NEWS
Recap of Week 5 of the New York Baseball Academy at Hofstra
by Vinny Messana, Editor Long Island baseball has never been better represented across Major League Baseball than it is right now. The bar has been raised high to become a great player and if you don’t want to fall behind you have to put the work in. Over the past five weeks, close to 1,000 players have walked onto Hofstra University’s baseball field and taken part of the famous New York Baseball Academy–which is now in its 41st year. It was another tremendous week of baseball, filled with 210 players–headlined by some of the brightest baseball players on the island, including Matt Pelcher of Calhoun and the younger brother of Marcus Stroman. This week featured morning clinics from Hofstra’s Head Coach John Russo, Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator Tyler K...
Andrew Misiaszek Primed to Become Next Great Long Island Southpaw
by Vinny Messana, Editor It was only a couple months ago that Anthony Kay set the Long Island baseball community ablaze by getting selected by the New York Mets in the first round of the MLB Draft. The ink has barely dried on the contract, and already there’s buzz regarding another great southpaw from Long Island. It’s time to get familiar with Andrew Misiaszek–Southside ’15 grad and current LHP for Northeastern University. The southpaw played a major role in the Huskies’ 31-win season. He fired 52.0 innings as a freshman, allowing only 45 hits while striking out 53 batters. He won five games and figures to be in the weekend rotation next season. Additionally, there’s a strong chance he will be playing in the prestigious Cape Cod league aga...
Recap of Week 4 of the New York Baseball Academy at Hofstra
by Vinny Messana It was yet another fun-filled week of baseball at the New York Baseball Academy. There were 210 kids eager to learn from a coaching staff that has decades and decades of experience and have taught some of the top players this region has ever seen. The players had the fortune of learning from a couple of special guests. Dave Lemanczyk (1979 A.L. All Star) imparted his wisdom on the young men in an insightful morning clinic and also gave batting instructions at the cages all day on Wednesday. Former Long Island Ducks pitcher and LI native Brian Dorsey was in charge of the pitching specials on Tuesday and also gave a fascinating speech during his clinic. In addition to learning a great deal, many of the players had awards bestowed upon them. More important than the skill-base...
Matt Buckshaw Bucks the Trend
by Vinny Messana Sometimes a change of scenery is the best fit. For a player like Matt Buckshaw–who has already dealt with quite a bit of adversity in his career–this was the case. He initially displayed his intestinal fortitude two years ago by overcoming two debilitating injuries on the field and still earning a spot on Stony Brook’s squad. Now, he’s showing some of the same courage and making a shift to a less prominent baseball institution, but one that could benefit his post-baseball career. While his story may go beyond the typical coverage here at BOTI, it sends a positive message to college athletes that pursuing a career that suits you can be more crucial than the glamour of playing at a Div-I program. I had a chance to speak with Buckshaw and here’s ...
Recap of Week 3 of New York Baseball Academy at Hofstra
by Vinny Messana The New York Baseball Academy has been home to some of the top young talent in the northeast over the past 40 years. That–combined with a coaching staff that features former professional players and some of the most recognizable and respected baseball minds–has allowed the NYBA to be named one of the top five baseball camps in the country. This week just concluded Week 3 at Hofstra. The camp had over 200 kids between the ages of 7 and 17. They were fortunate enough to get coaching from 12-year big league veteran and Long Island native, John Habyan. After building up the St. John the Baptist program to being one of the elites on the island, he became the pitching coach of Hofstra this past year. Another special guest was Kellenberg-grad and former big leaguer Re...
Recap of Week 2 of New York Baseball Academy at Hofstra
by Vinny Messana For 40 years, kids ages 5-15 have made their way to the New York Baseball Academy to develop their skills and learn from some of the brightest minds and most recognizable names in the Long Island baseball community. The director of the academy, legendary former NYIT coach Bob Hirschfield, has recently moved the camp to the beautiful campus of Hofstra University. The 240-acre campus is the perfect environment for young baseball players to hone their craft of the game they love. This week was a tremendous success once again. Former MLB slugger Patrick Lennon and longtime Mineola Head Coach Helms Bohringer were the special instructors along with the usual Head Coaches, who all have had successful playing careers and combine for decades and decades of experience between them. ...
