Most of the WW-P spring teams will kick off their seasons on April 1 or 2. A preview of the baseball and boys lacrosse seasons follows. The News will profile the remaining spring sports teams at both high schools in coming issues.##M:[more]##
South Baseball
With a 10-17 record last year, coach Don Hutchinson said the team is definitely looking to improve this season, and will have a good chance at doing so, with about 10 returning players this year.
Among the returning players are seniors Andy McKeever, the starting shortstop, and Mitch Leibowitz, starting center fielder, the team’s two captains. Also coming back this year is Max Merkowitz, who pitched the most innings for the team last year. Mike Iacouzze, at second base, also returns to the team.
Eight new players are also competing for other positions. “It’s pretty wide open,” said Hutchinson. “We have a lot of competition among the kids,” which is healthy, and will lead them to keep pushing each other to do better, he said.
Hutchinson said if he had to pick one area to improve this year, it would be pitching. “Pitching is clearly the most important part of the game,” he said. “We need to be better than we were last year, or we’ll repeat a similar record.”
“We’re just trying to play the game the right way, and be the best team we can, and that’s where it is,” he said.
The team heads to Florida Friday, March 21, where it will play scrimmages during spring break in preparation for the April 1 season opener against Trenton.
North Baseball
This year the Knights return an exceptional pitching lineup in Greyson Van Dyke and Brian Sigle, both of whom bring four years of exceptional varsity pitching to the plate.
The team comes off a good 24-5 record last year, when it was ranked in the top 10 in the state, but it graduated 10 of its seniors, says Coach Bob Boyce. “This is a rebuilding year for us,” he says. “We’re very young and very inexperienced, except for the pitching staff.”
Boyce says this will present a challenge to the team, which has struggled on offense in pre-season scrimmages. During a recent scrimmage, Sigle was able to keep the opposing team hitless through four innings, striking out eight. Van Dyke came in and finished, only giving up one hit.
Due to an error, though, the other team eventually scored a run, and the Knights struggled to hit the ball. “We’ll get good pitching and we’ll stay in games, but we’ve got to find a way to maufacture some runs with some pretty inexperienced players,” Boyce says. “Our goal is to start hitting the ball to go with some very potent pitching.”
Aside from the pitching, junior Scott Kelly also returns this season at shortstop. He led the county as a sophomore last season in hitting. Kelly, Van Dyke, and Cameron Musco, are the team’s captains.
David Bachner, a returning left-handed pitcher, is also a key player to watch for this season. “Those three guys (Bachner, Sigle, and Van Dyke) can be lights out, but you’ve got to score some runs,” Boyce says.
While many of the field positions will have to be filled by newer players, Digle and Van Dyke will rotate at first base, depending on who is pitching, and Boyce says he’s found a really great catcher in sophomore Ryan Thelan.
The team made it to the regional final in the state tournament last season, where it fell to Ocean Township. But Boyce says qualifying for the state tournaments this year is going to be tough. “I don’t know that that’s a realistic goal this year,” he says. “It’s one of our goals, but we have a lot of inexperience to overcome.”
The Knights will head to Florida during spring break and practice for their opening game against Allenton on April 1.
North Lacrosse
Because the Knights graduated eight of 10 starters last year, including the entire starting defense, coach Steven Czelusniak says there is a lot of competition this year for open spots on the team.
But the Knights finished 8-9 last year, and they are looking to repeat their appearance in the state tournament, where they made it to the second round last year before losing to number-1 seed West Morris.
Returning this season are attackmen A.J. Reicherts and Ernie Park, the team’s two captains. “They’re both excited about the season, and they’re both serious about doing well,” Czelusniak says.
Corey Levine, who was injured last season, is anxious to rejoin his teammates this year as an attackman. Other returning senior midfielders are Chris Diletta, Justin Kaminski, Matt Kalinowski, and James Merriman.
There are three players — senior Eric Simpler, junior James Komianos, and sophomore Killian Brakel competing for the goalie position. “It’s going to be tough because they’re all skilled goalkeepers, and it’s going to come down to who plays best in the scrimmages we have.
Czelusniak says he also has a lot of talented sophomores, and a lineup of defensemen all competing for spots. “Our first goal is to always qualify for the states,” he said. “That’s an attainable goal.”
“Although we’re young, we have talent,” he added. “It depends on how well we develop as a team, and it also depends on how other teams are. We’re hoping that we can be competitive with everyone on our schedule and make the states like we did last year.”
The team’s first game is scheduled for April 1 against Allentown. “If we win or lose, I think it’s going to be a fun season,” Czelusniak said.
South Lacrosse
The Pirates, who finished last year with a 10-9 record, on the other hand, have a slew of returning players, including the whole starting defense, and the entire attack crew, “so we have a nice sized returning squad,” says coach Matthew Foret.
Among the returning players are the team’s three captains: seniors Carlo Ingato, Mike Efstathios, and Sung Jo. Ingato and Efstathios are attackmen and Jung is a defensemen.
Foret says the team is working this year toward being more consistent and is looking to “build on some of the success we had last year,” which included qualifying for the states. The team lost in the first round last season.
The team’s first game is scheduled for April 2.
