The LoHud Baseball Blog

In case you missed it in today’s paper, I wrote a story on Horace Greeley senior Andres Larramendi’s decision to commit to Princeton University. He said that his decision came down to Princeton and Lehigh University, so education was obviously a top priority. At Princeton, he’ll be a member of a perennial Ivy League power (the Tigers won an Ivy League championship last season to make the NCAA tourney). There are a few locals on the team as well, including former Scarsdale pitcher Tyler Foote. Here is the link to the story.

The three-time All-Section catcher is a career .415 hitter, and should reach 100 career hits this season. He was named a Louisville Slugger honorable mention All-American last season, in which he led the Quakers in virtually every offensive category. Greeley coach Anthony Marino marvels at his patience at the plate, and his ability to drive the ball with authority to the opposite field. He is one of only three returning first-team Journal News Westchester/Putnam all-stars.

Harrison senior Max Bruckner will officially sign his letter of intent with Iona College at 2:45 p.m. on Tuesday at Harrison HS. Bruckner is the Huskies’ No. 1 pitcher, and has been a three-year varsity player. This past summer, he played on the Bobby Valentine All-American team.

Bruckner will join Suffern’s Alex Fishberg at Iona, who also recently signed his letter of intent with the Gaels.

New Rochelle grad Tom Koehler was officially promoted to the Miami Marlins’ 40-man roster on Friday. Here is the report from the Marlins’ official website.

The right-handed starter is coming off of a somewhat disappointing season with the Marlins’ Triple-A New Orleans affiliate, in which he went 12-7 with a 4.97 ERA and a 1.48 WHIP. In 2010 with the Marlins’ Double-A Jacksonville affiliate, Koehler was the named the Southern League Pitcher of the Year after posting a 16-2 record to go along with a 2.61 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP.

Koehler will look to regain his 2010 form this season, and is now surely an option for the backend of the Miami rotation at some point in 2012. By adding him to the 40-man roster, the Marlins have protected Koehler from being eligible for the Rule 5 draft, which tells you that they still have faith in the 25-year-old. If all else fails, he can always fall back on his dancing career (wait until the 1:05 mark in the video).

Ossining coach Bill Casey sent me word that shortstop Matt Belitz signed his national letter of intent with Marist on Wednesday. The senior led the Pride to their first league title in 26 years last season. He will join Suffern’s Joe Aiola at Marist.

As I said the other day, if any coaches would like me to post news of any players signing, just shoot me an email at vmercoglia@lohud.com.

Two Suffern players will sign their letters of intent tomorrow at Suffern High School at 11:15 a.m. Shortstop Joe Aiola will sign with Marist, while catcher Alex Fishberg will sign with Iona.

I know there are many players from around the section who have committed to play in college. We’ve reported on some, and if any coaches would like to let me know about any official signing dates, just email me at vmercoglia@lohud.com.

This story isn’t directly about baseball, but it will definitely be a factor for those teams located in the city of Yonkers.

For our Sunday centerpiece this week, I wrote a story on the difficulties that all of the athletic programs in Yonkers have had to endure this season as a result of the severe budget cuts in the city. The conditions of the fields that these teams play and practice on are pretty much miserable, with no grass or white lines or goals in many instances. Equipment is tough to come by, and field space is even more of a challenge to find. The obstacles continue to mount for these programs, but boys soccer teams such as Yonkers High and Gorton have enjoyed successful seasons. Yonkers is having the best season in school history at 11-0-1, while Gorton is over .500 after winning five of its last seven. Both teams are comfortably locked in for the postseason.

I wanted to share the story, because all of the teams in that city really deserve credit for keeping their heads up through these tough times. There’s a lot of places that you can point the finger, but most of those involved seem to be trying to make the best of a very unfortunate situation. Check out the story for more details.

