On Monday, Steven Matz will start for the Toronto Blue Jays and on Tuesday, Anthony Kay will start for them. While they are four years apart and never actually pitched on the same team, the two southpaws graduating from Ward Melville HS and winding up on the same pitching staff is an incredible story. Additionally, Ben Brown – four years younger than Kay – has been steadily rising up the minor league ranks in the Phillies minor league system and has a shot to be the third Patriots to be in the big leagues at once.
While he will tell you otherwise, Ward Melville HC Lou Petrucci is a big reason for that success. The Patriots head coach is as passionate and knowledgeable about the game as there is and the players gravitate towards it. And with a third former player on the cusp of the big leagues, it’s not just a coincidence that Ward Melville has become a baseball school after not winning a League I title from 1975 until 2009.
Ward Melville captured their last Class AA Championship in 2013 but has been knocking on the door ever since. They took Connetquot to the brink in 2019 but ran out of gas in Game 3 of the Finals. They also came close in 2015 but lost to Connetquot in the Finals as well. From the 2019 class, they graduated the Carl Yastrzemski Award winner Max Nielsen – who is now at UMBC. They also graduated Brady Doran, a middle infielder, who is second in the NE-10 in HRs with 8. Ethan Farino, a two-way star at WM is at Division-I Marist and Matt Moore is a Suffolk.
Max Nielsen strikes out 18 batters to send Ward Melville to the Suffolk County AA Finals ! pic.twitter.com/RtJrqe4y4p
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 31, 2019
In regards to Nielsen he said, “Max was a great part of the program, he was up with us as an eighth grader under the tutelage of Joe Flynn and Ben Brown and turned into the Carl Yastrzemski Award winner. It was an unbelievable rise. He had 18 strikeouts in a playoff game – it wasn’t some random midweek game. It sent us to the Suffolk County Finals. He was on that day. In big games, Max turned it on. And he did it against West Islip – who is as legit as it gets. They’re right up with the best programs on Long Island like Massapequa in my mind,” Petrucci said.
They also had a very strong crop of seniors in 2020 and had a shot to compete for a title with their talent. That pitching staff was going to be anchored by Chris Vivenzio (Pace) and Ryan Hynes (Molloy), both are now playing at the collegiate level. The pitching staff was in great hands with catcher Anthony Pascale (Bridgeport) and he would’ve been anchoring the middle of the order along with Matt Franco (Maine-commit) and Jake Woods (Bridgeport).
“We lost a lot of good players,” said Petrucci. But this year, not only will they return plenty of talent, they will be taking the field on their brand-new fully turfed field, thanks to the great work of LandTek. Petrucci could not have been more appreciative of them and his Athletic Director, Kevin Finnerty.
“Kevin did a tremendous job helping to put this together – it was completed in less than 3 weeks! If you came out here in January you would’ve seen the same field we’ve had and if you came back three weeks later, it was done. We’ve been practicing three hours a day because the kids don’t want to leave the field. It’s really exciting – everyone did a great job to get this done,” he added.
Brand new fully turfed Ward Melville field. Head coach Lou Petrucci noted they were able to complete the project in just 3 weeks @TheLandTekGroup pic.twitter.com/c3OklrcKQb
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 2, 2021
As for the players on the field, they have been going “full bore” according to Petrucci. He said they’ve done plenty of work on the “basic fundamentals like cutoffs, relays and basic ground ball technique.”
Petrucci said the strength of the team is up the middle with catcher Tom Rabaudo, one of the captains of the team. “He’s a very good receiver, he’s a very smart kid. He will play somewhere in the Ivy League. He’s an outstanding catcher and a great mind.”
Up the middle they have the double play duo of Jack Friend (Maine-commit) and Robbie Looney. Those are two sophomores that have earned getting called up and will be contributors this season.
In CF, the have Mike Mortilla who will patrol the outfield for the Patriots. He will be counted on to cover the vast real estate out there, with the new dimensions 360 in the power alleys and 400 to center.
Petrucci mentioned Josh Russo, captain Lucas Gacovino (SJC-commit), Luke Lamelo and Greg Vivenzio as key pieces for them.
They will open up this Friday 5pm against Sachem East at Moriches Complex.
