Hitter Nicholas Siragusa helped Suffolk jump ahead in the first inning when he drove a two-run opposite-field home run over the fence in right center field. They never looked back from there. TCC scored a few runs of their own, but with the way that Suffolk was hitting there was never any doubt in the outcome. It felt like Suffolk was loading the bases ever inning. In the third a run came in when Matthew Riselvate got plunked in the back, and a bad throw on an attempted double play caused two more runs to come in rather than get Tompkins ...
Travis Bruinsma Fires Gem to Salvage Split Against Staten Island
SUNY Maritime Privateers faced off against the College of Staten Island Dolphins in a nautically-themed doubleheader today. Maritime lost game one after an incredible comeback by Staten Island, but rallied to win the second game behind the masterful pitching of Travis Bruinsma. Maritime wasted no time in game one scoring three runs in the first. Shortstop Matt Costleigh smacked a leadoff home run. Costleigh’s shot to right center got the Privateers started, and they added on runs with an RBI ground out and an RBI single by Aaron Schiavoni and Phil Russo, respectively. They added another run in the second on a sacrifice fly from Costleigh, then another in the fourth on a single up the middle by Chris Deddo. Maritime was up five to nothing after 5 1/3 innings thanks to the pitching of ...
Why Pitch Counts in Youth and High School Baseball Are Important
By Luga Podesta, MD Podesta was the team physician for the Los Angeles Dodgers (1990-’06) and Los Angeles Angels (2010-’13). He is currently the Director of Sports Medicine at St. Charles Orthopedics and he is our Injury Prevention Expert. It’s March and another baseball season has come. The difference this year however is that the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) and specifically, New York State’s (NYSPHSAA) new pitch restriction rules for the spring 2017 baseball season take effect. Each member state association has been required to develop their own policy on pitching restrictions based on the number of pitches a player can throw during a game and the rest required after pitching. These new pitch restriction rules are designed to provide players’ ...
March 11 Game Recaps
Another wave of snow has officially hit the surface of Long Island leaving none of our home turf available for battle. However, six teams were on the road on Saturday for a combined 11 games given that five of those teams played doubleheaders. It was a rough day for the hometown groups as they combined for only three wins in a possible 11. Even with the warmer weather down south, these teams still struggled to heat up. St. John’s splits with Liberty in Lynchburg In game one of this doubleheader, St. John’s was able to pull out their 11th win of the season with a 4-2 victory. Eight of the team’s ten hits came off the bats of Robbie Knightes, Gui Gingras, and the red-hot John Valente. Josh Shaw and Troy Dixon both also had a hit each. The Red Storm scored the first runs in the game in the to...
