CLASS AA PREVIEW

Ward Melville (7-14) is loaded with talent but is not a clearcut favorite to win League I. Lindenhurst (16-7) has an experienced pitching staff with senior righthanders Chris Chismar and Steve Chapter and junior righty Tom Bammann. Shortstop Steve Skon hit .441 as a freshman. Lindenhurst returns 14 players, including junior first baseman Jonathan McGibbon, who has 52 career hits. Patchogue-Medford (22-4), the two-time defending league champion, will ride the golden arm of senior righthander Marcus Stroman, who last season became the second junior in Suffolk history to win the Yastrzemski Award. Stroman is the Raiders ace but they’ll need senior shortstop/pitcher Mike Bazoge, who threw relief last year, to pitch well to compete. Junior righty Junior Mendez and senior catcher Mike Johnson will be key components to any title run. Sachem East (7-15) returns Briarcliffe-bound catcher Joe Solomeno and an experienced pitching staff and Longwood (10-12) has junior shortstop Bobby Gazzola, an outstanding hitter.

Longwood 10, Brentwood 2: Longwood‘s Kris Kelly hit a three-run home run in the second inning to make the score 4-0 in League I. Jonathan Beekman was 3-for-5 with two RBIs, including a two-run double in Longwood‘s five-run sixth inning. Pete Castoro was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs.

Shoreham-Wading River Tournament 

Longwood 12 Mattituck 2

WP – LW: Smith. LP – Polak. HR – LW: Calabro 1. March 27

Longwood 8, Patchogue-Medford 0: Jimmy Knudsen threw a four-hitter with six strikeouts to lead Longwood (1-0) in League I. Mario Parisi went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and Kyle Weeks went 2-for-3 with two doubles and an RBI. Kris Kelly doubled in Nick Leggio to highlight Longwood‘s six-run fifth. March 31- WP – LW: Knudsen. LP – Mendez.

Patchogue-Medford 5 Longwood 3, Jeremy Garry singled home Marcus Stroman in the top of the 10th to give Patchogue-Medford a 4-3 lead in League I. Stroman closed the game with two strikeouts in 1 1/3 hitless innings for the win. Terrence Bohonan struck out three in 4 1/3 shutout innings in relief. WP – PM: Stroman. LP – Lauro. HR – PM: Wilson 1. April 1

Longwood 4, Patchogue-Medford 2: Thomas Scala’s two-run double in the top of the fifth put Longwood up 3-2 in Suffolk League I. Bobby Gazzola then drove in Scala with a sacrifice fly. WP – LW: Bessell. LP – Stroman. April 3

Longwood 9, Sachem East 6: Jonathan Beekman had a home run and four RBIs for Longwood in Suffolk League I. Peter Castoro went 2-for-3 with an RBI. WP – LW: Knudsen. LP – Westerhaus. HR – LW: Scala 1, Beekman 1, Weeks 1. April 6

Sachem East 3 Longwood 0

WP – SE: DiGiose. LP – Lauro. April 9

Longwood 10, Brentwood 2: Longwood‘s Kris Kelly hit a three-run home run in the second inning to make the score 4-0 in League I. Jonathan Beekman was 3-for-5 with two RBIs, including a two-run double in Longwood‘s five-run sixth inning. Pete Castoro was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs. WP – LW: Knudsen. LP – Atanasio. HR – LW: Kelly. April 14

Brentwood 6, Longwood 2: Anthony Santiago threw a three-hitter and struck out three to lead Brentwood. Ricky Quilty had three hits and an RBI and Jesse Cabrera had two hits with a walk and an RBI. WP – BRN: Santiago. LP – Hardison. HR ; LW: Parisi 1. April 15

Longwood 3 Sachem East 0

WP – LW: McClain. LP – Glotzer. April 16

Longwood 12 Brentwood 6

WP – LW: Bessell. LP – Santagata. April 17

Floyd 11 Longwood 3

WP – FL: Brass. LP – Knudsen. HR – FL: Balzer 1. April 28

Floyd 8, Longwood 7: John D’Amico hit a three-run home run with two outs in the first to put Floyd ahead 3-0 and Andrew Galante drove in two runs later in the inning with a single for Floyd (9-5) in League I. Ed Balzar went 2-for-4 with two runs and Danny Russo earned the save in the seventh.WP – FL: Balzer. LP – McClain. HR – FL: D’Amico 1; L: Scala 1. April 29

Bessell hits, pitches Longwood to win

 Newsday, Combined editions; Long Island, N.Y. [Long Island, N.Y]. 01 May 2009

J.J. Bessell hit a two-run home run with one out in the bottom of the seventh to give Longwood (7-5) a 4-2 victory over Floyd yesterday in Suffolk League I baseball. Bessell also earned the win, allowing four hits with nine strikeouts in a complete game. Floyd’s Danny Parisi went 2-for-3 with a run.

