4 Photos
Pierson's Brian Schroeder lines a base hit into the outfield during Friday's home game against Greenport. DREW BUDD
Pierson's Lucas Iulo smacks a base hit into right field. DREW BUDD
Nathan Dee was one of many pitchers who got some work in during Friday's game. DREW BUDD
Whaler Brandan Mitchell delivers to the plate. DREW BUDD
The Pierson baseball team started off its League X season with a three-game sweep of Greenport last week. The Whalers outscored the Porters, 64-4, in the series that spanned three consecutive days, April 12-14, and not one of the games went a full seven innings due to run rules coming into play.
The lopsided nature of the series was a bit expected, so Pierson head coach Jonathan Schwartz did all he could to get all of his players time on the field and to even call up some junior varsity players to see what they could bring to the varsity team if needed down the road. In that sense, the series was a success, to a certain extent. Because the games didn’t go a full seven innings — the first game didn’t even go four innings — extended playing time for some was still capped.
“A lot of guys got extra at bats, extra innings. Maybe not as much as we wanted because we ended a little early, but we’ve got to work with them as well,” Schwartz said. “I’m proud of how we handled this. It’s hard sometimes to stay focused and crisp when the play is slow, when you’re not getting the plays in the field, so we did the best that we could. We’ll have two good days of practices on Monday and Tuesday, ramp it up for Southold and see what they’ve got. I think they’re a little down, too, but we can’t act that way. We have to get ready for a tough series, see what happens.”
Just prior to the Greenport series, Pierson had lost a nonleague game, 12-6, to Southampton at Mashashimuet Park on April 10. With it not being a mandatory nonleague — the Whalers did beat the Mariners in a mandatory nonleague on April 4 — Schwartz said he considered the game that would not count toward playoff qualifications as a scrimmage, more than anything. He saw a handful of pitchers get some time on the mound and that was all he really wanted to see.
Splitting its four mandatory nonleague games, Schwartz said, was key with big a big series down the road with fellow Class C team Port Jefferson, which is the final regular-season series.
“We’ll probably be, or should be, the top two ‘C’ schools in the county, so we might see them five or six times in a row, including playoffs. It’ll be intense, so we have to get ourselves prepared for that, same with them,” he said. “After Southold, we’ll have Amityville, then Bridgehampton, then Port Jeff. I feel like we’ve already played a ton of baseball, so it’s amazing to even think about that. But it is what it is. Just have to keep getting better every day.”
Pierson began its three-game series against Southold on the North Fork on Wednesday, will host the Settlers for game two the very next day at Mashashimuet Park at 4:30 p.m. and then game three will be back in Southold on Saturday, April 22, at 10 a.m.
