Baseball isn’t always fair, sometimes it can be particularly cruel. When you play well, usually you are rewarded. In the case of Bellmore JFK in 2019, that wasn’t the case. They went 8-4 over their final 12 games but missed out on a postseason berth by 1/2 game.
Additionally, they were poised for a breakthrough in 2020, but lost senior LHP Ryan Schechner, to Tommy John surgery, before the season even began. He was All-County last year and heading to Towson in the fall.
In any event, coach Mike Gattus – now in his second year as head coach – is undeterred an confident in his group.
They are fortunate to have three senior pitchers that are all capable of keeping the team in the game. Chris Costaro, who is also one of their top hitters, pitched 15 innings last year allowing just 4 ER with 18 strikeouts. They also have Anthony Comunale, a third-year varsity player, who had three wins and struck out 34 batters. Rounding out the rotation is John Ohanian, another senior.
Their offense should be in good shape this season, led by Chris Costaro who will also play first base and outfield. He batted .375, led the team in extra base hits, runs scored and hits. Junior Jake Sherman will play outfield. He batted .356 last season with a .464 OBP and .471 SLG as a sophomore. SS Justin Rosenfeld batted .360 with 6 XBH and 11 RBI as a sophomore. Coach Gattus stated that they are confident in him anchoring the infield defense.
They finished with a conference record of 8-7, so it may just take one more win to get into the postseason this year.
Gattus mentioned that the team has been working exceptionally hard.
“We’ve looked very strong in the preseason, we will have 15 guys on varsity and we’re averaging double-digit players in the workouts since November. They’ve been awesome, right down to volunteering for the little league clinics that we’ve run. I really hope it pays off,” he said.
“The goal is to put in six days per week and build off last year,” he said.
