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Loaded Kellenberg Primed for Another Great Year

by Michael Anderson

Pat Miles left a great impression in his first year as head coach of the Kellenberg Memorial High School varsity baseball team. The Firebirds finished 12-3 and clinched the top seed in the CHSAA. Of course, it wasn’t really his first impression; at least not with his players.

“I had those kids on JV… I’ve coached all those kids before. In a shortened season, it wasn’t much of a learning curve regarding my players because I’ve had them for two years for the most part. I knew exactly the kids’ weaknesses and the kids’ strengths,” said Miles. 

It wasn’t just the continuity from a coaching standpoint that helped propel Kellenberg, though. Miles credits his players’ work ethic and positive attitudes as other reasons why they were so successful. 

“They all have the ability to be coachable, which is what any coach wants. Kids just worked their butts off every time they showed up for practice. We were very, very aggressive on defense and on kids just throwing strikes, and they all bought in,” said Miles. “The consistency was there, the familiarity was there, and it all worked out really well from the get-go.” 

Speaking of continuity, Kellenberg is returning 17 players to their varsity team this year. Having said that, that did come at a price. According to Miles, they graduated three of their best offensive players. Those guys were catcher Joe Durso, who plays Div-I baseball at St. John’s University now, catcher/outfielder CJ Picone, who plays Div-II at Adelphi, and corner-infielder/DH Phil Schurr. Miles labeled Picone “…perhaps our best overall player,” and Schurr “our best power-hitter” from the 2021 team.

Despite losing those impact bats to graduation, Miles believes that this year’s team is deeper than last year’s team. “The JV team was very talented as well, and some of those guys are juniors now… On paper, and from the standpoint of already knowing these kids, I think we’re deeper than we were last year,” said Miles. He believes that they are deeper in the pitching staff and the position player group, giving themselves a very strong bench.

But who comprises the core of this team? With 17 returning players, along with other young, talented players joining the mix, they have a rather large core. They have eight college commits as of now, with six seniors and two juniors committed. Their pitching staff consists of several two-way threats who are also college commits, such as senior lefty Steven Hardiman, who will be playing Div-II ball at Bentley University next year. Hardiman will be starting in the corner outfield on days that he is not pitching. They also boast another lefty in senior Brendan McCann, who is committed to play Div-II baseball at Pace University. McCann played the role of closer for the Firebirds last year, while also starting in the outfield. According to Miles, McCann will slide into the starting rotation this year. Also, their starting first baseman, the 6’6” John Kwiatkowski, gave them valuable innings out of the bullpen last year, and is expected to do more of the same. Kwiatkowski’s fastball has been clocked as high as 85, and he is committed to play Div-I ball at Manhattan College. The ace of the staff is junior right-hander Andrew Koshy, who is a flamethrower, as the 11th grader already touches 90+ with his fastball. Koshy will also be playing third base for Kellenberg when he is not pitching. He is committed to play Div-I baseball at Wake Forest.

Completing this strong battery are a pair of senior catchers: Kenny Hirschfeld and Vin Napolitano. Hirschfeld is committed to play Div-II college baseball at the University of New Haven, while Napolitano is committed to Div-III University of Scranton. As of now, Miles intends to have them platoon.

“I envision them—at least at the moment—sharing duties behind the plate and being a DH, and just balancing each other off,” said Miles.

Outside of the battery, they have some other players who are integral to their success, such as Div-III Farmingdale commit Ryan Wasserman. Junior utility player Paul Napolitano (no relation) is a Div-I commit as well, as he is committed to High Point University.

Miles listed a couple of under-the-radar guys as well that are worth looking out for this year. He mentioned a first-year varsity player named Matt Ingram, who was the ace of the JV team’s pitching staff last year. Miles says he will definitely be part of their pitching staff this season.

“He’s a good, hard-thrower… He’ll be pitching for us, whether it’s in the rotation or as a reliever,” said Miles.

Another “sleeper” to keep an eye out for would be Ryan Glupe, who Miles confirmed will be in the rotation, and believes he is due for a good season.

“From what I can tell from some offseason workouts that we’ve had, he touched up on some of his mechanical issues. He was in our rotation last year as a junior, so we’re going to slide him right back in there this year,” said Miles.

With all of the talent, versatility, experience, and depth that Kellenberg has, it seems pretty clear that this team is ready to contend again this year. But they don’t just have those going for them: they have great team chemistry, too.

“I told them it was important to workout together, and go to the gym together, or go to the batting cage together. And they’ve all been doing that. I haven’t needed to coordinate a single workout the entire year… They do their own thing together, and I know they do their own thing together because the place they’re using will give me a call and say ‘Hey, did you know you had 14 kids here today?’” Miles explained.

The culture at Kellenberg baseball is very strong, and the program is very deep; totally stacked with talent. They will look to use this camaraderie combined with their talent to outdo themselves from a year ago, when they were eliminated by their rivals, Chaminade, in the finals. According to Miles, all they’ve got to do to make that leap and get to the next level is do the basic stuff: throw more strikes, and have even better approaches.

“We need to get better in recognizing pitches and finding an approach at the plate, and we need to get better at making sure we’re hammering the strike zone,” said Miles.

Kellenberg is set to open up the season on Saturday, April 2nd, where they will play host to Christ the King High School.

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Vinny is the President of Axcess Baseball. He is a 2013 graduate of Adelphi University and he is currently the Long Island area scout for the San Diego Padres

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