By Thomas Cregan
Port Washington 10, Syosset 5
WP: Michael Andrew. 4IP 2ER 6K
Will Chu 3IP, 0ER, 2H, 4K
Jake Spiryda 3 for 3, 2B, 2RBI
Dylan Trenaman 2 for 5, 2RBI pic.twitter.com/p6DiuJUOf3— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 18, 2021
Port Washington assistant coach Phil Spotteck hopes to build off the 2021 season and compete for a playoff spot in 2022.
Port Washington lost out on their playoff chances in 2021 in a tiebreaker with Oceanside, however, coach Spotteck saw bright spots throughout the year as his team showed the ability to compete throughout a 5-11 regular season campaign. He believes the experience gained by the returning players will help to further the program along in 2022.
He cited last year’s lack of offseason work due to covid restrictions and now returning to those offseason workouts as a major motivation for the group to come back even more ready to compete this year. Aside from the graduating seniors this was an opportunity to see what the future held for the younger players who got a chance to play in the previous year.
Port Washington saw four major graduating seniors including ace pitcher Christian Schwirzbin, catcher/outfielder Dylan Trenaman, outfielder/pitcher Chris Caprariello, and shortstop Jake Spiryda. Spotteck said, “The loss of the offense provided by those guys will definitely hurt,” but he went on to say he is excited to get to work with the remaining players and focus more on small ball with less power hitters in their lineup.
He reiterated that the returning players will have a major impact on this upcoming season in which port Washington will feature a senior heavy lineup. One of those seniors Danny Alexander, who plays third base showed opposite field power hitting two homeruns in Port Washington’s unique home field with a short right field fence. Another major impact player in their lineup who Spotteck says will likely be the team’s leadoff hitter is junior Ryan Gawley, who plays second base. He said of Gawley, “He is a great kid who is not only respectful to coaches, but he respects the game. He’s a very versatile player who hit .350 last year and I can see him hitting in the top 3 spots of our lineup, if not at leadoff. He’s just the kind of kid any coach would want on their team.”
Spotteck also has faith in their pitching staff for the 2022 season which is led by returning senior starter and Alvernia-commit Michael Andrew. Along with hybrid reliever/starter and Maritime-commit Will Chu, who Spotteck says he has big expectations for this year. Also returning is the team’s primary reliever Jacob Viel, who last season gave up only four runs in one outing keeping teams off the board in all his subsequent appearances. To round out the pitching staff Spotteck is looking for a breakout year from sophomore Parker Workman, whom he hopes to see take the next step this season.
Regarding newcomers Spotteck did not have a definitive answer on any possible new names as he believes the team’s tryouts are going to be highly competitive as he has seen the work players are putting in during the offseason during their fall and winter workouts.
Spotteck believes the team’s biggest strengths are in both pitching and bench depth. He is looking for the guys that can step up in big game moments and ride the “hot hand”. He further stated that “there will be a lot of competition in the lineup which will be good for us as guys will push each other to be better and rotating the lineup will keep us fresh and ready to compete in every game.”
Port Washington is in a highly competitive league in which Spotteck cited Massapequa as the biggest competition, though other programs such as Syosset, Farmingdale, and Oceanside are always competitive, and the guys need to be ready to play every game.
Coach Spotteck is “excited to get back to work with the team” and they will do so with their season opening against Massapequa – whom they faced in the Nassau County AA Finals in 2019.
