The people of the Port Chester Youth Baseball League will host a fall version of their successful Battle at the Border on Oct. 3 and 4. The tournament, called the 2009 Elite Eight edition of the Battle at the Border, will include many of the top teams from the tri-state area and other portions of New England.

To check a list of the teams included log on here. You can find a complete schedule of games here.

All games will be held at either Rec Park or Port Chester Middle School, both of which are in Port Chester.

If you missed it Tuesday, I wrote a story about the CHSAA’s fall baseball league, which has existed for more than three decades and remains a key developmental league for the spring baseball season. You can read the story here.

There are examples of players who benefitted from playing fall baseball. I also found it interesting that coaches use the fall as an extended tryout. In actuality, their teams (right or wrong) are mostly picked by the time the fall is over.

The Catholics have a major advantage here in: A) building their programs, B) readying young players for varsity action, and C) putting the right players on the team, and playing them in the right positions.

Do you agree? I believe what the coaches said to be true. The weather in the spring is brutal, and you don’t get an adequate representation of a player’s ability during spring tryouts.

Do any public-school programs have fall workouts/scrimmages?

As you may have read, John Jay pitcher Jared Hirschberg became the latest LoHudder to commit from the class of 2010. He landed at a popular spot: Manhattan College.

The Jaspers has as much local flavor as any D-I baseball program. Coach Kevin Leighton is from Brewster. Third baseman Chad Salem is from Iona Prep (and Rye). Top-three starter Mike Giordano is from Fox Lane. Joe Rock from Kennedy (and Carmel), Nick Camastro and Ryan Wallner from Arlington and Erik Luksis from JJEF are all coming in this fall. Two outgoing seniors Mike Gazzola and Tom Costigan are both from the area, too.

Hirschberg will soon join that group. He said that the success Giordano, a walkon, had this spring really pushed him toward Manhattan.

“The thought that he walked on and had a very successful year and did well kind of made me believe that if I prove myself, I can get a lot of good innings in as a freshman,” Hirschberg said.

Hirschberg, a righty, impressed Leighton at Baseball Heaven on Long Island. He hit 88-89 consistently.

Hirschberg had other Division I interest from Stony Brook and St. John’s. He received serious offers from Pace and Bryant before deciding on Manhattan.

“I had a lot of decisions to make, a lot of options,” Hirschberg said. “I thought the best one that fit me was Manhattan. I liked the city environment and it’ss a very good Division I program.”

There never seemed to be many second thoughts around here about whether Jim Brennan would go pro or head to St. John’s. Even he never really pondered bypassing the opportunity to play ball in college, not as a 45th-rounder. “I really didn’t consider it,” he admitted.

Indeed, Brennan made the logical choice. He turned down an undisclosed offer from the Detroit Tigers before last night’s midnight deadline. He will head to St. John’s in a couple weeks.

“To go through the process was great,” Brennan said. “I know I have of great things to look forward to at St. John’s.”

The level-headed Suffern grad told me “the whole experience was phenomenal” dealing with being selected and everything that accompanies it. “It’ll make things a whole lot easier when it comes up again,” he said.

Another few days go by and another group of local players make their college commitments. There’s a story out tomorrow, but here’s a recap on them:

T.J. OLESCZUK, Hen Hud shortstop, committed to Winthrop — With a pretty solid list of Division I suitors, Olesczuk, a three-year starter for the Sailors, had plenty of opportunities to play college baseball. As you’ll read in tomorrow’s paper, what it came down to for him was how much each program wanted his services. No team chased after him like Winthrop, and that is exactly where he ended up. Olesczuk estimated that Winthrop watched him play as many as a dozen times, beginning with the Battle at the Border in Port Chester. … Northeastern, Wofford and Manhattan also offered him, according to Olesczuk. Penn St., Old Dominion, Virginia Tech and Notre Dame showed interest, especially Penn St. and ODU. You can read more tomorrow from T.J., who was the Section 1 leader in homers and RBI and was a first-team TJN all-star.

CHRIS BATES, Regis LHP, committed to Tulane — Many of you (OK, OK…me included) probably don’t or didn’t know about Bates. He is from Ossining, he is 6-foot-5 and he has pitched on the varsity the last two seasons for Regis, a highly competitive CHSAA A Division team out of Manhattan. Bates is an interesting guy. He originally looked into Tulane based solely on academics, but the Green Wave staff caught him pitching for the Taconic Rangers down in Georgia. A few conversations later the Big Lefty was in the Big Easy, and the rest is history. … Tulane was only the third school Bates visited, after Richmond and Appalachian State. With an academic reputation he sought, and solid Conference USA competition, No. 3 was more than enough for Bates.

JOHN PILLA, Ardsley shortstop, committed to Young Harris College (GA) — Here’s another interesting school, much in the mold of Pat Farina, the Mahopac outfielder who committed to a first-year NAIA school this summer. Pilla gave his verbal to Young Harris, which is a former junior college powerhouse that will begin play next season in Division II. The school had previously been a junior college and is now in its first school year as a four-year institution.

