The Chaminade Flyers are the 2019 NSCHSAA Champions with a 3-1 victory over St. Anthony’s pic.twitter.com/czHcPb827e
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 27, 2019
During his 38 years as the skipper of Chaminade, Mike Pientkos has won over 600 games and has garnered the respect of the Long Island baseball community. He led the Flyers to another championship in 2019, as they defeated St. Anthony’s in the NSCHSAA Championship in two games.
With a team featuring seven seniors in the starting lineup and two in the rotation, he knew it was going to be a special year.
“Yeah I knew we had some pitchers – such as [Logan] Koester – who dominated all year and [Aidan] Larkin, who was a third-year SS for us,” said Pientkos. “But we also had some good surprising players,” he added. They were fortunate to have a No. 2 pitcher in Bobby Dahl, who was the winning pitcher in Game 1 of the Championship series. They also received huge seasons from CF Paul Orbon, RF Jack Santini and C JR McCloskey.
“I wasn’t sure about the catching position before the season, but JR did a great job for us,” he added.
Entering 2020, they will have to replace some key positions. Koester, the Axcess Baseball Pitcher of the Year, is now at George Washington. Larkin, CHSAA Player of the Year, is playing for Hofstra, Paul Orbon is at St. John’s and Jack Santini is at Fairfield.
Fortunately, the Flyers have a couple things working in their favor
- They have 52 players trying out for varsity and 130 players trying out for JV – which is a tremendous pool of players to start with.
- They have a terrific pitching coach in Jimmy Bailin.
“Jimmy Bailin did an unbelievable job with the pitchers in his first year. We had not one arm injury – maybe a first in my 38 years. His throwing program really helped the kids out,” he said.
Leading the pitching staff is Ryan Walsh, a hard-thrower who was the starting QB on the football team. Pientkos noted that he pitched 20 innings last year with an ERA in 3’s. He described him as “very deliberate, very intellectual with a nice breaking ball and decent control.” Opposing batters hit .200 against him.
Sawyer Duarte, who started every game at second base, finished second in the league in batting average at .405 and earned All-League honors, will also be in the rotation. He is committed to Middlebury College. Perfect Game has his fastball up to 87 MPH. Vying for the other spot in the rotation will be seniors James Muscat and Matt Merolla.
A critical X-Factor will also be the potential call-up of sophomore southpaw Joseph Ariola. He has the type of potential that you drool over as a scout. The 16-year-old stands 6’2 and runs his fastball up to 87 with great command. It usually would not be a question to bump him to varsity but things are a little different for Chaminade.
“I personally think he should be up with us but that’s up to him, his parents and administration. I think we’ve called up six sophomores in my 38 years,” said Pientkos. “They have to be able to handle it academically, socially and it needs to be approved my administration. And there needs to be a team-need. But I’m in favor of it,” he said.
While the team is young, he does feel their strength will be in the pitching and defense.
Behind the dish is senior Charlie O’Brien, who has shown a ton of improvement behind the plate over the past year.
“Charlie is a good kid, he was behind McCloskey last year. He played in a bunch of scrimmages. He got a lot quicker behind the plate through out the year – he was a little slow in the beginning,” he added.
The middle infield is in good hands with Duarte and Billy Sullivan. It is yet to be determined which will play shortstop. He also noted that the JV team had a great infield defense last season which bodes will for this season.
Essentially, this is a pretty young team. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t talented.
They will open up league play against St. Anthony’s in a rematch of the Championship Series as they embark on their quest for their 18th league title.
