If you’ve followed Nassau County baseball at some point in your life, you are aware that MacArthur is one of the most decorated programs in Long Island history.
Within the last ten years, MacArthur has totaled five Diamond Award winners and took home the Class AA County Championship in 2015. Among one of the few programs in Nassau County who compete for a county championship no matter what their roster looks like, MacArthur knows what it takes to be successful.
Since their switch to Class A in 2017, the Generals fell to their cross-town rivals Division in the postseason back-to-back years. If we’ve learned one thing from the past, it’s that MacArthur always knows how to rebound and will never go down without a fight.
However, they may face some adversity coming into this season as they only return two starters. This is never an easy task to overcome, but expect them to have a next man up mentality.
Fortunate for MacArthur, their two returning starters carry quite the resume and will be leaders on and off the field.
Offensively, the face of the this lineup will be Justin DeMaria. As a three-year starter, DeMaria has been named All-Conference once, All-League once, and led the team with a .560 OBP last year.
Behind the plate, the Generals return junior Dom Notarstefano, who started as a sophomore last year. Not only can he be considered as one of the best defensive catchers in the county, but he possesses tremendous defensive ability with a plus arm and a pop time in the 1.9 range. He will be in charge of catching their inexperienced pitching staff.
On the mound is where MacArthur really took a hit. They graduated Diamond Award-winner Brandon Buchan and Joe Keller (NYIT) who carried them to a semifinals appearance in 2018. After losing two of the best arms in Nassau County, it will be extremely tough to replace them.
Luckily for the Generals, they have a core of talented juniors from a very strong JV team that learned a lot from Buchan and Keller. Clearly, their services weren’t needed on varsity last year, but will be looked upon this season and trusted by Head Coach Steve Costello.
If MacArthur wishes to make it deep into the postseason once again, everyone must play to their full potential. Seniors to be on the lookout for in 2019 are John Thatcher and David Johnsen. They will also need big years from juniors Sean Tierney, Kyle Gaertner and Jimmy Mahoney.
Although MacArthur has a lot of holes to fill, they will still be in the hunt for a playoff run. Their conference consists of Herricks, Calhoun, Valley Stream Central, Mepham and Great Neck South.
They will open up their 2019 campaign against the newly-added Great Neck South on April 8th. Expect to hear several new names making an impact for the Generals, and don’t be surprised if they make another playoff run this season.
