Future Of Southampton Baseball Program Looks Bright

These Mariners may be young, but they’ll be a force for years to come.

The Southampton baseball team returned just five from last season’s 3-15 team, but infusions of players young and old will keep the Mariners competitive now, and in the future.

“There’s not a lot of experience at the varsity level, but they’re an eager bunch, and they work well together,” head coach Zach Epley said. “We have three freshmen, three sophomores, but a lot of great, younger kids.”

That was evident in the first game of the season — an 8-7 non-league win over Pierson on Saturday. Freshman pitcher Daniel McDonnell struck out five and allowed four hits and four runs in five innings to earn the win for Southampton.

“He’s still only 14 years old and he’s progressed a lot, hit a growth spurt,” Epley said. “He’ll be an anchor of our pitching staff.”

Also returning to the team are junior pitcher Douglas Dunkirk and junior shortstop Riley Herrmann.

“Riley Herrmann hit well last year. We’re going to look to him to carry the team with his bat,” the coach said. “And we’re looking to Douglas Dunkirk as the ace of our staff.”

Dunkirk, a second-year varsity returner who said he’s been working hard to polish his skills, added that he knows he and his teammates are going to be assiduous at all aspects of the game.

“I am excited to get back on the mound. Our pitching will definitely be a strength,” Dunkirk said. “We have multiple arms capable of getting the job done, and all of us pitchers working together will help us all improve.”

“Working with the younger players and influencing them with our leadership is also going to impact our baseball team in a positive way,” he continued. “Our chemistry has been improving every day on the field.”

Also coming back after a one-year hiatus are senior catcher Alex Boyd and senior centerfielder Andrew Venesina. Boyd returns to the team from a stint at St. Anthony’s, while Venesina had to take last season off due to his job and the season being pushed back as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Venesina led Southampton in the win over the Whalers, going 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored. “He’s a great athlete,” Epley said of the centerfielder. “And Alex is a good leader of the team — a really quick kid behind the plate. They are great additions.”

Declan Barbour went 1-for-2 with a double and an RBI on March 26, and Liam Blackmore had three walks and three runs scored.

Prior to the game, Dunkirk touted Blackmore, a junior outfielder.

“Liam Blackmore is a very impactful player for our team because of his knowledge of baseball,” the junior said. “Liam is a great athlete and has a great mind for the game. He can help anyone improve.”

The pitcher also pointed to junior outfielder and newcomer Owen Wetter. “He’s improving very quickly,” Dunkirk said. “Owen is one of our best outfielders, and I am excited to see what he can do in his first year at the varsity level.”

The coach said while his team doesn’t have any superstars, he believes that will be beneficial, because it means the Mariners will always need a full-team effort.

“We’ve had some very good practices,” Epley said. “In January, I was not as optimistic as I am now. But they’re coming together, and we’re only going to get better. I’ll be interested to see where we fall at the end of the year.”

The coach agreed with Dunkirk that the team’s defense, which he touted as much improved from last season, will keep Southampton in games.

“I don’t see us making the errors we made last year, and we have a few kids who can really throw strikes. That’s going to be our key this year,” Epley said. “Last year, our pitching wasn’t great — we walked a lot of batters. This year, the young kids don’t throw as hard, but they can throw strikes. And I tell them, ‘If you can throw strikes and put the ball over the plate, you give the team a chance to win.’”

The Mariners are just one of a couple of Class B teams in a tough Suffolk County League V — which is made up of Center Moriches, Babylon, Bayport-Blue Point, Elwood-John Glenn, Mattituck, Mt. Sinai and Shoreham-Wading River.

“We’re playing some schools twice the size of ours,” Epley said. “I don’t think there’s any easy games in our schedule, but I think that makes you a better team.”

What the coach said he liked most is his student-athletes’ attitudes. What they said following a scrimmage loss to East Hampton March 25 really impressed him.

“We did not do great, but that team has two excellent pitchers — better than any we face this year— and even though they struck out a lot of our batters, our kids came back saying, ‘I can hit this. I can do this,’” Epley said. “And I think that’s only going to give confidence to some of our younger kids as we move through the season.”