The Hauppauge Eagles have quietly gone about their business and compiled a record of 36-10 over the past two years. After graduating the 2015 Carl Yastrzemski Award winner in Nick Fanti, they equaled their win total in 2016 and sent five players to play college ball (Tyler Sanderson, Mike Lazos, Tim Woodford, Bily Huber and Kyle Wood).
“We’ve been really fortunate to have this run of guys,” said Head Coach Josh Gutes. “They’re really into it. That could easily change. We’ve been lucky more than anything.”
They will enter the 2017 season with another quality team headlined by some high-end talent.
They will be counting on Molloy-commit Matt Overton to do some damage in the middle-of-the-order and play right field and first base. He hit .314 last year with 1 HR, 15 RBI and drew 17 walks. He was named All-League.
“He is ready to break out,” said Gutes.
The skipper also has the utmost confidence in senior catcher Blake Adamo, who he believes is one of the best backstops in the county. He is coming off an All-County season in which he hit .385 with 3 HR, 19 RBI , scored 19 runs, drew 24 walks and compiled a 1.206 OPS.
“He’s just a tremendous receiver and thrower of the baseball,” said Gutes. “He is a game-changer back there. He sees things during bullpen sessions like telling a pitcher ‘you’re flying open’ after a pitch is up-and-in and he’s just really becoming a catcher,” he added.
They will be counting on a few under-the-radar type players that have been waiting for their opportunity to start the past could seasons.
Gutes is high on center fielder Brett Boller–a 5’8″ 145 lb scrappy player–who he stated is a “winner” and just “figures out a way to get it done”. He will be counting on two seniors on the left side of the infield to really step in and embrace their roles. Those players are Connor Cutino and Dylan Flynn–the latter is committed to SUNY Purchase.
“They haven’t gotten too much playing time having sat behind Kyle Wood and Tyler Sanderson, but we’re relying on them to handle the left side of the infield.”
The pitching staff is untested but possesses a high-ceiling. The past two years, they’ve been fortunate to have starting pitchers that were not only effective, but also efficient which really negated the importance of having bullpen depth. With the new pitch count and their inexperience (returning only 17 of the 175 innings pitched last year), it will be of utmost importance that they have depth in the pitching staff.
They will be counting on senior Chris Burns to anchor the rotation. He started zero games last year, but pitched in the first two playoff games in relief. Gutes said jokingly, “that’s gotta be some kind of Suffolk record.”
He will be joined by Overton and junior Peter Sanderson, who have both yet to compile significant innings at the varsity level. Overton was the closer last year and compiled a couple of saves.
They will have some steep competition in League V this year. The league gains Hills West–a perennial power house. Gutes said of Hills West, “they are well-coached and they have arguably the top pitcher in the county,” referring to Hofstra-commit Brad Camarda.
He also noted how Kings Park could be a challenge this year considering they are returning virtually their entire team and ended the regular season with a five-game winning streak.
It may not be another 18-win year for the Eagles, but they certainly will be in the thick of things in League V once again.
