by Zevan Shuster
Jackson Satttinger (2020) Singles to score Nick Esposito. The Walk-off closes out Oceanside 11-1 in Game 3, and sends Port Washington to the Nassau County Finals! @portbaseball @arjcinfo @axcessbaseball @Nassau_Baseball @TeamSteelNY @BPM_Tweets @MattSoren4 @JaxSattinger21 pic.twitter.com/G0Ap1Ob3D4
— Dave Sattinger (@DaveSattinger) May 27, 2019
Results from a previous season may not carry over, but the memories and the work ethic instilled from it certainly can.
“We are hungry to get back there again,” Phil Spotteck, assistant coach of the team, said in regards to their incredible run through Nassau County Class AA. They pulled off an upset of Oceanside in the semifinals before losing to Massapequa in the County Finals at SUNY Old Westbury. They finished with 20 wins and their first appearance in the Finals since 1969.
The hunger in the team, and the hard work of each individual are just a couple of many reasons why Spotteck is optimistic for this upcoming season.
“We are working hard this winter. We have more guys coming out here than we’ve ever had. Port Washington baseball is definitely headed in the right direction,” said Spotteck.
Beyond the mindset, and the outlook from both him and his team, Port Washington, according to Spotteck, almost certainly has the horses to put together another excellent season in 2020.
“We graduated Alex Chang last year, who was the Diamond Award Winner, so a lot of people would think that’s going to be a big deficit for us, but the other two guys that anchored our rotation last year are back, (Jackson) Sattinger and (Derek) Livingston, and we have a kid that was our fourth or fifth guy last year, that really stepped up, (Christian) Schwrizbin,” said Spotteck.
“He was one of our key arms out of the bullpen, and when Livingston suffered an injury at the end of the season (he sprained his ankle running the bases), Schwirzbin stepped up to fill that void in the playoffs, and he pitched beautifully,” said the assistant coach.
Schwirzbin indeed was the winning pitcher in the deciding game (Game three) of the semifinals, allowing just one run in five innings, which has earned him enormous goodwill from his team heading into this season.
According to Spotteck, “I’d put our pitchers up against anybody.” Livingston was named All-Conference, after compiling a record of 4-1, ERA of 1.98 and 0.99 WHIP. He is committed to RPI.
Additionally, they can swing the bat too. They are fortunate to have back Trinity-commit Sean Meth, who had an outstanding season in 2019. Hamilton-commit Sattinger crushed six HR and drove in 22 runs, showing his abilities to be a two-way player.
While Port Washington’s approach will almost certainly differ from last year, so will their opponents approach toward them. They are a team to be taken seriously in the conversation of championship contenders.
“We kind of snuck up on people last year. We knew we had a talented team, but Port Washington didn’t really have the name in Nassau County yet, so I think we benefited from that a little bit last year,” said Spotteck.
“Teams may have underestimated us, a little bit, but our guys know that nothing from last year is going to carry over into this year.”
While the coach acknowledges that the experience may help “for the guys who’ve tasted it,” and that Port Washington is “headed in the right direction,” he knows this years team’s approach will certainly have to differ from last year.
“This year we’re going to have to play a different style of baseball. Last year we had a pretty high-powered offense. We put up big runs last year. We had a very senior heavy lineup, and we produced pretty much one through nine. It was pretty tough to get through our lineup without getting hurt,” said Spotteck.
“We’re going to have a very different style of lineup this year. We’re still going to have some big guys that can produce really quickly, but we’re not going to be as deep I don’t think as we were last year.,” said the assistant.
“So, I think we’re going to have to play a little more small ball, and that’s definitely something that Matt (head coach) is a big fan of. He’s a fan of playing for one run, getting a guy over, try and steal a base. We are definitely going to look to try and do all those little things this year with potentially not as high-powered an offense.”
According to Spotteck, both he and his head coach offering differing, but complimentary perspectives.
“We actually balance each other out so well,” said the second in command. “He has more of a conservative, traditional approach to most things, and I’m more of the kind of fly by the seat of my pants, go with your gut type guy.”
Just as they aim to form a complete team throughout the rotation, and up and down the lineup, the coaching staff aims to do the same amongst themselves, as they get ready for another season, this time with bigger expectations on themselves, and a bigger target on their backs.
