Center Moriches
Center Moriches Hungry to Capture County Championship
Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s series The season ended in painful fashion for Center Moriches, who lost to Bayport-Blue Point, 2-1, in the Class A semifinals. It was an all-too familiar opponent for the Red Devils who compiled a record of 17-2 against all teams not named Bayport-Blue Point and 0-5 against them. That loss came directly after a thrilling 13-inning victory over the reigning Class A Long Island Champs, Kings Park, in which their ace, Joey Hiller, put the team on his back en route to a 4-3 victory. Center Moriches, who last captured a County Championship in 2022, enters the season with one goal in mound – getting back to the top. “Anything less than a County Championship is not good enough,” said head coach Pa...
Up Next Powered by Ken Kortright State Farm: Charlie Edwards
Editor’s Note: This is the fifth installment of the 2025 Up Next Series in which we highlight the top underclassmen on Long Island. Previously, we highlighted Jack Mulligan, Alex Pagano, Quincy Gibbs and Michael Cotto. Special thanks to Ken Kortright State Farm for sponsoring this year’s series.) 6’4 RHP Charlie Edwards (Center Moriches 2029) pic.twitter.com/mi2vXWOAeV — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) November 24, 2025 Every teenager wants to have fun on their birthday. That would usually include a day with their friends or maybe going to their favorite restaurant. Center Moriches 9th grader Charlie Edwards had a 14th birthday so good that it was perfect – he fired a perfect game in the Northeast Elite tournament for MVP East End. He put up a monster season for them in 2025. He...
Sunday Spotlight: Joey Hiller
Congratulations to Center Moriches RHP Joey Hiller who is this week’s recipient of the Axcess Baseball x BK7 Brand Player of the Week. The junior fired a 3-hit complete game gem with 15 strikeouts. He also went 7-for-13 with 4 doubles, 6 runs scored and 4 RBIs Previous winners:… pic.twitter.com/B3fPVAzjcL — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 5, 2024 Center Moriches head coach Paul Gibson III knows Joey Hiller as well as anyone. He’s been coaching him since he was 12-years-old and called him up to varsity in 8th grade. Fast forward to May 2025 and Hiller was not just their ace, but one of the best pitchers on Long Island – twice named All-County and a 4x All-League selection. Hiller was locked in a pitcher’s duel with Kings Park RHP Everett Zarzicki, he fired 10 inni...
GAME RECAP: Joey Hiller Goes the Distance, Reaches K Milestone in 12-2 Win over Mattituck
Center Moriches RHP Joey Hiller struck out 12 in a complete game victory over Mattituck @GetGameChanger pic.twitter.com/BmDBWW4yOz — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 15, 2025 Anytime a player on Center Moriches can have their name in the same sentence with a Gibson, it’s a pretty big deal. In Tuesday’s 12-2 victory over League VII rival Mattituck, senior RHP Joey Hiller notched career strikeout 200, passing his head coach Paul Gibson III, who had 194. Recently, he also passed Cameron Ball (180). Interestingly, Hiller will be attending Quinnipiac University in the fall, which is also where Gibson III and Ball attended. He now only trails legendary Paul Gibson (375) and Glenn Gibson (270). Needless to say, Gibson’s record is safe – the award for the top pit...
Center Moriches: How Do They Do It?
by Patrick Duryea Center Moriches does it! Back-to-back New York State Class B Champs Undefeated season. 26-0. pic.twitter.com/wfJQ56wNm6 — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 15, 2019 All great ballplayers have to start somewhere. For most, it’s playing little league baseball in their hometown. For players in Center Moriches, it all starts at “Beachfern”. “A hidden gem for several decades now,” as Center Moriches Head Coach Paul Gibson described it, Beachfern is the town’s storied little league field. Gibson went on to explain the small town, old school charm that Beachfern emits. With an ice cream shop and pizza parlor less than 100 feet away, a press box down the third base line, community sponsorships on the outfield fence, and a vintage scoreboard to top it all off. Center Moric...
Center Moriches Looks to Continue Their Winning Ways in 2025
Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s series by Max Edelman Final: Center Moriches 10, Mattituck 1 WP: Max Rayburn (6 IP, 1 R, 3 H) Rayburn also scored 2 runs, had a hit and drew a walk Christian Meadows drove in 3 runs, Andrew Foster and Dan Gilroy drove in 2 each Center Moriches improves to 7-1 on the season. @GCsports pic.twitter.com/U64kgIbMZ9 — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 10, 2024 Regarded as one of the powerhouse programs on Long Island – who won back-to-back New York State Class B Championships in 2018 and 2019, as well as a Long Island Championship in 2022, the Center Moriches Red Devils moved up to Class A in 2024. “Last season was our first as a Class A school.” head coach Paul Gibson, who is entering his sixth yea...