Vincent Mercogliano here to officially announce that I’m taking over for Jake as the LoHud Baseball beat writer. Some of you may know me from my work on the soccer, wrestling or lacrosse beats, or more recently my time spent covering the Yankees and the Giants. I covered a handful of baseball games last season, so this isn’t my first appearance on this blog. I’m very familiar with the landscape in Section 1, and I’m hoping to get an early jump on building a rapport with the various coaches, players and fans from the area.

Obviously, the coverage will get ramped up as we inch closer to the spring. I plan on starting with individual team previews towards the end of the winter, leading into some extensive coverage once practices officially begin. I like to keep things interactive, so we’ll do plenty of predictions, rankings and other conversation-starting pieces.

For now, I wanted to post all of my information so that we can be sure to keep in touch throughout the offseason. I’m always looking for interesting story ideas, so please feel free to reach out if you feel that there is anything going on that I should be aware of. That includes college commitments, offseason workouts and tournaments, injury-updates or any other relevant news.

I’ll be monitoring the comments section, so you can always post information or concerns there. My email address is vmercoglia@lohud.com, and you can also check me out on Twitter @vzmercogliano. I’m constantly dropping random thoughts there on everything from the NFL to the Yankees to any local event that I might be covering. As we get closer to baseball season, my tweets will become increasingly more focused on LoHud baseball.

The bottom line is I’m here, and I’m ready to work. Shoot me any questions that you may have, and I look forward to working with all of you.

Two weeks ago I tendered my resignation at The Journal News. Yesterday was my last official day on the job. After almost eight years, I decided to try my hand at something else.

The Journal News was my first and only adult job. I got hired as a part-timer a couple months out of college in 2003, worked my way up to full-time, and have been covering local sports ever since.

I met a lot of interesting people along the way. I’ve written stories on 80-year-old boxers and 10-year-old baseball players, on future professional athletes and people in it for the love of the game. I got to know a few hundred coaches and a few thousand players.

I want to thank everyone out there who embraced the role of the newspaper in their lives. The vast majority of coaches were extraordinarily helpful and friendly, and a pleasure to talk to. And thank you to everyone who ever read my stories, whether you loved it or hated it. And I definitely had my share of haters. But whether you think I got it right or not, just know that I put full effort into every article I ever submitted to this paper.

Blogs have changed the sports culture forever, in ways good and bad. News is instant now. Reaction is instant. Fans can have discussions. I think all of that is great. The drawback is the anonymity that allows a few negative people to attack the athletes, the author, and the fans without revealing themselves. If I were Lord of the Blogs, I would make all commenters sign up for an account that revealed their names. Alas, I am not. So I will leave you with the best piece of advice I ever heard, courtesy of “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure”:

Be excellent to each other.

Ciao!

Add one name to your list of players to watch in 2012: Max Franzone.

Never heard of him? Neither had I?until a couple weeks ago. Although Franzone is a local kid, the Nanuet native goes to school at Trinity-Pawling, a boarding school in Pawling, NY.

The senior’s been making quite a name for himself in Dutchess County. He survived an exhausting tryout process to earn a spot on the Baseball Factory team at the Under Armour Fall Classic. And he qualified for the Under Armour preseason all-American tournament in Arizona in January.

Based on the track records of others from this tournament, the 6-foot, 195-pound corner infielder stands a great chance of being drafted next June.

Franzone first left home in seventh grade. He went to a boarding school in Deerfield, Mass., on a hockey scholarship. Though he still plays hockey at Trinity-Pawling, he knows his future is now in baseball.

His quest to make the Baseball Factory national team took him from a local tryout to a larger one at the Pittsburgh Pirates spring training facility to Arizona to a northeast regional showcase.

As a junior he batted .326 with 16 walks and 18 runs in just 15 games.

Trinity Pawling plays in the Founders League against prestigious New England prep schools like Choate and Salisbury. I don’t know much about the level of baseball in the Founders League, but Franzone said one of the teams, Avon Old Farms, sent nine players to college teams last year.

Here is the all-state baseball team. I think Section 1 may have gotten shorted a little in the larger classes because it has so many more kids than the sections upstate (2, 3, 7, and 10 especially). And how Matt Duran didn’t get first team I don’t understand. But putting this together is a hard job.

