by Chris Sacchi
After the 2019 season, Hauppauge head coach Josh Gutes already had a clear idea of how the team would stack up the following year, ready to defend a league title.
“I pretty much had opening day’s lineups written at the end of the 2019 season.”
For a program that has won 4 league titles of the last 5 seasons, that makes sense. Yet heading into 2021, Gutes has a team that is filled with positional battles, and the lineup is much less of a sure thing thanks to graduating 7 seniors following 2020.
“I probably have seven different lineups that are written out already, with as many as 15,16 kids mixed in there.”
This has made preseason that much more important, and coach Gutes embraces the new feeling in Hauppauge.
“Every second of practice matters. I think this is going to be a great thing for the kids… They know they can’t take a second off, that somebody is going to be watching.”
“Every step of the way during practice, and how they carry themselves, is going to matter and how they handle failure is going to matter more. There’s going to be eyes on them every second of practice, especially early on because they know that there’s a spot on the line.”
Another interesting wrinkle with the competition is the condensed practice time, and the lack of scrimmages and non-league games.
“We would have six or seven scrimmages. We’d have some non-league games, you know, to prepare for, for our league season. We don’t have that this year. So, you know, guys are really gonna have to earn their spot in the lineup in practice more so than we’ve ever had before…Normally I’d have a month and a half, two months to kind of see guys swinging the cage. See guys throw in the gym, watching guys throw off the bullpen mounds in the gym.”
“It’s definitely nice to have that core group of returning seniors for us that were sophomores [on the 2019 championship team.] Other than that, we need guys to step up and play, and I’m very excited about, you know, what we have in Hauppauge, but it’s going to be, how can that translate into being competitive enough for us that we’re not coming just to enjoy being out there, like we’re coming to win.”
There is no doubt there is added competition, but Gutes still does have some top-tier talent he can pencil in.
Two teammates who have known each other since they were born anchor the top of the rotation.
Senior Chris Neglia is set to be the team’s workhorse. According to coach, Neglia’s experience as a key arm in the 2019 season offers even more optimism than just his natural talent.
“He was excellent for us as a sophomore on our league championship team. So he’ll be our top guy this year.”
Junior Nick Neglia has a great chance to slot in alongside his older brother. According to coach Gutes, Nick was set to throw some innings as a sophomore last season. He now enters 2021 with more experience, thanks in large part to last summer’s TOB tournament.
Set up in the town of Brookhaven, a great deal of Suffolk County teams (about 40 teams out of 55, according to coach) had the chance to bring back their full 2020 varsity rosters, and give their seniors one last ride. Gutes says he got to coach his entire team, and even though it was just four games, it was much needed.
“It was a playoff-like environment, and obviously losing the season was devastating, but this definitely took a little bit of the sting out of it. Just in that you were able to get one last run with your team…one last run with the kids that you grew up playing with for 10, 11, 12 years.”
“They were able to play with their friends and their teammates one last time before heading off to college. So I think if you ask any one of those guys, it was a tremendous experience and one that they were very thankful that they took part in.”
Despite a loss in the championship game, this tournament allowed for more experience in a playoff-type setting. And getting back to those top dogs in the rotation, part of coach’s optimism about the Neglia brothers comes from their play in that tournament, saying “they were both very successful in our summer tournament.”
As for the rest of the rotation, coach says his team might very well need all hands on deck.
“We might have to kind of Johnny Wholestaff it a little bit.”
“Our first baseman, Alex Knopf, he was going to be in the mix a little bit last year for us. And I think he’s going to get some meaningful innings for us, whether it’s as our closer or as the third starter.”
Outside of Knopf, Gutes is excited about the prospect of a competition to see who can step and fill innings, in a season where pitchers may be unable to throw as many innings as a normal year, due to last year’s canceled season.
“There’s a bunch of unknowns for us on the mound, so it’s going to be a pretty open competition to see who can get the remainder of the innings, which there’s going to be a lot of.”
With the pitching competition heating up, and the lineup up in the air as of now, what bats can Gutes rely on in order to anchor another title chase?
Let’s start with senior Chris Leone, who coach Gutes calls “the best catcher on Long Island.”
Leone has a scholarship to play at Stony Brook, and coach adds “he was an all-league player for us as a sophomore also. And he’s one of the best catch and throw guys that you’ll see at the high school level.”
Gutes continues about Leone by getting to his bat.
“His offense has exploded and he was prepared to have a huge year for us as a junior last year.”
Additionally, Gutes is confident in CF Alex Oh who was named All-League as a sophomore and will bat leadoff. Anthony Russo, who can play all around the infield, and Brandon Oswald, who mans the outfield, will be young players pushing for lineup spots in camp.
This lineup will be expected to continue to play towards Gutes’ preference for small ball, an approach that has been successful in the biggest games.
“Yeah, I think that’s been one of our strengths over the years. I think we’ve had some really good players, but I do think we’ve also beat some teams that are probably a little more talented than us, just because of how we play and how, you know, we do a lot of little things.
“People are sacrificing themselves for the good of the team. So I do think that that is probably gonna be the biggest challenge for us. Just the fact that we haven’t been together as much as normally we would have in the past.”
