Bridgehampton Set To Field Its First Varsity Baseball Team In Over 40 Years - 27 East

Bridgehampton Set To Field Its First Varsity Baseball Team In Over 40 Years

icon 1 Photo
Bridgehampton/Ross captains include, from left, Scott Vinski, Milo Tompkins and Kris Vinski.   COURTESY BRIDGEHAMPTON BASEBALL

Bridgehampton/Ross captains include, from left, Scott Vinski, Milo Tompkins and Kris Vinski. COURTESY BRIDGEHAMPTON BASEBALL

Drew Budd on Mar 30, 2022

During a Board of Education meeting in October 2018, Lou Liberatore laid out a five-year plan to slowly work Bridgehampton back into baseball.

That day is finally here.

This Tuesday, April 5, baseball will be back in Bridgehampton when the Killer Bees host Shelter Island in what will be the school’s first varsity baseball game in over 40 years. Liberatore, the team’s head coach, and athletic director Mike DeRosa, who also serves as the team’s assistant coach, can’t wait until opening day, and the two plan to make it a festive day with an opening ceremony that will include the unveiling of a historic marker just outside the baseball field to honor Carl Yastrzemski by the Suffolk County Sports Hall of Fame and Bridgehampton legend Carl Johnson will be throwing out the first pitch.

Liberatore methodically planned Bridgehampton’s return to the varsity ranks with camps and clinics starting right after that Board of Ed meeting in 2018. The program continued its precipitous growth when it played a junior varsity season leading to this season.

The Ross School in East Hampton is sending half of the team with nine student-athletes, matching Bridgehampton’s nine, and Liberatore said his team has what every good team wants to be, which is to be strong up and down the middle of the field. That includes junior twins Scott and Kris Vinski, who will lead the team as captains along with Ross sophomore Milo Tompkins. The Vinski Brothers will be starting pitchers and play outfield and first base when they’re not throwing. They’ll also bat atop the lineup.

“They are big pieces to the team,” Liberatore said.

“They know the game. They’ve been playing baseball since they were very young,” DeRosa added.

Liberatore is very high on Tompkins who he said could be the best player in League VIII. Ross junior Yudai Morikawa (shortstop) and Bridgehampton junior Dylan Fitzgerald (second base) will pair up to make up a solid defensive pairing of middle infielders for the Bees.

Juniors Jack Boeshore (outfield) and Hugo Kapon (utility), freshmen Evan Buccigross (outfield) and Neo Simmons (outfield) and eighth-grader Tyler Fitzgerald (utility), are the rest of the Bridgehampton players that will make up the team. Ross junior Eli Wolf will be the team’s third starting pitcher behind the Vinskis. Ross freshman Shawn Gnyp, (pitcher/outfield/first base), freshman twins Alexi (outfield) and Ari Kardaras (outfield/catcher) and eighth-grader E.J. McAuliffe (utility) round out the rest of the roster.

“We’re going to learn a lot about our team after the first week of the season,” Liberatore said. “We’re going to have contributions up and down the roster and we all know that the lineup you roll out in game one is not going to be the lineup you roll out in game 19.

“Overall we’re really excited about the progress that we’ve made with this roster,” he continued. “We think we have good players who are even better kids who are extremely coachable and a pleasure for Mike and me to show up to practice to.”

Bridgehampton/Ross will compete in League VIII, and since it is a combined program, is a Class C team along with neighbor Pierson, which has won the league title the past few seasons, Port Jefferson, which has dropped down to the league, Greenport and Southold. Shelter Island is the only Class D school in the county and Hampton Bays will also play in the league as well.

“Coach Schwartz has done a great job at Pierson, but we don’t really focus too much on the other teams,” Liberatore said. “What we preach is what we can control which is getting better every day and playing our brand of baseball. We never really have conversations about the other teams, we just talk about our goals and hopefully come late May we’ll be in a position to keep playing.”

You May Also Like:

Sag Harbor's 10U Baseball All-Stars Are Moving On, 12U Team Wraps Up Pool Play

Sag Harbor Little League’s 10-and-under All-Stars have qualified for the single-elimination playoffs in the District ... 2 Jul 2025 by Drew Budd

Local Little Leagues Start Play in District 36 Tournaments

The journey to Williamsport has begun. Local teams in Little League District 36, which encompasses ... 25 Jun 2025 by Drew Budd

Zaffiro Fires No-No for Whalers in HCBL’s Triumphant Return to Montauk

The Montauk Mustangs were not part of the Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League for a long ... 24 Jun 2025 by Drew Budd

Another HBCL Season Begins

The Westhampton Aviators and South Shore Clippers got the Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League season started ... 18 Jun 2025 by Drew Budd

Will Tucker Named Manager of Sag Harbor Whalers, Who Eye Playoff Return

The Sag Harbor Whalers were primed to defend their first-ever Hampton Collegiate Baseball League Championship ... 10 Jun 2025 by Drew Budd

Bridgehampton/Ross Baseball Can't Hold On to Early Lead, Falls to Burke Catholic in Regional Semifinal

After two and a half innings of play, the Bridgehampton/Ross baseball team had just put ... 9 Jun 2025 by Drew Budd

Pierson Baseball Falls to Babylon in Class C Championship

The Pierson baseball team lost the second game of the best-of-three Suffolk County Class B ... 2 Jun 2025 by Drew Budd

Pierson Loses 6-0 in First Game of Suffolk 'B' Championship Series

Max Krotman said the series isn’t over for the Pierson baseball team. And while the ... 27 May 2025 by Desirée Keegan

With County Title Officially Wrapped Up, Bees Prepare for June 5 Regional Semifinal

The Bridgehampton/Ross baseball team is officially the Suffolk County Class C Champions after finishing the ... 21 May 2025 by Drew Budd

Weekly Roundup: Westhampton Beach Girls Lacrosse Earns Three Seed; Fromm’s Buzzer-Beater Leads Bonac Girls Lacrosse; Chekijian Walk-Off Helps Baymen Avoid Sweep

Fromm’s Buzzer-Beater
Leads Bonac Girls Lacrosse Carly Fromm scored the winning goal at the buzzer to lead the East Hampton/Pierson girls lacrosse team (5-10) to an 11-10 overtime win at Walt Whitman on May 14. Ava Tintle scored four goals, Cali Wilson scored twice and had two assists, Katie Grande scored two goals, and Lola Eldridge added two goals and three assists. The Bonackers finished their first Division I season with a 4-10 division record, 5-11 overall, with 75.05 power points. Southampton Softball
Wins Finale The Mariners defeated host Pierson/Bridgehampton, 13-8, at Mashashimuet Park in Sag Harbor on Thursday, May 15, to ... 20 May 2025 by Staff Writer