What do you all think?

CLASS AA
NYSSWA Coach of the Year: Sean Rucker (Victor-5)
NYSSWA Player of the Year: Nelson Rodriguez (George Washington-PSAL)

First Team
02 12 SS Branden Cogswell (Shenendehowa)
02 12 P/OF Jeff Hoffman (Shaker)
04 12 OF Calvin Woolheiser (Horseheads)
05 11 P/1B Matt Portland (Victor)
08 12 C Jake Thomas (Calhoun)
09 12 U Jared Jensen (Kingston)
11 12 SS/P Alec Sole (Sachem North)
11 12 P/1B Remy Janco (Half Hollow Hills West)
P 12 C Nelson Rodriguez (George Washington)
P 12 OF William Jerez (Grand Street)
Second Team
01 12 INF Matt Duran (New Rochelle)
02 12 C Brian O’Keefe (Colonie)
03 12 OF Riley Moonan (Cicero-North Syracuse)
03 12 INF Mike Parsons (Liverpool)
04 10 P/SS Dylan Manwaring (Horseheads)
05 12 P Jimmy Wagner (Hilton)
06 12 SS Zach Lauricella (Clarence)
11 12 P/1B Cameron Sorgie (William Floyd)
11 12 OF/P Anthony Gatto (Smithtown West)
C 12 C Elvin Soto (Xaverian)
Third Team
01 11 P/INF Seth Lamando (Roy C. Ketcham)
02 12 P/SS Chris Kalica (Colonie)
03 12 C Shawn Peake (Liverpool)
04 12 INF Mike Jankowski (Horseheads)
05 10 P/2B Tommy Wagner (Victor)
06 12 OF John Knauth (Orchard Park)
08 12 P John Daddino (Carey)
11 11 P/OF Tommy Kastelan (Deer Park)
C 12 P Anthony Pastrana (Xaverian)
C 11 P/INF Jonathan Ramon (Archbishop Molloy)
Fourth Team
01 11 C Andres Larramendi (Horace Greeley)
01 12 OF Don Castaldo (Fox Lane)
02 12 3B/P Derek Gardella (Shaker)
04 12 1B Vinnie Gneo (Ithaca)
05 10 1B Conner Simonetti (Fairport)
06 12 OF Glenn Gronkowski (Williamsville North)
08 12 P Jesse Tuozzo (MacArthur)
09 12 OF Rich Guido (Kingston)
11 12 CF/P Mike Roehrig (Lindenhurst)
P 11 INF Jose Cuas (Grand Street)
Fifth Team
01 12 2B Jake McGrath (Fox Lane)
01 12 P Tyler Foote (Scarsdale)
02 11 OF Matt Sand (Albany CBA)
02 12 P Steve Basile (Albany CBA)
04 12 C Cooper Belya (Ithaca)
05 11 C Evan Harasta (Webster Thomas)
08 12 SS/P Kyle DeMeo (Carey)
11 12 C Brendan Garry (Sachem North)
P 11 OF Fernelys Sanchez (George Washington)
P 12 INF Thomas Kain (Tottenville)
Sixth Team
01 12 C Alex McKeon (John Jay East Fishkill)
01 11 P Michael Williams (Mamaroneck)
06 11 INF Dave Crowley (Orchard Park)
06 12 INF Parker Gagahan (Williamsville North)
08 12 OF Kevin Monahan (MacArthur)
09 12 P/CF Brendyn Karinchak (Valley Central)
11 10 P/SS Matt Vogel (Patchogue-Medford)
11 12 C Tyler Bell (West Islip)
P 12 C Kevin Krause (Tottenville)
C 12 P Nick Thorgerson (Monsignor Farrell)
Seventh Team
01 11 P/3B Dominick Kulbaba (Suffern)
02 12 OF Kyle Willmott (Saratoga)
06 12 DH Tom DiCarlo (Lockport)
08 12 SS Chris Flynn (Oceanside)
11 09 3B Matt Annunziata (Eastport-South Manor)
11 12 SS Steve Skon (Lindenhurst)
C 12 C Chris Cannon (St. Francis Prep)
P 12 P Dymin Morillo (Lehman)
P 11 OF/P Nick Alvarez (Bryant)
C 12 P/INF James Norwood (All Hallows)

