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| Photo Credit: George A. Faella |
If perception is reality, Bayport-Bluepoint is a small high school that can’t compete with the best programs.
Their star pitcher, Jack Piekos, has been working to destroy that perception. Two years and two New York State Class A titles later, he has succeeded.
“We kind of wanted people to notice us one way or another,” said the Maryland-bound left-handed pitcher. “Last year helped get everyone’s sight on us and this year just really put us there as a legitimate contender,” he added.
Bayport-Bluepoint won its first NY championship in 2013 with an unbelievable 27-0 record. Piekos led the pitching staff with an 11-0 record, 0.38 ERA in 73 innings. He was the recipient of the Paul Gibson Award, given to the best pitcher in Suffolk County. While the numbers are truly incredible, some people still found it difficult to overlook the level of competition in Class A and have not given him the proper recognition.
Piekos was aware of that, and used it as motivation despite the fact he was already a Division-I commit.
“This year I set goals for myself in order to push myself even harder to get better,” he said. “I always like to throw twice a week, even in the cold weather.”
That level of commitment paid off once again, as Piekos followed up his historic 2013 campaign with a 10-1 season and 122 strikeouts in 74 innings. Once again, he led the Phantoms to the Suffolk, Long Island and State title. They did not go undefeated (21-6), but it was the only time in LI history for a team to repeat the achievement. On the mound, he lost only one game, to bring his two-year run to 21-1. His lone loss came on May 10 against Shoreham-Wading River in relief.
He won the Paul Gibson Award again.
“It’s such an unbelievable honor,” he said. “There are so many great pitchers out here in Suffolk County. Especially this year, being picked is indescribable. So many kids work hard, and it shows with pitchers such as Aaron Glickstein from Hills West or Andruw Gazzola from Longwood. I’m so honored to be picked again,” he added.
While Piekos’ level of dominance didn’t change as the season went on, the one thing that did change was the atmosphere of the games.
“I feel like the LIC is where everyone is more amped up because so many people come watch you play and it’s bragging rights for all of LI for kids you play with on travel teams as well. Each time we’ve gone on to states our team has been that much more relaxed,” he added.
Now that Bayport has completed the run, it’s fair to ask whether they could’ve beaten the Class AA champion West Islip.
“I believe this team could’ve beaten anybody,” said Piekos. “We just played so well together and was always picking each other up which makes it easier to play together and win as a team when you do things like that.”
Generally, small schools do not stand a chance against their Class AA counterparts, but in the case of Bayport-Blue Point, they may just be the exception to being able to make the jump.
Speaking of making a jump, Piekos will now be transitioning to the Big 10. The Terps are coming off a successful 40-23 season and will be adding some impressive talent for 2015.
“Being able to go to a program on the rise is amazing,” he said. “Coach Szefc along with Coach Belanger and Coach Vaughn have done such an incredible job with the program and I can’t wait to go learn under them and improve and make it to the College World Series.”
Piekos and his 90-mph fastball can enjoy the summer before college starts in the fall, but knowing him, he will not be taking too much time off.
He already mentioned that he needs to improve his command if he wants to succeed at the next level. It takes a certain kind of competitive warrior to find a flaw in his performance over the past two seasons.
