by Diana-Nicole Ramirez
A positive and humble mindset has been a hallmark for Coach Josh Gutes during his tenure with Hauppauge.
Having been league champs for the fourth time in five years, will not blind the Eagles to the competition they face in a difficult league. They had last season end with a record of 14-9-1 (11-4 league play).
When asked about the expectations of his team for this coming season, Gutes was more than excited yet still extremely modest while he stated, “There’s an excitement moving forward this season, maybe even more so than last, but that means nothing preseason because you still have to play the games.”
The Eagles will be playing League V this season and will face in order, West Babylon, Eastport/South Manor, Harborfields, Half Hollow Hills West, Islip, and Rocky Point.
As to which team coach Gutes is most excited to play against, Gutes stated “There’s no one team I’m looking forward to more than anyone else, but the Hills West series is always a fun one to play because of how well-coached they are,”
Coach continued explaining about the Hills West series stating, “You better be ready to compete when you play against those guys or you have no chance to win. There’s an automatic level of respect that comes with playing them because of the tremendous success that they’ve had a year in and year out. We were co-league champs with them last year and so I think both teams are looking forward to that series again.”
This coming season will not be easy for the Eagles in that they no longer have a few key players that impacted the team last year.
“We are losing our middle infield from last season in Anthony Ferrara at shortstop and Dan Lippmann at second base. We also lost Mike Knopf who was an All-County player for us as a pitcher and left fielder. More so than even on-field ability, the toughness and leadership that they brought to the team will be difficult to replace,” said Coach Gutes.
However, there are impact players that fans will have to keep a close eye on for this coming season, “senior Joe Esposito was our Swiss Army knife playing five different positions and had four saves for us on the mound. Junior Alex Knopf also returns after starting at first base for us as a sophomore.”
Some other players that are returning this coming season that coach mentioned are “senior Ryan Levenberg and junior Chris Neglia return on the mound for us. Senior Joe Ferreri and juniors Alex Oh and Chris Leone are all returning All-League players. Seniors Ryan Boyle and Dan Tellekamp both missed time last year due to injury but were key contributors when they were available. Tellekamp missed the entire season last year but was able to return for the playoffs. He’ll be right in the middle of our lineup this year.”
They can be confident in Leone behind the dish as the Stony Brook-commit is among the top catchers in the county. Additionally, Hofstra-commit Levenberg is among the best southpaws on Long Island.
As to what is expected from the team this season, Coach Gutes knows how unpredictable the game of baseball is which is why when he stated: “It’s nice to have some experience but it does not translate into the games, it is meaningless.”
They will open up the season on March 31 at West Babylon as they look to continue their recent string of success.