CLASS A
NYSSWA Coach of the Year: Paul Deluca (Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake-2)
NYSSWA Player of the Year: Jon de Marte (Lakeland-1)

First Team
01 12 P/OF Jon de Marte (Lakeland)
02 12 SS Bret Dennis (Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake)
02 12 OF Keaton Flint (Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake)
04 12 P Reid Van Woert (Maine-Endwell)
05 12 SS Brad Kaczka (Pittsford Sutherland)
C 12 P Josh Vaccaro (Canisius)
08 12 SS James Cauchi (Garden City)
09 12 SS/DH Joe McClennan (Cornwall)
11 12 3B/P Ryan McAlary (Shoreham-Wading River)
11 12 C Michael Hewson (Sayville)
Second Team
01 11 P/OF Francis Polanco (Yonkers)
02 12 P/OF Ryan Davis (Queensbury)
03 12 INF/P Tyler Mautner (Vernon-Verona-Sherrill)
05 11 P/SS Steven Klimek (Greece Arcadia)
05 12 1B Zack Salvia (Pittsford Sutherland)
C 12 SS Sean Tenney (Canisius)
06 12 SS Michael Orlowski (Iroquois)
08 12 P Sean Abbate (Levittown Division)
09 12 P Jon Chudy (Goshen)
10 12 C/P Matt Jenack (Massena)
Third Team
01 12 P/1B Mike Scaranci (Pearl River)
02 12 P Mike Doyle (Troy Catholic)
03 12 P/1B Ryan Watson (Whitesboro)
03 12 OF Brendan Heitz (Whitesboro)
04 11 SS Ken Hostrander (Maine-Endwell)
05 12 P/1B Joe Dunn (Honeoye Falls-Lima)
08 12 1B James Bulva (Mineola)
08 12 SS Brendan Swayne (Plainedge)
08 12 3B Mike Manganiello (Island Trees)
11 12 SS Tim Caputo (John Glenn)
Fourth Team
01 12 C Adam Screbnik (Eastchester)
02 12 3B/DH Jake Luce (Lansingburgh)
03 11 P Ryan O’Kane (Bishop Ludden)
04 11 P/SS Steve Yanchus (Owego Free Academy)
04 12 P/INF Brad Bellinger (Elmira Southside)
05 12 SS Danny Mendick (Pittsford Mendon)
06 12 3B Mike Kerr (Hamburg)
08 11 P Tyler Manez (Plainedge)
09 12 OF Jon Diaz (New Paltz)
11 11 P/3B Mike O’Reilly (Shoreham-Wading River)
Fifth Team
01 12 SS/P Michael Jacobson (Harrison)
02 12 U Alex Mastrianni (Ichabod Crane)
03 12 1B Chris Davis (Bishop Ludden)
C 12 OF Michael Wagner (Buffalo St. Francis)
06 12 C Christian Brigham (West Seneca East)
06 12 OF Phil Stasniak (Williamsville South)
06 12 INF Alex Nowocien (Lewiston-Porter)
08 12 P John Jarosz (Clarke)
11 12 P/3B Joe DeFrank (Rocky Point)
11 09 1B/C Nick Bottari (Shoreham-Wading River)
Sixth Team
01 12 OF Dan Spector (Yonkers)
01 09 P/1B Tony Romanelli (Beacon)
02 12 P Nick Cioffi (Averill Park)
02 11 OF Ryan McGrath (Lansingburgh)
06 12 P/OF Brian Berry (Lake Shore)
09 11 2B Dillon Merola (Cornwall)
10 12 P Travis Legacy (Malone)
11 12 3B/P Nick Petrella (Sayville)
11 12 3B/P R.J. Going (Islip)
11 10 C Mark Danodio (Mount Sinai)

