Second-year Head Coach Eric Joyner knows a thing or two about instilling winning mentalities in his teams. He was a part of two Long Island Championships with Newfield football while a member of the coaching staff.
Now having dedicating himself fully to his baseball duties, he sees a difference in how his players are going about their business.
“It’s starting to take hold,” he said referring to his coaching philosophies. “We require a lot of the guys, from the weight room to conditioning and batting practice in the offseason–and it’s still a work in progress but they’re coming down here to work,” he added.
The Wolverines will be looking to avenge the bitter end to the 2016 in which he needed to win one of their final two games against Smithtown East to qualify for a postseason berth, but lost 7-6 and 12-1 to fall just short.
This year’s team is led by an assortment of hard throwers and a couple high-end bats.
“We have 12 arms on the staff and eight of them throw above 80 MPH, and we lost only one bat from last year,” he said.
The rotation will be led by Rhode Island-commit Bobby Vath, Kyle Johnson and a handful of others competing for the last spot. He is very high on Ryan Dunbar, who has been garnering interest from some elite Div-II programs.
He is confident that they have more pitching depth than last year. They will be counting on relievers Reis Lehmler and Chris Lopez-Santana to provide stability in the late innings.
The offense will be led by Kyle Johnson–one of the top players in the 2018 class–and senior Gunnar Widercrantz who both hit over .300 last year. Three seniors that will provide length in the lineup are first baseman Tom Desena, catcher Matt Schmidt and infielder Corey Tingo.
He also spoke glowingly of freshman Mike Prisco, saying he has one of the “smoothest lefty swings you’ll see from a ninth grader.” He played linebacker on varsity last season as well, showing his exceptional athleticism and strength.
He added that they will much more athletic defensively, which will help in the ultra-competitive League 3 that features perennially strong programs such as Smithtown East, Smithtown West and Hills East as well as up-and-coming programs such as Riverhead, Copiague and Walt Whitman.
“The league was good last year and it’s going to be even better this year.”
