For the past couple years, Oceanside knows they’ve had arguably the best team in the county.
After finishing 16-2 in the regular season and winning their first four playoff games, it seemed destined for the Sailors to win it all last season. However, they came up short as they were swept by Massapequa in the County Championship.
After appearing in the County Championship four out of the last five years and walking away with zero championships, Oceanside will be hungrier than ever this year to change their fortunes this season.
How will they do so? Through experience and leadership.
Led by an extremely talented group of seniors, Oceanside will use their past as a lesson to try and prevent defeat from happening again.
Offensively, Oceanside will be led by a group of seniors that possess quite the resume. In total, they have seven players that will play baseball at the next level.
For starters, their offense will be led by St. John’s-commit (SS) Jake Lazzaro. Overall, he had one of the best seasons among anybody on Long Island last year. He finished with a .412 average, .576 SLG, scoring 34 runs and collecting 35 hits in total. As a result, he was named All-State and Conference AA1 MVP. He is the most dangerous weapon in their arsenal and is arguable the most pro-ready position player on Long Island.
Oceanside also returns seniors (1B) Chris Siklas, New Haven-commit (2B) Noah Eisel, Concordia-commit (OF) Leo Alvarez and Concordia-commit (CF) Austin Vlahakis.
In 2018, Siklas and Alvarez were both named All-Conference. They both posted ridiculous stats, as Siklas finished with a .453 batting average and Alvarez finished with a .461 average. It’s easy to see why the middle of their lineup is feared.
Along with their three seniors who batted over .400 last year, Eisel and Vlahakis also bring quite the threat to the lineup. Eisel also collected a postseason award in 2018, as he finished with a .369 average and was named All-League. Three-year starter Austin Vlahakis batted .362 last year, and will patrol center field once again. Expect junior Kevin Murphy to be an impact in the outfield as well.
On the mound, they will be tested with a difficult task as they must replace All-County pitchers Brendan McFall (Tufts), Matt Carey (NYIT), and All-County catcher Dylan Judd (UMass). There may be some uncertainty as to who will be their standout pitchers this season, but they have the talent to be effective.
“We have good pitching options, but are all unproven so far,” said Head Coach Mike Postillo.
King University-commit Jake Reyer will seek to make a significant impact on the mound. Last year, he finished with a 1-1 record, posting a 1.70 ERA and a 1.54 WHIP. Expect Noah Eisel and Leo Alvarez to eat a large amount of innings as well.
Just like every year, Oceanside will be faced with tough competition. Their conference consists of Farmingdale, Hempstead, Syosset, Freeport and their bitter rivals Massapequa.
Oceanside opens up their season against a tough Farmingdale team on April 8th. These seniors have been around tough defeats long enough and are eager for a chance to turn that around in May. The Sailors will once again be contenders.