CLASS B
NYSSWA Coach of the Year: Michael Allen (Chenango Valley-4)
NYSSWA Co-Players of the Year: Chris Bostick (Aquinas-5) and Andrew Zapata (Poly Prep-AIS)

First Team
01 11 2B John Fusell (Briarcliff)
02 12 C Jack Keller (Spa Catholic)
03 12 P Kevin McAvoy (Westhill)
04 11 P/INF Austin Lewis (Chenango Valley)
04 12 P/U Mike Calkins (Oneonta)
04 11 P Mike Filler (Chenango Valley)
05 12 SS Chris Bostick (Aquinas)
08 11 P/3B Joe Siringo (Oyster Bay)
06 12 P Rohn Pierce (Newfane)
A 10 P Andrew Zapata (Poly Prep)
Second Team
01 12 P Josh Miller (Briarcliff)
02 12 SS/P Billy McDonough (Spa Catholic)
03 12 P/INF Mike Gaglianese (Utica Notre Dame)
04 12 C Mike Fernando (Chenango Valley)
05 12 C Connor Hennessy (Wellsville)
06 12 P/SS Vin Bomasuto (Dunkirk)
07 12 C Frank Buksa (Beekmantown)
08 12 1B Stephen Laurino (Carle Place)
09 11 OF Paul Rapoli (Burke Catholic)
11 12 P/1B Steve Ascher (Mattituck)
Third Team
01 12 P Tom Longo (Valhalla)
02 12 P/INF Mike Vargues (Schuylerville)
03 11 P Phil Zdanowski (Marcellus)
03 11 C Nick Sinay (Marcellus)
04 11 3B/P Sean Getman (Oneonta)
05 12 C Dylan Dunn (Hornell)
07 12 P Will Flynn (Peru)
08 12 P/3B Chris Kelly (Oyster Bay)
09 12 C Jeremy Degori (Sullivan West)
10 12 U John Coleman (Potsdam)
Fourth Team
01 12 OF Matt Cassinelli (Valhalla)
02 11 P/2B Ted Smallwood (Albany Academy)
03 11 OF Ryan Blanden (Homer)
04 10 OF Chris Pinder (Oneonta)
05 12 P/SS Sean Brooks (Holley)
06 11 P Ben Zaccagnino (Buffalo JFK)
06 12 C Kris Kruszka (Gowanda)
07 12 P/SS Jamie Davison (Northeastern Clinton)
11 12 C Greg Siliris (Mattituck)
A 12 INF Cristian Fiorito (Iona Prep)
Fifth Team
01 11 P/1B Kenta Suga (Keio Academy)
02 12 P/1B Matt Gage (Broadalbin-Perth)
03 12 U Nate Nigolian (Westhill)
03 12 P/OF Dustin Exford (Watertown Immaculate Heart)
05 12 3B Jordan Wheaton (Wayland-Cohocton)
06 12 C Brian McCarthy (Tonawanda)
08 12 P/SS David Hobbs (East Rockaway)
09 12 P Nick May (Burke Catholic)
05 11 P/OF Elliott Eckerson (Penn Yan)
A 12 C/INF Nat Irving (Riverdale)

CLASS C
NYSSWA Player of the Year: Zach Bellinger (Elmira Heights Edison-4)
NYSSWA Coach of the Year: John D’Arco (Tuckahoe-1)

