Last year was another terrific season for Long Island baseball in many regards. From a theatrics standpoint, Dowling was one win away from being crowned regional champions and heading to Carey, NC for the College World Series.
From an individual standpoint, 11 players were selected in the Rule IV draft in June. That was up from seven the previous season.
Here are the top story lines heading into 2015…
How will Dowling respond to losing their 2014 rotation?
The Golden Lions had a tremendous season. A huge reason for that was their 2.40 team ERA. Unfortunately, they graduated Tyler Badamo, JJ Bessell and Tom Bammann. They combined for 24 of the team’s 36 wins. It will certainly be a tall order for them to repeat that type of dominance because a quartet of that level does not come around very often.
They will be leaning on Brendan Butler, Cody McPartland and Kyle DeMeo to anchor the staff and fill in some very large shoes.
Will this finally be the year Old Westbury tops Farmingdale?
It is never a smart bet to pick a different team in the Skyline Conference. The Farmingdale Rams have captured seven straight conference titles. Their biggest obstacle will be replacing the 10 seniors they graduated, and also the loss of All-Region pitcher Alex Weingarten who transferred to Cortland. Weingarten was the anchor of the staff, and he led the team with 57 innings pitched while compiling a 1.73 ERA.
They will also need to find a replacement for reliable starting pitcher Mike Dolce and reliever Chris Dragone. Offensively, they lost Mike Marino and third-team All-American Ed Bergmann.
The Old Westbury Panthers have been knocking on the door for several years. The rotation will be anchored by Tim Ingram, who went 7-0 pitching in the Hamptons League last summer. They will be relying on the offensive output of Nick Yip, Jake Coners and Jon Pagan.
Ultimately, it will come down to their ability to come up with a clutch performance in the final game of the season.
Who Wants to Get Drafted?
Every year, a player emerges from relative obscurity to hearing their name announced at the MLB Network headquarters on draft day. As previously mentioned, there were 11 players drafted last season.
Generally, anywhere from 5 to 10 players will get drafted out of a Long Island college or high school each year.
I only know about the players I hear about or see in person. The player with the highest ceiling and most draft value in my opinion could be SP Jonathon Mulford from Adelphi. He is a hard thrower with a prototypical build for a pitcher. He was the ace of the Panthers as a sophomore and will be heading into his draft year with great expectations.
Can someone dethrone West Islip?
Last season, West Islip topped Massapequa in the LI Championship. They are reloaded and they will feature a dynamic rotation led by junior James Kory, who is coming off an undefeated 8-0 season as a sophomore.
It is very difficult to repeat as champions, especially with the lack of continuity from year-to-year in high school. Judging by my twitter mentions, most people feel West Islip is the most talented team on the island, but never count out Massapequa and Half Hollow Hills West may be gunning for redemption after losing to them in the Suffolk County title game.