Ward Melville 3 Longwood 2, T.J. Spero scored on an error in the bottom of the seventh to win it for Ward Melville (11-2) in League I. Steve Pesapane threw a four-hitter, walked one and struck out four and Spero went 2-for-3. Steven Matz went 2-for-4 with a homer. WP – WM: Pesapane. LP – Bessell. HR – WM: Matz 1. May 9c

Longwood 5 Lindenhurst 2

WP – LW: McClain. LP – Chismar. May 12

Longwood 13 Lindenhurst 4, Dan Parisi was 2-for-3 with a grand slam in the sixth to make the score 9-2 for Longwood (9-6). Lindenhurst is 9-8. – LW: Knudsen. LP – Bammann. HR – LW: Parisi 1; LI: Briggs 1. May 13

Longwood 11, Ward Melville 1: Bobby Gazzola and J.J. Bessell each had three-run homers in the first, giving Longwood (10-6), which clinched a playoff berth, a 6-0 lead in League I. Kyle Weeks gave up four hits and struck out two in five innings for the win. Thomas Scala went 4-for-4 with three runs and Nick Leggio added three hits, three runs and two RBIs.WP – LW: Weeks. LP – Rodgers. HR – LW: Gazzola 1, Bessell 1. May 14

Lindenhurst 7 Longwood 4, Jimmy Briggs hit his eighth and ninth homers of the season and had three hits, three RBIs and three runs as Lindenhurst (10-8 League I) clinched a playoff spot. Peter Romero and Ian Cullen each had two hits and an RBI and Chris Chismar allowed three runs and five hits with nine strikeouts and one walk in six innings of relief. WP – LI: Chismar. LP – Bessell. HR – LI: Briggs 2. May 15

Longwood 5 Ward Melville 4, Dan Parisi hit a two-out, two-run single scoring J.J. Bessell and Thomas Scala to win it for Longwood (11-7) in the bottom of the seventh in Suffolk League I. Mike Lauro allowed five hits and three earned runs in a complete game. WP – LW: Lauro. LP – Bongiorno. HR – LW: Gazzola 1; WM: Bozza 1. May 16

Shoreham-Wading River Tournament

Final

Longwood 7 Shoreham-Wading River 3, Bobby Gazzola (3-for-3, double, four RBIs) hit a grand slam with one out in the top of the sixth to give Longwood (15-7) a 7-0 lead in the finals of the Shoreham-Wading River Tournament. Jon Beekman was 2-for-4 with two doubles and three RBIs. WP – LW: Hardison. LP – Catan. HR – LW: Gazzola 1; SWR: Catan 1. May 17

Suffolk Class AA -First Round

Longwood 6 Floyd 0, WP – LW: McClain. LP – Brass. May 20

Suffolk Class AA – Second Round

Longwood 11 Ward Melville 6, Kyle Weeks hit a two-run homer in the first inning, Thomas Scala hit a three-run homer in the second and Jonathan Beekman hit a two-run homer in the third to lead No. 6 Longwood (17-7) past No. 3 Ward Melville (16-8). WP – LW: Knudsen. LP – Pesapane. HR – LW: Beekman 1, Weeks 1, Scala 1; WM: Delgado 1. May 22

LONGWOOD 1, SACHEM NORTH 0: Bessel wins tough pitching matchup Loser Chung doesn’t get big hit to back him as Longwood advances to AA winners’ bracket final

Ronis, Adam. Newsday, Combined editions; Long Island, N.Y. [Long Island, N.Y]. 24 May 2009:

When the ball left the bat of Sachem North’s Alec Sole, Longwood catcher Danny Parisi was concerned. Sachem North didn’t hit many line drives off righthander J.J. Bessel, but Sole lined a shot to the left side of the infield with the tying run on third and one out in the top of the seventh inning yesterday.