First Team
01 12 P/SS Alex Melendez (Tuckahoe)
01 12 C Jamie Maldadado (Tuckahoe)
02 12 P/INF Aaron Casper (Duanesburg)
03 12 P Evan Davis (Little Falls)
04 12 C Zach Bellinger (Elmira Heights Edison)
04 12 P/INF Andy Kozak (Sidney)
04 12 P/INF Payton Taylor (Tioga)
09 12 1B/P Scott Glowaczewski (Florida)
10 12 P/SS Andrew Stone (Norwood-Norfolk)
10 12 CF Matthew Bresett (Norwood-Norfolk)
Second Team
01 12 OF Jarett Somer (Tuckahoe)
02 11 OF/P Jason Flynn (Greenwich)
02 12 P Jabin Weaver (Fort Plain)
02 12 2B/P Brent Baker (Fort Plain)
03 12 P/OF Steve Szatko (Sauquoit Valley)
03 12 OF David Campese (Bishop Grimes)
03 12 P Mike Mosher (Pulaski)
05 12 P/SS Dakota Stackhouse (Warsaw)
05 11 P/OF Derick Fera (Lyons)
06 11 P/SS Thad Johnson (Frewsburg)
Third Team
01 11 P/INF L.J. Gallo (Tuckahoe)
02 12 C Tim Beninati (Schoharie)
02 12 1B Cody LaBadia (Schoharie)
03 12 P Mike Cowan (Pulaski)
04 12 P/OF Dan Roldan (Elmira Heights Edison)
05 12 C Tyler Parott (Warsaw)
06 12 OF Trent Unverdorben (Portville)
06 11 P/C Austin Alonge (Westfield)
09 12 3B Shane Kinley (Florida)
11 12 C Rocco Pascale (McGann-Mercy)
Fourth Team
02 10 1B Cori Winch (Greenwich)
02 11 C Mike Chisieri (Voorheesville)
03 12 P/DH Sam Malinder (Fabius-Pompey
03 12 CF Greg Brodersen (Cooperstown)
04 12 SS/P David Ulrich (Tioga)
06 12 SS Chris Draudt (Cattaraugus/Little Valley)
06 12 P Jake Harford (Silver Creek)
06 11 OF Dalton Peterson (Frewsburg)
08 10 C Alek Kucich (Friends Academy)
10 12 P Quinn Patraw (St. Lawrence)

CLASS D
NYSSWA Coach of the Year: Jeff Loeffler (Livingston Manor-9)
NYSSWA Player of the Year: Alex MaLossi (Loudonville Christian-2)

First Team
02 12 SS/P Alex MaLossi (Loudonville Christian)
02 11 OF Jeff Johnson (Fort Ann)
03 12 P/1B Jeff Albright (New York Mills)
03 12 1B/P Corey Cowen (Brookfield)
04 12 C Eric Hicks (Hancock)
05 12 P/SS Seth Cornell (Alfred-Almond)
06 11 P Zack Fancher (Pine Valley)
06 12 INF Anthony Sutton (West Valley)
09 11 P/1B Mike Mills (Livingston Manor)
11 11 3B/SS Dominic Damon (Smithtown Christian)
Second Team
02 11 SS Joe Foran (Fort Ann)
03 11 OF Cameron Allen (Sackets Harbor)
04 10 INF/P Tyler Philips (Hancock)
04 12 P/SS Stephen Schmitt (Jefferson)
05 12 P/2B Mike Pratt (Batavia Notre Dame)
06 12 P Ryan Bonnas (Brocton)
06 12 SS Vinny Sherman (North Collins)
09 12 P/1B Brandon Smith (Livingston Manor)
09 11 SS Kenny Fisk (Livingston Manor)
10 12 C Brian Ashline (Chateaugay)
Third Team
02 12 C Luke Barton (Loudonville Christian)
03 11 P Jordon Price (Brookfield)
04 12 P/CF Patrick O’Connel (Margaretville)
04 12 P/SS Tyler Dibble (Jefferson)
04 11 U Brett Adams (Cherry Valley-Springfield)
05 12 P/OF Thomas Whelehan (Batavia Notre Dame)
06 12 C Jason Howard (Pine Valley)
07 12 P Max Muller (Minerva-Newcomb)
07 12 P Kevin Russell (Westport)
07 12 2B Adam Hendrix (Livingston Manor)
10 12 INF Eric Maheffey (Lisbon)