By Daniel Lopes
In 2021, Huntington made history, making the playoffs for the first time since 2005 and winning the Conference II Suffolk County Championship for the first time in over 60 years. This success was rewarded heavily, as eight players earned All-League honors and head coach Bill Harris won the Conference II Coach of the Year.
“Being an alumni of Huntington High School, I couldn’t be more proud of these young men and my assistant coach Rob Cappas for the great achievements we made last season,” said Harris. “We put Huntington baseball back on the map.”
They will be without much of the core that helped them get to the championship last year, as nine seniors from last year’s team have since graduated. One of the biggest losses is Kyle Colleluori, who was a workhorse for the team, leading them in games played and innings pitched. On the mound, Colleluori made seven starts, striking out 33 batters and posting an ERA of 2.25. He was just as impressive at the plate, hitting .481 with 17 doubles, two home runs, and a team-leading 30 RBIs.
On the mound, they also graduated Aidan Bender and Alex Bellissimo, who had a 2.71 ERA and 1.88 ERA, respectively. At the plate, six of the nine players that hit at least .300 graduated, including their home run leader, Chris Segreti.
Uncommitted LHP Palmer O’Beirne (Huntington 2022) struck out 16 in a 1-hit shutout this weekend pic.twitter.com/mGZJJ0sjIS
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 12, 2021
However, there are still multiple players returning that made a major impact on the field in 2021. They retained one of their aces, who tied Colleluori in innings pitched, in Palmer O’Beirne. O’Beirne dominated on the mound, striking out a team-leading 72 batters, 39 more than the next best mark on the team. He did this while posting a 7-2 record and an ERA of 2.40. He was also a factor in the lineup, batting .323 with seven RBIs and 10 walks.
Joining O’Beirne as a senior leader on the team is his catcher, Dylan Schnitzer. On top of controlling the pitching staff, Schnitzer was nearly automatic at the plate, hitting .475 with two home runs, 16 RBIs, and an on-base percentage of .580.
Aside from O’Beirne and Schnitzer, the rest of the team will be seeing their first significant amount of playing time at the varsity level. The group of catcher Harry Baliber, pitcher/first baseman Robert Brown, shortstop/pitcher Kevin Drake, second baseman Matt Gerardi, first baseman/pitcher Joe Toscano and pitcher Chris Accompora have combined for eight at-bats and two innings pitched on varsity. Despite the relative inexperience of this team, the leadership duo of Schnitzer and O’Beirne has given Harris confidence heading into the season.
“We will be a young team led by our senior pitcher and catcher battery of Palmer O’Beirne and Dylan Schnitzer,” Harris said. “We should be competitive and battling for a playoff spot.”
The team has had plenty of time this offseason to practice and gel together, as the team has held weekly practices since December.
Huntington will begin their title defense with a non-league game against Central Islip on April 1st. Their conference schedule begins on April 4th with a home game against Smithtown East.
