Game Recaps
Suffolk Tops Nassau, 5-0, in the Inaugural Battle of the Border
by Vinny Messana After seven months of planning, the inaugural Battle of the Border finally went down. I’ll get to the timeline of how it came about and all the difficulty that went into planning it shortly–but first, here’s how the game went. Suffolk won 5-0 behind the stellar pitching of Matt Kostalos (ECC Pitcher of the Year from St. Thomas Aquinas), Nick Girardi (St. Joseph’s), Dylan Mouzakes (Pace), Kevin Martinez (Farmingdale), Matt Leach (St. Joseph’s) and Peter Vath (Molloy). They allowed only three hits as a staff. The game was scoreless until the fifth when Suffolk broke through with RBI hits by Nicholas Gargan (St. Thomas Aquinas) and Joe Calabrese (St. Joseph’s). They added a run on a wild pitch. T.J. Riccio (New Haven) added an RBI single in...
West Islip Cruises to Its Second Long Island Class AA Title in Three Years
By Nakeem Grant If there was any doubt that there would be a letdown after their tooth-and-nail series victory over Northport, that was put to rest right away. West Islip dominated in the Class AA Long Island Championship– defeating East Meadow 16-0 at Farmingdale State College. West Islip’s offense and pitching left the game in no doubt as they kept their foot on the pedal throughout the game. Twelve of West Islip’s 16 runs came in the first three innings of the ballgame with most of the damage coming from the core of their lineup. Jake Guercio, James Kory, and Jimmy Mattera each had multi-RBI games and as a team, they racked up 12 hits. According to today’s winning pitcher, Ray Weber, this is another typical game for their offense. “All year we’ve been great on offense putt...
Bobby Hegarty Throws a Gem in Class A Long Island Championship
by Vinny Messana Being a sophomore, Anthony Fontana hasn’t faced too many pro-caliber pitchers yet. It took him just one at bat to adjust to Sam Kessler‘s stuff and he laced an RBI single to right field in the third inning which extended Wantagh‘s lead to 2-0 at the time, and proved to be the game-winning run that delivered their first Long Island Championship since 2010. “OH MY GOD–An experience I’ll never forget,” said the sophomore first baseman. Both teams went quietly offensively through the first two innings. Sam Kessler, who entered with eight wins, and will be headed to West Virginia this summer–if he does not get drafted next week–got the start for the Mustangs. He pumped fastballs in the high 80s and mixed it with a hellacious...
Wantagh Wins Class A County Finals on Walk-Off Single
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rqVci8Boeg by Vinny Messana Not even Martin Scorsese himself could script a more fitting end to a County Championship game. Bases loaded, two-out, bottom of the ninth inning with the clean up hitter up after Bellmore JFK manager intentionally walked two batters to load the bases and set up a force at any bases. On a 2-2 count with score knotted at 2-2, DH Will O’Brien laced the walk-off single to right field to score Charlie Interrante in front of an electric crowd and give Wantagh their first Nassau County Class A title since 2010. “It’s a feeling I’ll remember for the rest of my life,” said O’Brien. “All I wanted to do was get the ball on the bat and score the winning run and that’s what happened. Best ...
Northport Takes Advantage of West Islip’s Miscues, Forces Do-Or-Die Game Three
by Vinny Messana When the West Islip bus showed up at 3:45pm, or about an hour later than planned, it was a good omen for Northport. The Northport Tigers (20-7) took advantage of five errors by the Lions and were led by Nicholas Palmerini‘s complete game to force a do-or-die Game Three tomorrow at West Islip. They are looking for their first Suffolk County championship since 1983. “The energy from the crowd helps, and with my team behind me, I can throw whatever I want and feel confident,” said Palmerini. The crowd was highly energized and chanting on the Tigers at every opportunity and it certainly was a factor in this game. After the Lions took an early 2-0 lead from a wild pitch that scored Lou Antos and an RBI single by Nick Valenti that scored Ray Weber, Palmerini se...
Jimmy Joyce Does It With The Bat and On the Hill In Wantagh’s Game One Win
by Vinny Messana As Wantagh’s Head Coach Keith Sachs noted “this ain’t the pros,” so when his ace, Jimmy Joyce, is struggling with his command during the seventh inning of Game One of the Nassau County Class A Finals, you let him figure it out. “I couldn’t find the strike zone,” said Joyce, who experienced a brief bout with Steve Blass Disease after retiring the first two hitters in the seventh inning–one out away from a CG shutout of Bellmore JFK. He allowed a two-out double to catcher Reid Oreste and an infield single to Pete Cuttita before walking Frank Bruno to load the bases. UConn-bound Mikey Schwartz drew a bases-loaded walk to end the shutout and cut the deficit to 3-1. That brought up Jason Coules–the sophomore who started and ...
