The St. Dominic Bayhawks have a new coach at the helm and it is Hofstra‘s hit king Matt Prokopowicz. He was an assistant to Brian Anderson last season.
“I can’t even tell you how pumped I am for this,” said Prokopowicz in a state of jubilation. “I’ve been working for this for a long time. After being on the staff last year, I developed a good rapport with a lot of the kids. It’s a real pleasure to call St. Dominic my home and it’s really something special to have my own program. I’m hoping to be here for 15-20 years, maybe even more,” he added.
Prokopowicz is among the most prolific hitters in Long Island history. In addition to an incredible career for Hofstra in which he batted .416 as a freshman (10th in the nation) and .431 as a senior (18th in nation), he also was a big reason that the Massapequa Chiefs won the 2006 New York State Championship with a record of 29-0.
He remembers that season quite vividly.
“That team was the epitome of team chemistry,” he said. I remember being around the guys. We used to go bowling just about every night, we would have barbecues on Sundays, It was really a special bond. The team we had was unbelievable. Growing up with the players from little league through high school, it all led up to that moment. Watching East Meadow celebrate on our mound to win counties made us come back with a vengeance.
That’s how I want it to be this year,” he added.
He stressed the importance of players “doing their job.”
Once again they have a talented team led by St. John’s-commit Carlos Hidalgo, Maryland-commit Sean Lane, George Washington-commit Dom Camera as well as Dylan Bruno, Teddy Brennan among others.
Last year was an early postseason exit as they lost to Holy Trinity and St. Anthony’s, so they will certainly be motivated to have a bounce back season after appearing in the Nassau-Suffolk CHSAA Finals in 2018.
