by Chris Sacchi
Kevin WIlli and the Shoreham-Wading River baseball team have made the postseason 34 straight seasons and 36 of the past 37 seasons.
Yet, even coach Willi’s program is entering 2021 lacking in experience.
“We have an interesting situation where we have pretty much three, I’d say four players, who’ve ever touched the varsity field,” coach said.
“I think a lot of teams are in that situation where you miss a year like that, all that senior knowledge that last year, we had a really heavy senior class last year, you know, with Aidan Crowley, Cullen SantaMaria.
“A lot guys, a lot of experience, and we weren’t able to really give them much of a chance to pass that knowledge on. So, we’re looking for some of these guys to step up, especially the guys that have been on the team pre-pandemic, to step up and be leaders this year.”
One player coach is looking towards shouldering the load as a leader, and on the mound, is Hofstra commit and senior right-hander Jake Halloran.
“He’s probably going to lead the way.”
Willi has another arm that he thinks is set to turn some heads for this historic program.
“We got a real surprise. You got to watch out for this kid.” It’s junior Billy Steele, who is a converted catcher.
Uncommitted 6’2 RHP Billy Steele (Shoreham-Wading River 2022) up to 88 pic.twitter.com/acmHJAiRbx
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) March 15, 2021
“He’s kind of starting to work and convert to a pitcher.”
Steele made the varsity team as a freshman in 2019, mostly as a catcher, but his transition has impressed coach Willi.
“Real good guy. He’s a real, a real talented kid works really hard,” coach said. “In great shape this year. His velo on the mound, his curve ball, he’s got lightning stuff. I think people are gonna know about him a lot this year because he’ll make an impact.”
“We have him sitting upper eighties right now, amazingly, that’s really exciting.”
As a former hurler at Stony Brook, Willi can pass on a lot of his knowledge and experience over to Steele, as well as the rest of the staff.
“I’m really excited actually, to work with Billy this year, because I had a lot of pitching knowledge over the years collected from all the different coaches,” Willi said, “and for a guy that’s just starting out in that position, hopefully I’ll be able to pass that knowledge to him, and we’re going to make a real good pitcher out of him this year.”
Coming back is fellow senior right hander John Keane, who threw significant innings back in 2019.
“He’s a solid guy. He’s low eighties with a lot of movement,” coach said.
Willi is excited about the arms sitting atop the rotation.
“Our top three guys are looking really solid and we have a lot of other arms position player arms that can definitely do some relief.”
Keane will be busy this year, as coach will look to get his bat in the lineup.
“I think he’s really gonna mash the ball this year,” Willi said “He’s going to be a really good guy that’s also going to play the field when he’s not pitching.”
Another player with some varsity experience that Willi will lean on is senior shortstop Joey Dwyer.
“He’s a very talented athlete. He’s an all league basketball player, one of the leaders that led them to the County Finals this year,” coach said.
“He was going to be one of the staples in the lineup last year, but he can come back as a senior. He’s kind of a guy we can rely on to be in the middle of the order and be a leader.
Dwyer looks to be a factor on the mound, as coach says, “He can really throw, he’s got a great arm too.”
Junior Liam Bowes is another player who got some time in 2019, as a catcher alongside Steele.
“Liam mashes. I mean really, really talented hitter, great swing,” Willi said. “I think he’s going to have a big impact too. I mean, he’s seen a lot of good pitching in the summer, in the last two summers, as he’s on a very elite travel team.”
Bowes plays for the East Coast Lumberjacks during the summer, and coach says he heard a lot of great things.
“He’s playing all over the country, and I kept getting texts from the coach on the team, saying ‘he went three for four today, with two doubles,’” coach said, adding that Bowes won MVP in one of the team’s tournaments.
Bowes is a great example of a summer ball philosophy that is shared by many coaches on the Island, and elsewhere.
“I really think a player should have as many coaches as possible… get that experience, because everybody plays the game differently and everybody has their own take on certain things.”
“And as a player, you find that some things work for you and some things don’t. Sometimes, even if you go to a coach and you say, ‘I don’t like the way this coach does this,’ then you learn from that. You can really be efficient in what you do. So I’m a big believer in them definitely getting a lot of experience with those coaches.”
One player who has certainly gotten work from other coaches is junior Joey Marchese, another basketball player who coach says stands at 6’4”, 200 lbs.
“Big kid, really strong. Another basketball player, so he’s very athletic for his size and I think he’s going to have a big year,” Willi said. “He’s going to be an outfielder for us, and I think he’s going to hit a lot of balls really hard.”
Having players not only learn from other coaches, but learn from other sports, is important to coach Willi.
“We do have a couple of our core guys are multi-sport athletes, which is a good sign,” he said, “which means they’re in shape. They can take experience from every other sport, other than baseball, and learn things from it.”
“So we like those kinds of players. They are usually a lot tougher, too, than the average player.”
Kevin Willi and his SWR squad are looking to continue a historic streak, but as coach said earlier, this time right now, leading into the season, may make the difference.
“There’s another couple other things we’ve got to figure out still, because I haven’t seen some of these guys really play, and they’re not really battle tested, but that’s what I’m looking forward to,” coach said.
“Our spring training workouts, we’re going to get a bunch of practices, and we’re going to get at least nine to 13 games [intersquads.] So I’ll get to see these guys on the field. Some guys are gamers and it’s giving them a chance to show themselves, what they can do on the field.”
