Longwood Well-Positioned For a Turnaround Year
March 1, 2016
Playing in League-I is no easy task. For Longwood, the opportunity to compete with the likes of Ward Melville and Pat-Med might not come around every year. When they do have the talent, it’s crucial that they capitalize.
Having three senior pitchers that have all committed to play in college is a huge benefit. Throw in a Div-I bound catcher that happens to be one of the best athletes in the country doesn’t hurt either.
June 5 at Dowling
Head Coach Ryan McSherry is confident that he has the right pieces in place for a huge turnaround from last year’s four-win team.
“Overall, we can sum up our team as, ‘solid’. Defensively, offensively, and pitching is all- around good. We will be highly competitive and the expectation is to always win the League 1 title,” he added.
The optimism is certainly warranted, especially with the staff being led by Adelphi-bound Troy Simpson.
He’s a hard-throwing righty that put himself on the radar with a strong showing last summer with the Titans and on the showcase circuit.
He will be joined by Matthew Parson–who is committed to Lackawanna College–and CJ Owens (SUNY Purchase). Having three pitchers with the pedigree to pitch in college is generally what it takes to succeed when you find yourself in a crucial May series against a League-I foe.
They will have the peace of mind of pitching to Hofstra-bound catcher Sean Rausch.
If you haven’t heard of him, click here to see why they’re excited to have him for another year.
He “is a 5 tool player that will control the run game and will contribute tremendously to the core of the lineup”. Rausch has a very smooth, yet powerful swing. He is an All-State football player as well.
They also have another All-State football player in Antonio Scala, who will be expected to produce some power in their order. They are counting on All-League outfielder Cameron Alfano (committed to Farmingdale State) to supply some pop as well.
Aiden McGrath and Andy Garcia are two more impact players that will play crucial roles in Longwood’s success.
The Longwood program has produced some very talented players in recent years–highlighted by Dan Parisi (Dowling), Andruw Gazzola (Stony Brook) and JJ Bessell (Dowling).
The latter name will be with the team as the pitching coach this season. In fact, the entire coaching staff are Longwood grads. Head Coach McSherry graduated in 2005, Assistant Coach Steve Mandery graduated with him and Bessell graduated in 2010.
Despite Bessell and Parisi both having terrific college careers, it’s the youngest one (Gazzola), who may have the best career of all.
The 2014 graduate had a stellar freshman year at Stony Brook and he was named Baseball on the Island’s Rookie of the Year.
Players of that magnitude help the perception of Longwood’s program.
” The fact that we have guys like Andruw Gazzola playing at Stony Brook raises the bar high for our program,” said McSherry. “Andrew was a great hitter during his time here and is spoken of in high regard. Our athletes aspire to do well during their time here and pursue their passion of baseball beyond high school. Andruw’s success and aspirations have trickled down,” he added.
Comsewogue 2, Longwood 1: Kyle McLaughlin drove in Joe Ciancarelli on a single up the middle for a walk-off win in the 10th to lead Comsewogue in its non-league opener. April 2
Brentwood scores 6 in 6th to defeat Longwood, 12-4: Aviles goes 3-for-4, including two-run double Ycaza’s grand slam in sixth puts it out of reach
O’Brien, Owen. Newsday, Combined editions; Long Island, N.Y. [Long Island, N.Y]. 06 Apr 2016.
The weather may have been freezing but the Brentwood offense was anything but cold. Host Brentwood scored in five of its six innings, highlighted by a six-run sixth, in a 12-4 victory over Longwood on Tuesday in Suffolk I baseball.
“We all passed the bat around,” said Justin Aviles, who went 3-for-4. “We got small hits, didn’t swing for the fences and did what we had to do.”
Eight of nine Indians recorded hits, with Anthony Rogers getting the go-ahead single in the fourth.
Aviles’ two-run double in the sixth made it 8-4 before Santino Ycaza redeemed his early struggles at the plate with his final swing. Brentwood’s catcher roped a line drive over the right-centerfield fence for a grand slam to extend the lead to 12-4. He started with three strikeouts.
“It was tough,” Ycaza said. “It got in my head a lot but we had the lead and I relaxed, gave my pitcher a bigger lead, so that’s how it worked out.”
Longwood (1-2) took a 1-0 lead when Aidan McGrath’s RBI double scored Cameron Alfano. Brentwood (2-2) responded when David Soto’s double drove in Josh Herritt to tie it at 1 after an inning.
The Indians tacked on a run in the second before Longwood scored three in the third on hits by Alfano, Andy Garcia and Jarred Vanderhoof to take a 4-2 lead. Again, it didn’t take Brentwood long to respond. Jenfry Perez lined a two-run double down the leftfield line to make it 4-4 in the third.
“We started off the season slow, got a lot of runs on errors,” Ycaza said. “But we woke up today.”
Danny Herrera, the Indians’ starter, tossed a scoreless fourth inning before being removed from the game. He admitted the weather was a factor for him.
“At the beginning of the game it got mentally because it was really cold, but at the end, you just have to battle, that’s it,” Herrera said. “You have to go out there, throw strikes, let your team play defense and come back at it.”
Brian Maher entered in a relatively unknown situation for him: relief. He threw three shutout innings for the save.