“That was the hardest ball hit,” Parisi said. “I was kind of scared.”

Sixth-seeded Longwood had the infield in and the ball was hit right at shortstop Bobby Gazzola for the second out and he immediately fired it to third base to double off Joe Maiolo, ending the game and giving host Longwood a 1-0 win over No. 15 Sachem North in a Suffolk Class AA winners’ bracket semifinal.

“It was hit so hard, it was hard for me to even think,” Longwood coach John Davide said. “I was just hoping it was in reach of somebody and it happened to be right at our shortstop. The kid on third kept bluffing the squeeze to try and throw us off a little bit and I think he got off a little too far.”

Maiolo led off the seventh with a line-drive double to rightfield and Bryan Piotrowski put down a successful 1-3 sacrifice bunt, sending Maiolo to third. Sole got ahead in the count 3-and-0 before it went to a full count. He fouled off two pitches before hitting the line drive.

“You don’t want to start off with a leadoff double,” Bessel said. “Once that happens, you have to focus on the batter.”

The story of the game was tremendous pitching on both sides. Bessel threw a three-hitter, walked five and struck out 10, but he got off to a shaky start. With one out in the top of the first, he walked Mike Scarlato and pitcher Brian Chung singled to put runners at first and third, but Bessel struck out the next two.

“My fastball was on all game,” Bessel said. “My catcher called a great game. He wanted it outside, it was outside. He wanted it inside, it was inside.”

Bessel issued two walks in the second inning and Davide contemplated getting someone up in the bullpen.

“I didn’t know what we were going to do the first two innings,” Davide said. “I thought maybe we should get someone up and see what happens because he had a lot of pitches through the first two. He got his composure and started to keep the ball down and started rolling.”

As did Chung, who threw a one-hitter, walked two, hit two batters, allowed one unearned run and struck out five. Thomas Scala was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the first, stole second and scored on a throwing error by the shortstop Piotrowski for the lone run.

“Both pitchers pitched great,” Sachem North coach Tom Gambino said. “We had one miscue early and that turned out to be the difference. We had him on the ropes early. We didn’t get the big hit we have been getting in the past.”

Said Chung: “I mixed it up and threw strikes. My curveball was working early and my fastball was good late. I just didn’t get lucky.”

Longwood (18-7) will host No. 9 North Babylon in a winners’ bracket final at 4 p.m. Wednesday and Sachem North (12-12) will play at No. 1 Connetquot in an elimination game at 4 p.m. Tuesday.

CLASS AA BASEBALL SEMIFINAL: NORTH BABYLON 3, LONGWOOD 2 Cotter caps Bulldog rally Hits single to knock in game-winner and redeem himself for misplay that gave Longwood a run

Mascaro, Chris. Newsday, Combined editions; Long Island, N.Y. [Long Island, N.Y]. 28 May 2009:

Jon Cotter’s redemption was served with a flare to centerfield after the faintest of tings off his aluminum bat yesterday.

The two-out, RBI bloop single in the top of the seventh inning proved to be the game-winning hit in No. 9 North Babylon’s fourth straight come-from-behind road victory in the playoffs. The Bulldogs scored three runs in their last turn at-bat to clinch a 3-2 win at No. 6 Longwood, and a spot in the Class AA final.

Cotter went from goat to hero in just an inning and a half. With two outs in the home half of the fifth, Cotter overran a fly ball to left. His recovery attempt was in vain, as the ball popped off the heel of his glove, scoring pinch runner Steven Fitzpatrick to put Longwood ahead 2-0.

“I’m thinking I just lost the game,” said Cotter, whose natural position is catcher, but who was moved to the outfield midway through the season. “It was the worst feeling of my life followed by the best feeling of my life.”

In the seventh, Mike Pinnola narrowly missed a home run when he ripped a double off the fence in left to put runners on second and third for Ciwan McCoy, who lined a double to right to tie the game at 2.

“Top of the world,” McCoy said of the feeling he had standing on third base (the rightfielder bobbled the ball, allowing him to advance). “We just had to buckle down.”

