Opening Day Recap

Today was a day players have had circled on their calendar for months. I know I was the type to circle March 30 once the schedule was announced during my playing days. After seeing the level of excitement on the player’s faces and the huge turnout, I think there’s plenty more people that share that passion for the game as me.

It was a unique Opening Day in that so many fields were unplayable that Moriches Complex featured four games. It was a huge benefit for me considering two of Long Island’s top arms in Bobby Vath and Roman Dorosh were both on the mound at the same time. Both were among my top candidates for the Paul Gibson Award and they both were lights-out in their first outing. It made for must-see action.

I’ll give you my takeaways from those two games as well as some other major storylines from the day…

Dorosh Steals the the Show

His first three innings went like this; 6-3, strikeout looking, 1-3, 1-3, 5-3, strikeout swinging, strikeout looking, 1-3, strikeout looking.

After I mentioned he had a no-hitter, of course, the next batter led off the fourth inning with a hit. That was his hardest pitch of the day at 90 MPH. The next batter followed with a hard single to right field and I had a thought in the back of my mind that perhaps the long inning effected him, but he followed that up with a strikeout on an unhittable slider, a strikeout on a high fastball and a ground out to second base.

He went 1-2-3 in the fifth inning and that was the end of his day. Five innings, 0 ER, 7 strikeouts, 2 hits in his first outing in the cold in front of a couple scouts a Div-I recruiting coordinator. Not a bad showing. His slider was especially filthy. He was the best player on the field today and there will be lots of swings-and-misses against him this season.

Don Wille batted third for Sachem East. The Fordham-commit is only a tenth grader but he looked mature beyond his years. He just missed a two-run shot in the first inning, it wound up hitting the fence and he settled for a double and came around to score in Sachem’s three-run first inning. He also smoked a single through the 5.5 hole in his second at bat and drew a walk in his third at bat. Impressive showing from the sophomore, who was ranked as the No. 1 catcher in the 2020 class by Perfect Game but played first base today.

Bobby Vath and Newfield Look to Be on a Mission

I was bouncing back-and-forth but this one was over after Newfield put up an 8-spot in the third inning. Vath didn’t need much on this day. He fired six innings, allowing only two hits, struck out 9 and allowed 0 ER. He did allow one hard-hit ball off the fence but keep in mind the fence at Moriches is only 300 feet to left. Aside from that, he was lights-out, he worked in the mid 80s and kept the ball on the outside corner. His curveball was a weapon. He has the ability to work inside-and-out as well as up-and-down. Not a lot of young pitchers can command the ball up in the zone, because it’s not something you typically work on during bullpens and you’re constantly taught to throw the ball at the knees. He can elevate the zone and that’s big when you have an overpowering fastball. Today wasn’t a huge challenge for Vath, and he did what was expected of him. For me, the biggest challenge will be next week against West Islip because they don’t strike out much. Newfield’s offense did their job, as they were able to take a sigh of relief when they did not see Franklin Parra warming up to start the game. They will have Kyle Johnson on the mound tomorrow against up-start Centereach.

Both Reigning Nassau Champs Upset

In their first game at their new turf field, Massapequa lost 3-2 to Farmingdale against their sophomore ace Justin Rosner. He held the Chiefs to 1 hit over 6.2 IP. He’s one of the top pitchers in the class and he has no fear on the mound. He also defeated them in the playoffs last season. Rosner is impressive and he will be a name to watch, I think he’s a Division-I pitcher already. I watched him last season against Port Washington and in November in his final start of the year and he looks like an ace. Massapequa will be fine, but they will have to figure out how to replace last season’s rotation, first baseman and SS. No small task but they will find a way.

Wantagh was upset 5-2 by Bellmore JFK against Ryan Schechner. Fordham-commit Jason Coules went 3-for-3 and hit a HR. It was a far cry from last season’s opening day when Jimmy Joyce struck out eight over 3 innings and they won 17-2. Wantagh will again be one of the top teams in the county but it was surprising to see them strike out 12 times and come out of the gate slow.

Ward Melville Throws a Shutout

My pick for Suffolk Class AA champs got off to a quick start with a 5-0 shutout victory over William Floyd. They have the best pitching staff on the island and LIU Brooklyn-commit Chris Buehler went four shutout innings and Ethan Farino and Drake Eggleston combined to throw three shutout innings after him. Max Nielsen had a hit and drove in three runs. They will take on Pat-Med tomorrow with Nielsen getting the start.

Rocky Point Cruises Past Harborfields Behind Grillo

One of the more underrated players last year was Joey Grillo of Rocky Point. They had a great season last year and they will be right there again this year in large part to a pitching staff led by Grillo and Rob Milopsky. Today, they won 4-1 with Grillo striking out 11 over 5 innings and allowing just an unearned run.