by Brian Honka
Division had a young team last year that consisted of six sophomores who had big contributions to the team’s 19-7 overall record and 14-4 league record in which they finished 1 game behind South Side for the league title.
The team fell one game short of reaching the Nassau Class A County Finals as they lost in game 3 of the semifinals to eventual LI Champs Calhoun.
The team will miss the production and contributions from Mike Knapp, a 2-time All-County RHP, who is now pitching at Molloy, Jack Taggart, an All-Conference pitcher, and Chris Powers, an All-League OF.
The team will be looking for another great season out of Joe Yovino who is a senior catcher that put up a .467 AVG, crushed 7 home runs with 30 RBIs and 27 runs scored. Additionally, he stole 15 bases, compiled a 1.337 OPS, and picked off 4 runners from the bases. He was also the Diamond Award Winner, the Ryan Caufield Award winner, League MVP and an All-County player who will receive a scholarship to Elon University. His abilities behind the plate and in the middle of the lineup make him an extremely valuable part of the team.
Elon-commit Joseph Yovino (Division 2023) pic.twitter.com/kPzlx14bOL
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) February 5, 2022
Another player that is returning is All-County junior CF Matt Bolton (Binghamton-commit). Returning senior and All-Conference player James Sill will pitch and play first base for the team. Earlier this offseason, we named him one of the most underrated players in the 2023 class as he batted .330 with a .509 SLG, 16 RBIs and a 3.12 ERA on the mound.
After falling one game short of the Class A County Finals, Coach Tuttle said that “the team’s inexperience showed as the team played one of their worst games of the year in the most important game of the year”.
He also said that it was “a great learning experience for their young core of players who were told that they needed to fill out their uniforms”, and coach Tuttle believes that the team heard the message as Matt Bolton, Christian Varela, Tyler Diez, KK Delacruz, Cody Brush, Demetrios Zirogiannis, James Sill, and Chris Clune all put on 10-15 pounds of muscle in the off-season.
Coach Tuttle believes that the team’s deep lineup is their strength coming into the season. Matt Bolton, an early commit to Binghamton, will be leading off followed by James Sill and Joe Yovino. Will set the tone for the team. Chris Clune, and KK Delacruz will help stretch out the lineup.
The defense up the middle with Yovino at catcher, shortstop Tyler Diez, and centerfielder Matt Bolton is very strong. The OF will have very good speed and opposing teams will have a hard time stealing bases on Joe Yovino as only one team attempted to steal against him last season.
The team will be looking at how much pitchers Christian Varela, Scott Hetzel and Matt Marino have improved off of their sophomore years on the mound. All have had big-game experience as they pitched in big playoff games last year. James Sill will be the anchor of the staff but the other 2 starting spots are up for grabs with a lot of arms fighting for the spots.
Division is one of the true powerhouses on Long Island. They have qualified for the postseason every season since 1974. Additionally, their graduates are all over college baseball rosters. Recent graduate Nick Roselli, who batted over .600 in 2021 is coming off a huge freshman season for Binghamton.
Binghamton sophomore Nick Roselli (Division 2021) primed for a huge season pic.twitter.com/Hguqo3ZtQP
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) January 15, 2023
Division will open their season on the road when they take on Valley Stream North on March 27th. They are looking to bring home the County Championship for the first time since 2015.