After a groundout, Cotter got a good enough piece of a 2-and-0 pitch to score McCoy and give the Bulldogs the lead for good. “I put a bad swing on it,” Cotter said. “But it got out there.” 

North Babylon (18-7) had just three hits – two by Kyle Olsen – before the seventh. Brandon McClain kept the Bulldogs off balance by changing speeds, but he pitched to contact – he had no strikeouts despite tossing a complete game – and it hurt him at the worst possible time. “It caught up to him in the seventh,” Longwood coach John Davide said.

Longwood (18-8), which will host No. 8 Patchogue-Medford in the losers’ bracket final this afternoon, pieced together the game’s first run off the hard-throwing Olsen on a double by Kyle Weeks and Jonathon Beekman’s sacrifice fly in the fourth. 

But Olsen (11 strikeouts) bore down as the game wore on, and struck out five of the last seven hitters to close the door. Said North Babylon coach Jim Mango of Olsen: “He’s a man in an 18-year-old’s body. He’s been our horse all year.”

SUFFOLK CLASS AA BASEBALL FINAL: NORTH BABYLON 6, LONGWOOD 5 Cardiac kids do it again Primm’s single in 10th means another comeback win and first county title

Ronis, Adam. Newsday, Combined editions; Long Island, N.Y. [Long Island, N.Y]. 31 May 2009:

Kevin Primm never had any doubt. Even when North Babylon trailed by one run in the bottom of the sixth inning and three runs in the bottom of the ninth, the senior catcher figured the Bulldogs would find a way to win.

Could you blame him? North Babylon has trailed in all of its playoff games and needed a three-run seventh to defeat Longwood on Wednesday. The Bulldogs did it again. 

Primm lined a two-out single to right-centerfield, scoring Anthony Repetto in the bottom of the 10th inning to give No.9 North Babylon a 6-5 win over visiting No.6 Longwood yesterday in the Suffolk Class AA baseball final. North Babylon (19-7) won its first county championship and will play the winner of the Massapequa against Carey game in the Long Island Class AA championship.

“I thought they were going to walk me since I killed them all game,” said Primm, who went 3-for-5 with a home run, four RBIs and an intentional walk. “He left a fat pitch and I punished them for it. It seemed like a fastball right down the middle.”

Repetto, who retired five of the six batters he faced for the win, was hit by a pitch with two outs. Kyle Olsen reached on an infield single before Primm knocked in the winner.

“We don’t think we’re going to lose a game ever,” Primm said. “When we’re down by 20 runs in the last inning, we’ll come back and get it.”

That might be the only way to top this game. North Babylon starter Mike Pinnola got the first out of the ninth before allowing a walk and double. Repetto came in and threw a wild pitch, scoring J.J. Bessell to give Longwood (19-9) a 4-3 lead and Danny Parisi hit a two-run homer to make it 6-3.

Repetto reached on an error to start the bottom of the ninth, Olsen hit an infield single and Primm doubled home Repetto. Ciwan McCoy drove in a run with a fielder’s choice and Tom Pinnola hit a sacrifice fly to tie the score at 5. 

Longwood starter Kyle Weeks, who went seven innings, homered in the sixth to give Longwood a 2-1 lead. North Babylon tied the score in the bottom of the inning when Olsen doubled with one out and scored on a groundout by Primm.

North Babylon, which has won 15 of 16, also played terrific defensively. After a leadoff single by Kris Kelly in the top of the seventh inning, Nick Leggio put down a successful sacrifice bunt and Kelly, seeing no one covering third base, ran there. Third baseman Lou Galioto threw out Leggio at first and McCoy threw to third as leftfielder Jon Cotter covered the bag. Cotter made a diving tag for a 5-3-7 double play. 

“I was running over there,” Primm said, “but I couldn’t get there. I wanted to give the kid a hug right there. After we made that play, I knew we had it.”

Olsen made a running catch in centerfield in the eighth inning and crashed into the wall right after he grabbed it and held on.

“We’re very hot and very confident,” North Babylon coach Jim Mango said. “We’re doing all the right things right now. It’s always good to be the first at something and we’ve accomplished that.”

Said Mike Pinnola: “This team is going to be remembered forever. If you made a movie about us, you couldn’t make it this good.”