For all of the honors he has received the last few years, Robbie Aviles may never have been given as much respect as he was recently. The Suffern senior-to-be was picked for the 2009 Aflac All-American High School Baseball Classic. Check out the event’s web site here.

The Aflac game will be played on Aug. 16 at Petco Park in San Diego. Aviles, who was one of 40 players selected, will play for the East team in the East-West game. He is one of 20 players on the East team. You can read his bio here.

The importance of the showcase is plainly obvious. Of the 40 players who participated in last year’s game, 13 were selected in the first round of the 2009 draft, including third-overall pick Donovan Tate. Former No. 1 picks Justin Upton, Matt Bush and Tim Beckham are among the event’s alumni.

I’ll have more in the paper and online about Aviles playing in the game during the coming days.

I’ll have a few news items this week but here’s the first: Suffern grad Jim Brennan will travel to New Mexico this weekend to compete for the South Troy Dodgers in the Connie Mack World Series.

You can find more info about the event here.

Brennan plays his summer ball out of Staten Island. However, after that season ended, Brennan was picked up by the Albany-based Dodgers. (His father, Robert, knew people involved with the team; he went to high school in Albany area.)

Batting third and playing center, Brennan helped the Dodgers advance through regionals unbeaten. He went 9 for 18 with two home runs and eight stolen bases in the tourney. He actually homered in the first inning of the championship game.

Brennan and South Troy begin play in the Connie Mack WS on Friday, Aug. 7. They are scheduled to kick off play at 8 on Friday night before a huge post-opening ceremonies crowd.

I also asked Brennan about his courtship with the Tigers, who selected him in the draft. He does not expect to sign and plans on enrolling at St. John’s, although he has yet to receive an offer from Detroit. That offer will ultimately determine his future, but he will not make a final decision until it has been issued.

Jake or I will update you after he makes a final decision. The deadline for big league clubs to sign its draft picks is Aug. 17.

I’ll have more on Brennan in Friday’s paper and here on the website.

I received an e-mail from Stephen Green (above) of John Jay yesterday saying he had committed to pitch at Boston College. Green makes Section 1’s big three from 2010 into a big four. Seriously, has the Section 1 recruiting period ever kicked off with a bigger bang? Four players are headed to major-college programs.

Green and I spoke last night and I will have a story for tomorrow’s paper. He went to visit four schools (Fordham, Penn State and St. John’s being the others) but decided he liked BC the best.

Green actually visited to BC in February and made his ultimate decision back in May, after the Eagles had dispatched coaches to watch him pitch twice, once against Somers and another time against Greeley.

“”I wanted to stay in the Northeast, and I wanted a good academic school that also had good sports and it had that,” Green said. “I didn’t really know anything about it (in February). I just wanted to see what it looked like. It seemed like the best one I saw.”

I asked the hard-throwing southpaw about his arm. As you probably know, he missed the second part of sophomore year with a sore shoulder and more than three weeks late this season with a sore elbow. Green returned to earn the save over Suffern on May 30. He said he was healthy ever since, and pitched the entire summer for the Taconic Rangers.

Green hit as high as 91 on the gun down at the big tournament in East Cobb, Ga.

“My arm feels good now,” he said.

Good news to report on former Stepinac pitcher Pat Massaroni. Two family friends told me the 21-year-old was released from the hospital today and home, resting comfortably in White Plains.

Massaroni, who was a hero in a Jersey Shore in an early-morning house fire on July 19, suffered burns to his hands, face and neck. He was flown via helicopter to the burn center in Livingston, N.J. shortly after the fire. He was improving last week, and was eventually taken off a respirator, from what friends had told me.

(Also, here is a first-hand account of the fire.)

Pat has received well-wishes from a number of people in the area, even from Keith Hernandez during a Mets telecast on SNY last week. (Pat worked as an intern for the Mets this summer.) With all the interest in his story, I just wanted to keep everyone up to date.

We will have a full story on Mike Rosenfeld (right) and his decision to commit to Duke in tomorrow’s paper. For now, I just wanted to pass along the gist of the conversation I had with him this afternoon.

1. He felt at ease with Duke coach Sean McNally. And why not? McNally is a Westchester guy who made it as a player and a coach down South. Rosenfeld was even impressed when he found out McNally once hit in the Mamaroneck basement of Ralph Vasami, who has leant his hitting cauldron to Rosenfeld as well. Rosenfeld said he felt more of a “connection” to McNally than any of the coaches he spoke to.

2. Nearly 30 schools were involved. Since July 1, Rosenfeld, by his estimate, fielded calls from nearly 30 schools. Six, including Duke, made formal offers. He declined to name them, but said he heard from schools in the Pac-10, ACC, Big East, SEC and Ivy League. I don’t think I’m being presumptuous to speculate that Stanford was among them.

3. The location played a major role. Rosenfeld flew down to and back from Duke in one day. It was an hour and 10-minute flight. Compared to others he visited, it was nothing. (McNally and his coaches also took him on the court at Cameron Indoor Stadium, the home of Duke basketball, which he called “a nice recruiting point. True that.)

— I will have a few other commitments soon, possibly as soon as this week, so stay tuned.

— As always, send me your college commitments. E-mail me at JTHOMSON@lohud.com.