Where are they now
Where Are They Now Powered by Complete Sports Performance: Patrick Cantwell
When you win at every stop you’re at, it is no coincidence – winners win. West Islip-native Patrick Cantwell has won championships for his little league, high school, college, minor league and major league teams. He was the ultimate field general and stop sign behind the dish. But first, let’s turn the clock back. The Early Days Patrick was born and raised in West Islip. He was the second child, he has a sister named Kim. They are a family of athletes – his mother played softball, bowling and was a cheerleader. His father played high school baseball. His sister played soccer, track and gymnastics. From a young age, he was drawn to professional athletes that not only won but held themselves to a high standard such as Derek Jeter, Michael Jordan, Ken Griffey Jr and Mi...
Where Are They Now Powered by Complete Sports Performance: Steve DiMarco
Steve DiMarco received a letter in the mail stating that he was nominated for a newly formed award given to the top baseball player in Nassau County. The award would be called the Doubleday Award. DiMarco, a senior at West Hempstead, was a finalist along with Desi Wilson of Glen Cove. DiMarco was announced as the winner during the award ceremony at the Coral House in Baldwin. The Doubleday Award was later named the Diamond Award and is the highest honor for Nassau County baseball players. His career would ultimately reach professional baseball, but first let’s turn the clock back. The Early Days DiMarco was born and raised in West Hempstead, NY. He is the youngest of three children – one older brother and sister. His father was a minor league player in the New York Yankees farm...
Where Are They Now Powered by Complete Sports Performance: Thomas Roulis
(Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in January 2025) Chaminade has had many dominant seasons in their program’s rich history. You don’t have to turn back the clock too far to look at their 2022 season as possibly their greatest season. If that’s Number 1, then right behind it is their 2011 team. They won the CHSAA Championship over St. Dominic in a thrilling 3-game series and had 13 players that went onto play collegiately. They finished the season 21-5. It was a team that was accustomed to winning, who had won their championship as freshmen and sophomores but came up short in the 2010 playoffs. While the years have gone on, their legacy will go down as one of the best teams that Long Island has seen. Their starting shortstop, Thomas Roulis, would be named Co-Player...
Where Are They Now Powered by Complete Sports Performance: Adam Heidenfelder
Adam Heidenfelder gets the start for Old Westbury pic.twitter.com/6uPgGmt4hh — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) March 3, 2018 Adam Heidenfelder got thrown into the stickiest of situations. The hard-throwing sophomore had just gotten the call up to varsity from JV after striking out 37 batters in his first two outings. All he did was escape the jam with three strikeouts on his way to striking out 9 batters over three shutout innings. It turns out that it was merely a prelude for the type of dominance that the 6’5 250 lb workhorse would have for MacArthur in 2013 and 2014. The Early Days Heidenfelder was born and raised in Wantagh, NY but was in the Levittown school district. He was the second of two Heidenfelder boys. His father, John, played college baseball at Queens College, as...
Where Are They Now Powered by Complete Sports Performance: Tommy Boyce
18 hour bus rides are not for the faint of heart. You really have to love baseball to drive from Salt Lake City to Medicine Hat, Canada only to get off the bus and play a double header. This was life in the minor leagues in the late 1980s. Long Island-native Tommy Boyce did it for 3 seasons after his recording-setting career at NY Tech. Prior to that, he helped lead Comsewogue to their first and only New York State Championship in 1982. Along his journey there were many highs and lows, but first let’s turn the clock back. The Early Days Tommy was born in Brooklyn but raised in Port Jeff Station. His father was an air traffic controller and his mother owned a hair salon. He had one younger brother, who was the Long Island record holder for most goals scored in a boy’s lacrosse g...
Where Are They Now Powered by Complete Sports Performance: Shawn Fagan
(Editor’s Note: This is the third installment of the ‘Where Are They Now’ series in which we highlight standout players from the past. Previously, we featured Mike Ambort and Kraig Binick. Thanks to Complete Sports Performance for sponsoring this year’s series.) There was no local indoor training facility to do winter workouts. There wasn’t even a batting cage in the school. Legendary coach Doug Robins was resourceful, though. He found an area in the boiler room to hang tarp and he used tennis balls that were donated to the team. That was all they needed. They swung until their hands bled. That is the grittiness that separated Levittown Division from just about every other program. During their peak years in the 1990s, they won 47 consecutive games, back-to-ba...
