Chaminade has captured the 2021 CHSAA Championship with a 4-1 win over Kellenberg ! pic.twitter.com/jmozQfolci
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 10, 2021
Before Chaminade even takes the field for their title defense in 2022, first they have to finalize their roster. That may seem like a formality for a team returning 15 college-committed players. But it isn’t – in fact they had 51 players try out for the varsity team. That’s an incredible number in this era.
“The competition at our tryouts is intense,” said head coach Mike Pienkos, who is entering his 40th season at the helm. They just captured their 17th CHSAA title in program history over Kellenberg. “I am blessed with a talented class, I mean the class is just loaded,” he added.
Loaded is an understatement.
Chaminade Flyers class of 2022 has 15 seniors and every single one of them are committed to play in college. The Division-I players include LHP Joe Ariola (Wake Forest), RHP JJ Gatti (Dayton), LHP John Downing (Seton Hall), 2B Brady Steinert (Marist), SS Nolan Nawrocki (Michigan), C Brian Heckelman (Towson) and Nick Ungania (Binghamton). And that’s that the seniors. Of their juniors, they also have OF Michael Sweeney (Hofstra) an SS Matthew Dieguez (Fordham). That’s 9 Division-I commits.
It’s an embarrassment of riches for the reigning champs. In fact, Pienkos stated that “it is certainly near the top, if not at the top of the most talented classes we’ve had. And that’s saying something. It’s just an exceptional group.”
The pitching staff is obviously terrific. They are led by three Division-I commits, however, Joe Ariola did undergo Tommy John last April and Pienkos stated that he is not counting on having him this year – unless it’s towards the “middle-to-end of May”. He added that “we will let him heal.”
Dayton-commit JJ Gatti (Chaminade 2022) up to 91.4 MPH pic.twitter.com/OzNWhCThLp
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) February 25, 2022
Downing and Gatti are two of the best pitchers on Long Island. One a righty, one a lefty, both won games in the CHSAA Finals against Kellenberg. Both have improved since that time and will pose problems for any opponent. Their closer last year who was on the mound when the title was clinched, Andrew Heiderstadt, will complete for the third spot in the rotation along with some other talented arms such a talented southpaw Matthew Brandt.
“I have 5 returning pitchers that I can count on. I think we’re pretty solid on the mound and I have some kids on JV that look good,” he added.
Brian Heckelman crushes a solo shot to left to lead off the fourth and Chaminade cuts the deficit to 2-1 pic.twitter.com/fH5f2KqUuv
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 28, 2021
Their starting catcher, Brian Heckelman, is committed to Towson and had a huge season last year. Pienkos said “I thought he was the best catcher in the league last year”, which is a ringing endorsement considering the league also featured St. John’s-commit Joe Durso and Elon-commit Joe Yovino, but he added that he’s bias in that regard. While the plan is to have Heckelman catch every game, they also have the powerful Anthony Lods behind him – who has also been getting reps at first base.
The strength of the team, according to Pienkos, is their defense up the middle. They have an exceptional double-play duo in Steinert and Nawrocki. Both are natural shortstops, but Pienkos made the decision to play Brady at second and it helped them win a championship. He stated they both have excellent speed and can run the bases well.
They also return their entire outfield of Vinny Roman, Mike Sweeney and Nick Ungania. They will cover plenty of ground and they all posted solid offensive numbers.
While they ooze talent and now have experience in playoff games, Pienkos preached caution.
“I told them, you don’t win games on paper. You can think you’re stacked but that’s when you get your ass kicked!”
Whether it’s on paper, in a video game or in reality, this Chaminade team is among the most talented groups I’ve ever seen. And if you think there will be a let up after this graduating class – I have some bad news. As good as this team is, there’s some sophomores and freshman that are already turning heads.
Shortstop Michael Cervoni (Chaminade 2024) with an impressive 97.3 exit velo pic.twitter.com/MmuBSBBHXn
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) January 23, 2021
They will open up league play on March 29 against St. John the Baptist.
