Brandon O’Neill (Sachem North 2023) with a max exit velo of 86.3 pic.twitter.com/9cvT7uFRfK
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) November 8, 2020
We’ve looked at many unique storylines for this upcoming season such as teams with no returning varsity experience, or teams that haven’t been able to gather in-person yet and even teams that are missing half their players to other sports. Sachem North is the first team we’ve previewed that is running into the issue of their coaching staff being multi-sport coaches.
Of the four coaches at the varsity level, all are still in their Spring I seasons – including head coach Tom Gambino who is an assistant for the varsity football team. This has certainly impacted the amount of preparation that they have been able to put in with the team. Fortunately, the players have been able to get their work in on their own and also at 365 Athletics every Friday night where the pitchers throw their bullpens.
‘22 C/1B Steven Kienzle (Sachem North) with monster round. Starts his hands in a high slot and they quickly creep down into the load. Fires the hips violently to initiate hip-shoulder separation. 92 MPH max exit velo per @TrackManBB pic.twitter.com/g6s267ehp8
— PBR New York (@PBRNewYork) April 11, 2021
The football season ends on April 25 for Sachem North and their tryouts are the next day. Coach Gambino noted that he’s thankful for the leadership of his catcher Steven Kienzle who has really stepped up during this time.
“He’s the only 10th grader that’s been named All-League for us,” said Gambino, who has been the Head Coach since 2005. “He’s without question the leader of the team. He schedules the workouts and weight lifting and everything like that. We don’t have a captain, but if we did he would be it,” he added. Kienzle will be their everyday catcher and middle-of-the-order bat. As you can see in the above video, the ball explodes off his bat and he will be a critical part of their team this season. He’s uncommitted but will be attending Elev8 Academy in Florida next year for a post-graduate year.
Another important piece for them will be sophomore Brandon O’Neill. He is mature beyond his years and is a baseball junkie with terrific offensive skills. He will play everyday for the Arrows, primarily at third base and perhaps behind the dish if Kienzle needs a day off. Gambino noted they might need his help on the mound too.
Which segues to the pitching staff. They return a total of four varsity innings from 2019 and that belongs to Conor Palm who is rehabbing an injured UCL and will miss some time. They have a number of promising, but untested pitchers after graduating Tyler Kohn (Plattsburgh), Erik Maldonado (CCNY) and Matt Ingraffia last season.
Chris Kelly is one name that will contribute. He’s also the QB of the football team so he’s still in the midst of his season. Gambino mentioned Billy Bullock and Justin Cordero as possible contributors. Overall, the staff does not feature a lot of depth and only those four returning innings which could open the door for some underclassmen to step into larger roles.
That will put an importance on defense. So along with Kienzle behind the dish and O’Neill at third, they’ll likely rely on John Durkin at 2B and Sean Kruse at SS – who was slated to be the starter last season.
Gambino expressed that this year has been unlike any other. He stated that while it’s not ideal that “it’s better than nothing” and “there’s no excuses – I told my guys, you just have to be ready.”
Being ready can also mean being ready for the unexpected news and that could come in the form of players being unavailable due to contact tracing.
“It’s going to happen,” he said. “There will be a day we’re on the bus and at 2pm we get a call that ‘player x’ is unavailable and he’s out for 10 days. Depending how it falls, there may be a game where certain pitchers aren’t available and we just have to figure out how to get through the game.”
Here’s to hoping that scenario does not play out.
They will open up against Central Islip on May 7 at 5pm. The next day, they’ll take on rival Sachem East at 8pm.