Kessler’s Complete Game Sends Mt. Sinai to Their First Long Island Championship
By Chris Amato All season, Mount Sinai knew they held the upper hand when Sam Kessler went to the mound. In front of a capacity crowd at home, the West Virginia-bound ace fired a complete game against Rocky Point in a 4-1 win to crown the Mustangs as Suffolk County Class A champs for the first time in their program history. Coming off his previous win against Miller Place, Kessler took to the mound on 4 days rest looking to shut the door on his crosstown rivals. The righty was dominant throughout, only allowing 1 run that came off of a throwing error in the first inning. Kessler did not give any breathing room after that. The Eagles were able to gather just two hits and two walks off of him. Having a clear game plan and more than enough preparation was major factor in Kessler’s win. ...
Jimmy Mattera Throws Out Runner At Plate to Send West Islip to Class AA Finals
by Vinny Messana What. A. Finish. With West Islip clinging to a 3-2 lead, Smithtown East’s leading hitter, John Marti, came to the plate with the tying run on second base. West Islip had their ace, Albany-bound RHP Ray Weber, on the hill looking to send the Lions into the Suffolk County Class AA Finals. With first base open, they opted to pitch to Marti and he lined a single to left. The left fielder, Jimmy Mattera–who had pitched the first six innings–charged the ball and fired a strike to catcher Nick Valenti, who applied the tag for the final out and send the Lions into a frenzy. “I just got the ball and let it fly,” said Mattera, who recorded the victory in the clinching game. “I just came off the mound, so my arm was all warmed up so I knew if I had...
Chris Cappas Pitches Kellenberg into CHSAA Finals
by Vinny Messana At this stage of the season, all the teams in the CHSAA are very familiar with each other. For that reason, when tasked with facing a pitcher (Jimmy Conway) that shut them out earlier in the season, there was no reason to think gloom-and-doom. Kellenberg (17-5) defeated St. Dominic’s (16-9) by the score of 5-3 to advance to the CHSAA finals against the winner of St. Anthony’s-St. John the Baptist. “It’s been like this all year,” said Head Coach Chris Alfalla. “Every game is the same. Every team is tough. We’ve faced this guy before–he blanked us–so we knew we were gonna be in for it. He did a good job, but we did a little better job,” he added. Their junior southpaw, Chris Cappas, won his sixth game of the season ...
Cody McPartland Tosses a Gem, Dowling Advances over No. 2 Seed Southern New Hampshire
by Vinny Messana When we had Cody McPartland in studio for our BOTI Weekly show on Sunday, he didn’t seem the least bit fazed by having to face one of the best Div-II teams in the country in the NCAA East Regionals. He noted that they still have to know what he’s throwing and be able to hit it. McPartland proved that it wasn’t just player-speak by firing a six-hit shutout with 9 Ks in Dowling 4-0 win over a potent Southern New Hampshire team (45-6), while also out dueling the East Region Pitcher of the Year in Tim Viehoff. Both offense were dormant through six innings, but the Golden Lions broke through when Bobby Morse (4-for-4, 1 RBI) smacked a go-ahead solo HR to left center. They added some insurance runs with an RBI double by the raging-hot Tim Going (3-for-5, 1 RBI)...
Brian Weissert’s Two HRs Leads Bay Shore to 13-0 Victory over Connetquot
by Chris Amato Bay Shore had one thing in mind today, to keep scoring runs and never look back. That is exactly what they did scoring 13 runs against Connetquot in a Class AA playoff elimination game. After an upset win by No. 16 Connetquot over No. 1 Bay Shore on Monday, the Marauders were looking to avenge their first round loss and send Connetquot home. The Bay Shore offense was certainly the driving force of the game, especially when complimented by a gem pitching performance by Hermes Abreu. Senior shortstop, Brian Weissert, was locked into today’s game while at the plate. Wiessert led the Bay Shore offense today by going 3-3 with two homers and a single while collecting 5 RBI’s. The Fordham-commit has been a key player on his team and hopes to continue his hot-hitting for...
Sam Kessler Outduels Sal Zafonte in Playoff Thriller
by Vinny Messana When two great pitchers are on the top of their game, it usually takes some late-game heroics to win it. That’s exactly what happened. George Rainer hit a sac-fly in the ninth inning to give Mount Sinai a 2-1 win over Sal Zafonte and Sayville. James Sarno made a tremendous play in the center field to end a threat in the ninth inning and eighth grader Paul Gomes threw out the potential game-winning run at the plate in the bottom of the eighth inning. Mount Sinai’s ace, Sam Kessler, fired the full nine-innings and continued his masterful season with 12 strikeouts and one unearned run. He now has six wins, and has allowed only four ER over 51.1 IP with 78 Ks and only 23 hits and nine walks. He is committed to West Virginia in the fall but there has been recent ch...