Where Are They Now Powered by Complete Sports Performance: Kraig Binick
There was a time when NY Tech was among the best programs in the region. During the legendary career of Bob Hirschfield, who received Axcess Baseball’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2024, he won over 660 games, had 4 ABCA All-Americans and sent dozens of players to pro ball. One of their best players in program history was Kraig Binick, who was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles following a stellar four-year career for the Bears in which he was named the Division-I Independent Player of the Year in 2007 after batting .406 with a 1.123 OPS. Binick’s name is all over the program’s record book, finishing with the most triples (13), second most runs scored (175), second most hits (270) and third most stolen bases (114). It wasn’t always a slam dunk, however, that his futu...
Where Are They Now Powered by Complete Sports Performance: Mike Ambort
Getting the opportunity to play professional baseball is a dream for millions of kids around the world. Most never consider the possibility, however, that your organization could have a future Hall of Famer blocking you at your position. Rockville Center-native Mike Ambort was selected not once, not twice but three times in the MLB Draft. The third and final time came in 2007 in the 6th round by the San Francisco Giants. The following year, the Giants selected Florida State catcher Buster Posey and handed him a $6.2 million signing bonus (the largest in team history at that point) with the 5th overall selection in the ’08 draft. The two were roommates in High-A, but before long Posey was solidified as the franchise catcher and would go on to win Rookie of the Year, NL MVP and was the...
Where Are They Now Powered by Complete Sports Performance: James Bailin
Photo Credit: Newsday/Bill Davis 29-0. There’s a beauty in perfection. It is elusive in the game of baseball – a game that is designed to include failures and to humble every player. For Division Ave HS in 1996, there was no such failures. The Blue Dragons went wire-to-wire not losing one game. In fact, they only played in one game that was decided by one run. They scored 325 runs during the regular season and often were up by double digits before their starting pitcher took the mound. And their starting pitchers usually only needed one or two runs to begin with. One of their starters, James Bailin, was untouchable that season as he fired 4 no-hitters – including three in a row at one point. Bailin was the recipient of the coveted Diamond Award given to the top pitcher in Nassau County. Al...
Where Are They Now: Kyle Gelling
(Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in January 2024.) It’s rare that you can truly say you work at your dream job. Long Island native and former Division-I baseball player, Kyle Gelling, has the distinction of being able to say that as he has established himself working at Barstool Sports since 2018. While luck certainly plays a part in finding the perfect job, Kyle put himself into that position through relentlessly pursuing his passion of working in sports and has reaped the rewards of that work. But to understand how he got there, you need to know where he started. The Early Days Kyle was born and raised in West Islip, the second of two children, his sister being 10 years older. He always had a love for sports – specifically baseball and football. His father spli...
Where Are They Now: Matt Prokopowicz
(Editor’s Note: This article originally was posted in January 2025) When Massapequa lost to East Meadow in the 2005 County Championship, there was a picture of the team celebrating on the mound. That picture was hung up in the locker room at Massapequa in the locker room. “That picture of them lit the fire for the next 20 years,” said Matt Prokopowicz. Hypernole or not, Massapequa went 29-0 in 2006 winning the Class AA Nassau County, Long Island and NYS Championships. Prokopowicz was a major part of that success as he was named All-State and hit a clutch HR in the Long Island Championship in the bottom of the sixth inning to cut into a 5-0 deficit. Prokopowicz will go down as one of the best hitters in Long Island history, as he wound up attending Hofstra University where he is still...
Where Are They Now: Jeff Schaefer
(Photo Credit: Jeff Siner/ Charlotte Observer) Knowing a strike was looming, Jeff Schaefer walked into manager Tony LaRussa’s office in 1994. “I need you to send me to the minors,” said Schaefer. “What do you mean?” LaRussa replied. “Well, I have a nice minor league split on my contract.” “Okay, Iet me see what I can do,” said LaRossa. Shortly after, Schaefer was granted his request to be sent to Triple-A Tacoma, which would not be shut down despite the strike at the Major League Level. “I’m forever grateful to Tony LaRussa for that,” said Schaefer. Schaefer went to Triple-A assuming that the strike would be resolved in short order. But that was not the case – in fact it leaked into Spring Training and at 34-year...