Recap of Week One of New York Baseball Academy at Hofstra
by Vinny Messana For 40 years, kids ages 5-15 have made their way to the New York Baseball Academy to develop their skills and learn from some of the brightest minds and most recognizable names in the Long Island baseball community. The director of the academy, legendary former NYIT coach Bob Hirschfield, has recently moved the camp to the beautiful campus of Hofstra University. The 240-acre campus is the perfect environment for young baseball players to hone their craft of the game they love. This week concluded week 1 of the academy, and it went as well as expected. There were special insructors; Matt Giuliano (Connetquot grad, Owner of Play Like a Pro, seven years Pro player), Eddie Waters (St. John’s University Hall of Fame, played professionally with New York Yankees, St. Thomas...
Anthony Gatto Signs With the Long Island Ducks
Smithtown West ’11 grad, Anthony Gatto, has signed to play with the Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League. Gatto played his collegiate ball at UMBC–posting terrific numbers over his four years. He posted a .387 OBP over 493 at bats and was successful on 48-of-58 stolen base attempts. “It’s an unbelievable feeling and I could not be more excited,” said the Hauppauge native. He joins Bruce Kern (Bellport ’06),Anthony Vega (Pat-Med ’09) and James Lomangino (Connetquot ’09) as recent high school grads from Long Island to have the honor of playing in front of their friends and family. Gatto represented Suffolk in the Battle of the Border on June 6. He joined Jonathon Mulford as players that parlayed that into continuing their playing careers. H...
Brian Morrell Wins the Carl Yastrzemski Award
by Vinny Messana Speaking in front of a crowd of 900 people was an environment that Brian Morrell was not completely comfortable in. Maybe it would’ve helped if the camera man was holding a baseball from 60’6″ away, though, because that is one setting that did not faze the junior from Shoreham-Wading River one bit this season. In fact, he smacked a 420 ft HR in the Class A semifinals against Rocky Point that hasn’t landed yet in front of a crowd much larger than that. The University of Notre Dame-commit was awarded the coveted Carl Yastrzemski Award tonight at Villa Lombardi’s in Holbrook, NY–becoming the third winner from his high school, behind his mentor Keith Osik in 1987 and 2016 MLB Draft pick Mike O’Reilly in 2012. The junior terrorized pitc...
Complete List of Long Islanders Selected in MLB Draft
There has been no shortage of Long Island talent represented in the MLB Draft over the past few seasons. Ever since the now-famous 2009 draft featuring Steven Matz and Marcus Stroman, the level of top-tier talent has been vindicated by the players selected in the MLB Draft. This year was no different with two Long Islanders selected in the FIRST round and 14 players overall. If anything, I was a bit shocked that players like Straton Podaras, Nick Girardi, Thomas Roulis, Anthony Gatto, etc didn’t get selected. Here’s the complete list: Round 1: Pick 19: Justin Dunn, Boston College (Freeport) Round 1: Pick 31: Anthony Kay, UCONN (Ward Melville HS) Round 4: Pick 123: Thomas Hackimer, St. John’s (Floral Park) Round 8: Pick 245: Stephen Woods, Albany (Half Hollow Hills East HS...
Wantagh Wins the Class A NYS Championship
by Vinny Messana Being the No. 7 seed entering the postseason? No problem. Not having a two-time All-State pitcher available in the postseason? No problem. Facing an undefeated Queensbury team in the NYS title game? Psh. The Wantagh Warriors defeated Williamsville East to capture their first Class A NYS title since 1998. Starting pitcher Bobby Hegarty, who fired a one-hitter against Mount Sinai to capture the Long Island Championship went the distance, although he did struggle in the early going putting the Warriors in a 5-1 hole. They clawed back with a three-spot in the fourth inning and tied the ballgame in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Anthony Fontana that scored Jimmy Joyce. The game was tied going to the ninth inning when Joyce smacked the go-ahead home run to left field that put ...
Thomas Hackimer’s Path from Walk-On to Fourth Round Pick is a “One in a Billion”
(Photo Credit: St. John’s University Athletics) by Vinny Messana, Editor-In-Chief Now in his 21st season as the Head Coach at St. John’s University, Ed Blankmeyer has seen a lot. Whatever he hasn’t seen there, he probably saw while coaching Team USA. He has coached more than 80 players who have gone on to play professional baseball–most notably Mo Vaughn and Craig Biggio while at Seton Hall. Still, he was almost at a loss for words when discussing the journey of his star reliever, Floral Park native Thomas Hackimer. “Thomas is quite a story,” he said. “To go from a walk-on to a fourth round pick is one-in-a-billion,” he added. Hackimer chose to attend St. John’s because of the academic scholarship he received. He chose to major in physi...
