Pierson Baseball Looks To Keep Recent Success Going This Season

The Pierson baseball team is getting the band back together, for the most part, and is eying another run at a state title.

Head coach Jonathan Schwartz said that while his team certainly has another run in it, he doesn’t want his team looking too far ahead just yet.

“The goal is to always take care of our league, and then the county, and then you never know what’s going to happen,” he said. “We might go directly to Regionals. There might be a Long Island Championship game. We’re hoping to continue what the basketball guys started and finish it up.”

It’s the aforementioned boys basketball team that has created a buzz going into the baseball season, being that it just finished its season a few weeks ago after reaching the New York State Class C Final Four.

Couple that with the fact that the baseball team has seen its fair share of success in recent seasons — having reached the state Final Four in 2019 and the Long Island Championship last season — and the goals and expectations remain high for the Whalers this spring.

The baseball team also has four players coming over from the basketball team in seniors Brendan Burke, Charlie Culver and Dan Labrozzi and sophomore Dom Mancino. Burke and Culver will continue to roam the outfield this season, along with another senior, Vincent Cavaniola.

Everett McMahon, another senior who hasn’t played baseball the past few seasons, has come back and will figure into the outfield mix as well, along with freshman Max Krotman.

The team’s biggest strength, though, lies in its pitching, headlined by its returning No. 1 starter in Labrozzi, backed up by Mancino and senior Reed Kelsey. Christian Pantina, now a junior, will be another strong arm Schwartz can rely on, but the head coach said the talented infielder may figure to be more of a late-inning arm, as a closer rather than a starting pitcher, at least initially.

One thing Schwartz noted was that his defensive rotation changes quite a bit depending who is starting on the mound, and it’s something he’s focusing more on this season. Defense was one of the team’s biggest weaknesses last season, as evident in that Long Island Championship loss to Wheatley, with the team making a number of costly errors.

Tucker Schiavoni was the team’s most notable loss to graduation. Now playing at Roanoke College, Schiavoni was equally strong behind the plate as he was offensively, and Schwartz said he will definitely be missed, along with Truman Yardley and Jackson Sabbeth, who have also departed the program.

Gavin Gilbride was Schiavoni’s backup last season, and the now junior seems ready to take over the starting role. Schwartz said the athleticism of Gilbride, who helped lead the boys soccer team to the Regional Finals this past fall, has certainly stood out early on.

“He has enormous shoes to fill, [but] he volunteered to take it head-on this year and he’s kind of hit the ground running,” he said. “He’s worked with us all offseason. He takes a lot of pride in educating himself by doing a lot of research on his own, watching video. He’s done a lot of work receiving the ball, blocking the ball. His footwork has come a long way. His throw downs are excellent. He already had one of the strongest arms on the team.

“If he gets to where we think he can be, it’ll be a nice fit. He started hitting the ball well by the end of last year. He’s got some power, and he’s gotten stronger since last season, too, so he should hit in the middle of the lineup as well.”

Schwartz is high on his junior varsity team this season, calling it the strongest he’s had in his five years or so with the program. To that end, he’s called up quite a few underclassmen to join the varsity team early on.

Along with Krotman are freshmen Lucas Iulo and Paul Roesel and sophomore Mason Wheeler. Schwartz compared Iulo to assistant coach Tyler LaBorne, in that they’ve got similar left-handed pitching windups and swings. Schwartz said Roesel is a “natural hitter” who may see some time on the mound, and Wheeler will be another option on the mound.

Rounding out the team will be junior Ike Fagin, sophomore Justin Gardner and Charles Schaefer; the latter was the Whalers’ starting third baseman last season but is slowly working his way back from breaking his ankle in the offseason. With no clear timetable for his return, Schwartz said there is an open competition early on for the starting third base role.

Pierson has led League VIII for the past few seasons and is the front-runner for the league title once again this season. Port Jefferson has come down to the league and should infuse some competition, especially being that its a fellow Class C team. Southold, which gave Pierson some fits last season, especially in the postseason, is returning much of its team and should give another strong fight this season.

Greenport is also in the league, along with Bridgehampton/Ross, which is entering its first varsity season in more than 40 years. Hampton Bays is completing its second year of alternate placement in the league, and while it’s not eligible for the postseason, it should give some good competition.

Pierson lost its non-league season opener, 8-7, at Southampton on Saturday, and Schwartz had hinted last week that with some key players joining the team late because of the basketball team’s late run, it could be a few weeks for the team to look like it will by season’s end.

“The challenge this year is that I had four of my kids at basketball while we had outdoor workouts and tryouts,” he explained this past Thursday. “I couldn’t have been more happy for them. At the same time, every game they won took them away from preparing, and I wasn’t going to ask them to practice with us while they were still playing basketball — so we had to wait.

“I didn’t get them back until this past Monday, so we’re trying to squeeze things in. With this first game Saturday, I’m not going to treat it as I would a league game. I need to see some kids. Some pitchers are not ready. We’re a little behind, but I’m hoping our experience, with all of the kids coming back, helps us. We have a lot of veteran guys.”

Pierson started its first league series this past Tuesday with Shelter Island. The third and final game of that series will be this Friday, April 1, at Mashashimuet Park at 4:30 p.m. The Whalers start a three-game series with Greenport next week, with the first game being Tuesday, April 5, back at Mashashimuet Park at 4:30 p.m.