It was a phenomenal season in 2019 for Cold Spring Harbor as they captured the Nassau County Class B Championship over No. 1 seed East Rockaway. They ultimately had their season end in the Long Island Championship against Center Moriches – who wound up capturing the New York State title.
That year’s team featured some outstanding performances from their seniors – RHP Theo Farynick, C Kyle Jaspers and RHP Jon Cosmai.
In-game interview with Theo Farynick who fired three shutout innings pic.twitter.com/iQfveU1LYu
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 26, 2018
Farynick was second team All-Long Island after compiling a 1.20 ERA, striking out two batters per inning and throwing a no-hitter against Malverne. Jaspers was also named second-team All-Long Island, leading the county in home runs with six. Cosmai led the county in saves with 7, according to head coach Richard Greeney.
Last year’s team was going to be leaning on two more seniors – Rich Casaccio and Shane Mitchell – before covid wiped out their season. Casaccio was an All-County SS and led the team in hitting at .380.
Uncommitted RHP Drew Munn (Cold Spring Harbor 2022) pic.twitter.com/nwwLuFQnVR
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) February 13, 2021
Even with those five key players from the 2019 championship team, they still return three players with experience which will be crucial as they navigate through some tough teams on their schedule this year.
Anchoring the staff and the lineup is junior Drew Munn. As a freshman, he defeated East Rockaway to clinch the County Championship. The big righty has been steadily improving and is now topping out at 88 MPH. Greeney stated that he believes he will be in the low 90s by next year and he’s been garnering Division-I interest. When he’s not pitching, he’ll be playing first base.
Senior Noah Porcelain is a fourth-year varsity player and will transition from the outfield to catcher this year. Greeney stated that he had always been a catcher but volunteered to play outfield to accommodate Jaspers in 2019, but he’s athletic enough to play any position.
The third returning player is Michael Masciello. He will be “1A” in the rotation with Munn. When he’s not pitching he’ll play a corner spot.
Greeney noted that he has nine seniors on the team and “they’ll get every opportunity to start which I think is fair”. They have some younger players in the program that could get an opportunity should the need arise.
The eighth-year head coach, who took over for longtime coach Chris Phelan, stated that his players have done a great job of prioritizing their studies which is why so many of their graduates are at high-end universities such as Farynick (Bucknell).
“That’s one of the things we do here,” said Greeney in regards to focusing on getting the players to great four-year schools. “I have fun with helping the kids,” he added.
I was very impressed with Greeney’s level of involvement with the players’ college recruiting process. While many coaches will know where their players are committed to play, he was able to rattle off all the schools that the players are interested in as well. That type of commitment to their future always bodes well for a program.
They will open up on May 4 against Seaford. Their league includes Wheatley, Locust Valley, Oyster Bay, Carle Place, East Rockaway, Island Trees and the reigning champs – Clarke.
