By Justin Paura/Axcess Baseball

It has been quite an exciting summer of baseball in Long Island’s premiere collegiate league. The Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League (HCBL) features an abundance of high level talent and the best have emerged as the playoffs are set to start on Thursday.

The top-seeded Riverhead Tomcats take on the Sag Harbor Whalers, who defeated the Shelter Island Bucks in a one-game playoff Wednesday night. On the other side of the bracket, the Long Island Road Warriors go to battle with the Westhampton Aviators in a rematch of last season’s championship series. As per usual, each series in the playoffs is best two-out-of-three, including the championship series, with rotating home field advantage.

There was a lot to follow this season, so you may not know what to expect in the next week. But have no fear, I am here with everything you need to know going into the playoffs.

NO.1 SEED- RIVERHEAD TOMCATS (24-13-3)

No team is hotter heading into the playoffs than Riverhead. For the first time in team history, the Tomcats own the top spot after closing out the regular season on a seven-game winning streak.

Riverhead has some of the most dynamic hitters in the league at the top of its lineup. MVP-candidate Eduardo Malinowski (Pennsylvania) and regular season batting champion Louis Antos (Queens) lead an offense that averaged over eight runs per game in July. Outside of the bats, there are some outstanding arms at the top of their rotation. Tyler Henry (Dayton) finished third in the league with a 2.30 ERA and hasn’t given up a run over his last three outings. Two-way all-star Chris Stefl (St. Johns) is the other primary starter for Riverhead as he has only allowed nine earned runs in seven starts.

The Tomcats have been a solidly-coached team in the playoffs. It is clear during every Riverhead game that the players go out and try to win for manager John Galanoudis or “Johnny G” as they call him. Not to mention he is the one that put together this lineup that is dangerous from 1-9.

NO. 2 SEED- LONG ISLAND ROAD WARRIORS (25-15-0)

In just their second season in the HCBL, Long Island missed out on the one-seed by just one point. That may be what manager Neal Heaton and his squad wanted however, seeing that they won the league championship last summer as the two-seed.

Heaton, a former MLB All-Star pitcher with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1990, has constructed a bullpen that is the best on the island and is feared by any hitter at the end of a close game. Matt Paghidas (SUNY Maritime) and Brandon LaManna (New Haven) have a combined ERA of 0.55 in over 33 innings of relief with a total of 14 saves. Tim Kranz (Lander) and Tristan Amone (Fairfield) also contribute to this bullpen unit that work as the backbone of this team.

While the relief pitching is lights-out at the end of games, the hitting gets the Road Warriors ahead, so the games can be won. Marcos Perivolaris (SUNY Cortland) and Thomas Colombo (Adelphi) hit back-to-back in a lineup has firepower from top-to-bottom. No batter on the team has more than 30 RBIs, but there are eight players with at least 10 RBIs proving the depth that this roster has.

NO. 3 SEED- WESTHAMPTON AVIATORS (20-19-1)

For the first half of this season, the Aviators appeared to be the team to beat. The HCBL’s most decorated franchise was the top seed in last summer’s playoff bracket, but ultimately lost to Long Island in its attempt to win back-to-back titles. But towards the end of the season, the squad started to lose its stride, concluding the month of July with a losing record.

One of the league’s best players is Westhampton shortstop Tyler Becker (Adelphi). Becker finished third in the league’s home run and RBI race while playing 39 of the team’s 40 regular season games. The concern surrounding the Aviators is that he has hit a bit of a rough patch, only getting one hit in his last six games. Becker ranks second in the league in runs scored, so when he gets on base, guys like Curtis Robison (Penn State) and Ethan Hajdukovic (Western Michigan) do a great job of getting him home. If Becker steps up in the big spotlight, which he has proven to do this summer, Westhampton should be in good shape.

The pitching staff of the Aviators isn’t the most consistent, but they have one of the league’s best arms in Tyler Thorington (Western Michigan). The 6’3” right hander has won three of his four starts, only giving up seven earned runs in nearly 34 innings pitched. He will surely be the guy Charlie Barbieri relies upon to get this team forward, but it’s on All-Stars like Aljo Sujak (William and Mary) and Dean McCarthy (Elon) to keep their composure when they enter late in games.

NO. 5 SEED- SAG HARBOR WHALERS (17-18-5)

In the inaugural one-game wild card matchup, Sag Harbor won an absolute dog fight against four-seed Shelter Island Wednesday to earn its first HCBL playoff win. The Whalers trailed 9-4 heading into the top of the seventh, but an eight-run explosion that inning earned them a 12-10 victory and at least two more games this summer.

The engine to this Sag Harbor offense is Nick Thornquist (UT-San Antonio) and it showed on Wednesday. He got the game started with a solo home run in the first and hit a single as the second batter in the seventh to ignite the eight-run frame. He is one of only two players with a batting average over .400 in the regular season (trailing only Riverhead’s Louis Antos) and ranks fifth with 29 RBIs. With him at the top of the lineup is Joe Suozzi (Boston College) and Jason Allbery (Creighton), two fellow All-Stars with averages over .300 and over 20 runs scored.

The Whalers lose a step because of the wild card game. They were forced to pitch their top starter Michael Marzonie (Boston College) Wednesday and top reliever Sam Lara (St. Johns) threw four innings. Not to mention the batters are gassed after having to come from behind and put up 12 runs just to advance. Sag Harbor does not have the depth in their lineup or rotation to withstand many more long games, so they’ll rely on their stars to carry them forward.

MY PREDICTIONS:

Though they battled hard with Shelter Island to get into the semi-finals, Sag Harbor fails to win a game against Riverhead. The Tomcats are too hot and are significantly more rested and ready for a best-of-three series, leading them to extend their win streak to a season-best nine games.

In a rematch of last summer’s HCBL championship series, Long Island once again reigns superior over Westhampton. Unlike last season’s series, the Aviators are going to win a game and push the series to a winner-take-all situation, but there are more pitchers on the Road Warriors that can make an impact than on any other team and that is what gives them the advantage.

In the championship series between the league’s top two teams, Long Island becomes the team to snap Riverhead’s hot streak and wins its second championship in only its second season, denying the Tomcats of their first title. If you look at each team’s lineup, they both have hitters that can make an impact from the leadoff man to the ninth guy. You could argue the Tomcats have better hitting, but it isn’t by much. The Road Warriors pitching has much more depth than Riverhead’s which will be the difference in multiple closely-contested battles.