Longwood 5, Commack 2: Troy Simpson struck out seven and allowed three hits in seven innings to lead Longwood (3-1) in Suffolk I. Cameron Alfano and Will Coneron each had three hits. April 12
Longwood 2, Commack 1: C.J. Owens struck out five and allowed five hits in a complete game to lead Longwood (5-1) in Suffolk I. Aidan McGrath had two hits and drove in Sean Rausch on a single for the go-ahead run in the sixth inning. Jared Solero had two hits and an RBI. April 16
Longwood 3, Floyd 2: Sean Rausch went 1-for-2 with a triple and two RBIs. Troy Simpson threw a complete game, allowed one earned run on six hits, struck out six and walked two for Longwood (6-1). April 19
Floyd Shows Grittiness, Defeat Longwood 8-5
April 21, 2016
by Vinny Messana
They didn’t necessary hit the ball all over the yard, but that’s not what they needed to do to win this game.
Floyd scraped across two runs in the fourth inning after the first two outs were retired thanks to RBI hits by Nikko Rodriguez and Mike DiGiovanni. In the fifth, they scored three runs on an error by the pitcher, wild pitch and suicide squeeze.
Head Coach Glenn Davis was pleased by his team’s ability to capitalize on mistakes and execute small ball.
“We were just gritty,” he said. “We were able to squeeze there, and the guy got it down on a high fastball that was over his head–and he’s a freshman. They did a good job trying to pitch out of it and our guy did a great job. Our kids battled, they were into it and we got after it. They’re a good team, they were in first place and we were able to take two of three.”
The freshman he was referring to was Nick LoMonaco who actually bunted a pitch out and was successful in his attempt to get the runner in. That was the defining moment for Floyd, who did all the little things right in this game–from defensive execution on a 1st & 3rd rundown to situational hitting.
They took a 1-0 lead off Longwood’s starter, C.J. Owens, on an RBI single by Hunter Kaucky in the first.
In the bottom of the first, the Lions threatened to tie it up when Antonio Scala started the inning with a double off Rob Brust. After a single by Sean Rausch moved him to third, they attempted a double steal but Floyd executed perfectly and gunned down Scala at the plate.
They increased the lead to 2-0 in the third when Mike Bradley drove in Rodriguez with an RBI groundout to the shortstop.
Longwood cut the lead in half in their half of the third on a sacrifice fly to left field by Cameron Alfano.
The fourth and fifth innings featured the most action.
Owens had a tough go of it. After retiring the first two batters, he allowed a walk followed by three consecutive singles, which led to two runs and a 3-1 Floyd lead.
They responded with two runs of their own in the fourth inning when a couple errors by Floyd let Andy Garcia and Jared Solero score the second and third runs for the Lions.
Floyd did their damage in the third on a wild pitch to score Marc Labroy, an error that scored Kaucky and the previously mentioned suicide squeeze by Lomonaco.
Owens was lifted after 4.2 IP, having allowed seven runs on eight hits, two walks while striking out three. He did display a very good change up, but the fourth and fifth innings really did him in.
The Lions did scrape across a run in the sixth inning to score pinch hitter Connor Kilcarr, but that was close as it would get.
Brust was able to finish what he started–despite allowing five runs on seven hits and two walks.
“He battled,” said David in regards to his starter. “He competed and that’s what I tell these guys, ‘you gotta compete, every step of the way, and whatever happens happens.’ He was great,” he added.
With the win, Floyd improves to 6-7 overall but will have a challenge next week in a tough three-game series.
“We’ve won three of the last four and got Commack next week, and they’re always good,” he said.
They will hope to build on this success after taking down a quality opponent in Longwood.
Sachem East 7, Longwood 6: Dan O’Keefe walked with the bases loaded to break a tie at 6 in the bottom of the eighth to lead Sachem East (2-8). Longwoodscored three runs in the seventh to tie the score. April 26
Patchogue-Medford 2, Longwood 1: Anthony Schiano drove in Brad Malm on a walk-off infield single in the bottom of the ninth to lead Patchogue-Medford (9-7) in Suffolk I. May 10
Senior Day 2016 LVB
Special Thanks to
Nancy Logercio and Jen Brennan for your help in making today so wonderful for LVB
Longwood Lions Bas: LVB beat Commack 5-4 in the playoffs. CJ Owens tossed a CG gem. Andy Garcia had a 2b, 3b, and 2 RBIs. The Rausch bros combined for 3 runs.
Way to go LVB, Battle on another day!
Smithtown West 5, Longwood 4: Nick Grande hit a two-run homer and retired the last two batters with the tying run on base to lead No. 5 Smithtown West (18-3) over No. 12 Longwood in the first round of the Suffolk AA playoffs. May 17
Longwood 12, Half Hollow Hills East 8: Sean Rausch went 3-for-4 with a three-run home run and four RBIs and Antonio Scala went 4-for-4 with an RBI and two runs to lead No. 12 Longwood (13-10) in a Suffolk AA elimination game. Troy Simpson recorded the final six outs to preserve the win. Longwood (13-10) plays No. 5 Smithtown West Friday at 4:30 p.m. May 19
Congratulations to our LVB players
Suffolk County Baseball Coaches Association
Sean Rausch All League
Troy Simpson All County
Jared Solero All County
Congrats to all of our outstanding
LVB seniors
who were honored last night at the
Longwood High School Senior Athletic Banquet
Also recognized
Cameron Alfano, CJ Owens and Will Condron
Guy Mastrion Outstanding Senior Athlete:
Sean Rausch