Up Next Powered by Ken Kortright State Farm Agency: Richie Roberts
Center Moriches is one of the true powerhouses in Suffolk County. They won back-to-back Class B Championships in 2018 and 2019 and captured the Long Island Championship in 2021. The talent pool is always deep in the school district and they have a penchant for calling up underclassmen that wind up playing impact roles at the varsity level. Last year, he featured JT Bonventre who was a 9th grader at the time, and this past year they had an 8th grader not only get called up but was a key contributor for them. His name is Richie Roberts, and he will be a big time player for the Red Devils for the next 4 seasons. Last year, he went 2-0 with a 1.65 ERA and 2 saves over 18 innings on the mound. Additionally, he committed just 1 error in 46 chances splitting time between 2B and SS. At the plate, ...
Up Next Powered by State Farm Ken Kortright Agency: JT Bonventre
This is the 18th installment of the Up Next series in which we highlight the top underclassmen on Long Island. Previously, we featured Everett Zarzicki, Brian Brower, Stellan Zangari, Ryan Bush, Bryce Cutrone, Justin Ortiz, Colin Raymond, Jagger Adamo, JD Duffy, Chris Sultana, Matt Zambriski, Tucker Brown, Christian Calabro, Derek & Ryan Yormack, Andrew Poxon, Tristan Garcia and Evan Fallon. Special thanks to State Farm Ken Kortright Agency for sponsoring this year’s series. When it comes to improving as a ballplayer, it always helps to play against older competition. You can find out a lot about yourself when you’re not always the best player on the field. In the case of JT Bonventre, he is still often the best player on the field even when playing up. This past season, he...
Center Moriches Hopes to Build on Championship Appearance
by Mike Merolle Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s season preview series. Trailing 4-0 in the bottom of the 7th against undefeated Babylon, Center Moriches has pulled off the improbable comeback and they scored 5 times with the walk-off hit coming off the bat of Gavin DeRosa Game 3 tomorrow ! pic.twitter.com/62mTZYUsgd — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 24, 2023 It was a bittersweet ending to 2023 for Center Moriches. The team made the Suffolk County Class B Championship and led for the majority of the game until Babylon scored on a walk-off, winning the championship 6-5. Nonetheless, it was still a successful season considering Center Moriches’ 10-8 league record and their strong playoff run. Head Coach Paul Gibson is entering his fif...
GAME RECAP: Daniel Madsen Fires Two-Hit Shutout, Nick Crone Delivers Go-Ahead Hit in Fifth
Daniel Madsen fired a 2-hit CG shutout against rival Center Moriches as the Panthers improve to 7-0 on the season. Madsen is our Player of the Game @GCsports pic.twitter.com/r5Shr1NQpZ — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 19, 2023 Hanging prominently from the center field fence are two massive banners highlighting Center Moriches incredible back-to-back New York State Championships in 2018-2019. During that time, Center Moriches was absolutely loaded with the talent and determination that we may never see again from a Class B team. Opposing teams step onto the field and sometimes get an extra jolt as they would love nothing more than to defeat a team with the track record of the Red Devils. We saw that on display as Babylon is looking to chase history themselves – the Panther...
Center Moriches Enters 2023 As Reigning Class B Long Island Champs
by Andy Smith Center Moriches captures the Class B Championship with a 2-1 win over Mattituck Riley Morris, Jack Rupe, Leyton Pulsipher combined on a no-hitter pic.twitter.com/1BXTbcLGfa — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 24, 2022 Head Coach Paul Gibson described last season as “the most rewarding one in my baseball career.” Center Moriches entered 2022 as a very young program. “We had some instances where our defense failed us early on, and we also didn’t have the quality at bats that we had hoped for. As the season progressed the boys really came together and bought into the system, and started to understand their roles and the ways they can make a positive impact.” The Red Devils finished with an 11-9 record but went on a playoff run, which resulted with a Long Island Class B ...
Q & A With Matt Alifano
Adelphi has had a long history of excellence on the baseball field and even amidst that list of outstanding performers, Matt Alifano warrants inclusion with the best of the best. The Center Moriches grad helped the Red Devils to a perfect season in 2019 and kept that momentum going into 2020 when he started his collegiate career on a tear before the pandemic ended the season abruptly. It was in 2021 when he truly broke out for the Panthers. Matt Alifano’s first collegiate HR was a grand slam. The sophomore is batting .419 on the season pic.twitter.com/b3Z6yd4K9S — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) March 29, 2021 He batted .394 – which was the highest for a Panther since Rich Mejia and Cliff Brantley in 2014. But what separated him from the pack was his pop from the leadoff s...
