It was a frustrating ending to the 2016 season for Plainview-JFK who lost to the eventual Class AA champs from East Meadow by the scores of 4-3 and 6-4, despite beating them two of three during the regular season.
“We thought we were right there,” said fourth year Head Coach John Givargidze. “We took two of three from East Meadow to start the season but they were red-hot when they got to the playoffs,” he added.
They finished the season 13-8, but will be returning almost all of their impact players with the exception of leadoff man Jake Saltzman (Molloy). They will be counting on All-County third baseman Matt Butigan, All-County RHP/SS Mark Faello and All-Conference RHP/OF Tyler Marinaccio.
Butigan, however, is nursing a strained UCL and will most likely miss the first week of the season. He hit .350 last season with three HR, so they will certainly need that bat in the lineup as soon as he’s back to full health.
Givargidze noted that there is no question that the pitching will be the strength of the team.
“Absolutely,” he said. “We will go as far as our pitching staff does,” he added.
Faello, a Hofstra-commit, allowed only one earned run last year and it was in his last start of the season. He compiled a 0.24 ERA, but earned only two wins due to the lack of run support. He will be starting the second game of each series in order to allow him to play SS in the first game and to protect his arm.
Marinaccio will be the de-facto ace. The junior won four games last year and will form a dynamic duo with Faello. His coach noted that unlike Faello, he is “not a max-effort guy”, meaning he generates so much velocity from his legs and lower half that he doesn’t need to exert 100 percent of his effort on his pitches. He is uncommitted, but he is not a secret and will get plenty of Div-I looks this summer. He stated that they may not be vocal leaders, but are leaders through their work ethic.
Rounding out the rotation will be Justin Kimmel–who also won four games last year–and is committed to Muhlenberg College.
“We also have four or five more guys that I can throw out there and feel confident in,” said Givargidze. “This is very deep for a high school staff. We have depth all around–in the outfield as well.”
The outfield will be patrolled by Marinaccio when he is not pitching, as well as Ryan Saltzman, younger brother of Jake. He stated that Ryan can “really go get it, has a good arm and great speed.”
He will be counting on senior Zach Stromberg to cover ground in the outfield as well and provide punch in the lineup.
Behind the dish will be Michael Cole. He lauded him for his blocking and receiving ability, which will be very important on a team that will be counting on their pitching and defense to win ball games.
They will have two tough series to begin the year with East Meadow and Calhoun–both very difficult teams.
“It’s a tough conference, we’re opening up against two of the better teams,” he said.
To qualify for a postseason berth they will just need to not finish in last place in the seven-team conference. With their pitching that shouldn’t be an issue, but with the way last year ended, they will have an insatiable desire to get back to the mountain top.
