With an elite Head Coach such as Tom Migliozzi, sometimes a team can catapult from playoff contender to League Champions.
That is precisely what happened last year when Hills West took a team with two seniors and two freshmen and tied for the League 5 with Eastport-South Manor.
Migliozzi, now in his 27th season at the helm, has 394 wins and 11 league titles to his name. He has the uncanny ability of maximizing the ability of players. Winning a league title with two starting freshmen is no small task. True to his personality, he was not willing to take credit for it.
“A major part of our success last year came from senior Ethan McMenamy‘s ability to lead them,” said Migliozzi. “We were in search for a leader, he helped instill a good culture within the team,” he added.
McMenamy is now at Mercy College and Jason Sarubbi, their other impact senior from last year, is now at Ithaca College.
Being that they were such a young team, they will be returning the bulk of the core including two All-County players, two All-League players and their No. 2 pitcher.
Leading the pack is Fordham-commit Aidan Tornquist, who was named to our Preseason All-Long Island list. He went 6-1 last season with a 1.70 ERA. He is a hard-throwing southpaw and a middle-of-the-order hitter. As Tornquist goes, so does the rest of the team.
Behind him in the rotation is junior Jared Kubel. He was a five-game winner last season, and will complement Tornquist well in the rotation.
Two other arms to keep an eye on are Jacob Glickstein and Nick Scaravaglione. Migliozzi noted the rest of the rotation remains to be seen.
Offensively, in addition to Tornquist they will be relying on NYIT-commit 3B Mike Draskin, who was named All-County last season. Additionally, they have two sophomores who were named All-League. Catcher Mike Freda and 2B Jordan Goldstein will be looking to duplicate or improve on last year’s success as freshmen.
This year, the team will have eight seniors, a much more experienced group from last year. They should once again be a player to win the league title. They will be looking for a better postseason performance than 2018. In their two losses (Eastport-South Manor and North Babylon) they allowed 32 runs.
Fortunately, that experience, combined with their Head Coach’s acumen, should serve them will this upcoming season.
