by Nick Cipolla
Drone shot from Farmingdale and Oceanside’s scrimmage last night at Brooklyn Cyclones stadium pic.twitter.com/AOgALI06v7
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 24, 2022
Two years ago, Oceanside was the Cinderella Story of the year as they had a group of young, unproven guys snuck into the Nassau County playoffs by winning their final game of the season. The Sailors then upset Farmingdale and made it back to the Nassau Final 4 where their season would end, but the future looked extremely bright.
Unfortunately for the Oceanside Sailors, they ended up missing the playoffs for the first time in coach Mike Postilio’s 10 years as a head coach in 2022. There was a lot to take away from the previous spring and it seems like Postilio looks towards the positives.
“We started 2 freshmen and 2 sophomores all season”, said coach Postilio, “Unfortunately we didn’t make the playoffs for the first time in my 10 years as the varsity coach. However, the experience the young guys gained was immeasurable. We are expecting a lot more out of the returning players that include those younger kids as well as our senior group”.
Oceanside 9, Port Washington 8
Walk of hit by Pete Sofocli
Tying hit bottom 7th with one out by Kevin Klein
3 RBIs for Pete Sofocli pic.twitter.com/6Pa6cv3TVE— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 11, 2022
Oceanside didn’t lose much from their 2022 squad as the strength of this team was their underclassmen.
“Every season you lose seniors that have impacts on your team”, said Postilio, “For us, we lose some high character players. Our strength was our underclassmen, so for this season we are expecting a much improved team”.
Currently, this team will point to their work ethic as an advantage heading into 2023. “We have been working out since October”, said coach Postilio, “All of us are eager to get on the field again and compete”.
This team will be headlined by sophomores, Kyle Scheurer (‘25) and Luke Villella (‘25). Both guys will look to make an even bigger name for themselves after having a really impressive freshman year. Scheurer has already made a name for himself as he already has an All-Conference under his belt as a freshman and Villella will look to make his first all-conference team in 2023.
Juniors Justin Alvarez (‘24), Patrick Pallentino (‘24), Sean Varon (‘24), and Jake Luenfeld (‘24) will play a role as well according to their coaches. “They need to be impact players for us this year”, said Coach Postilio.
They will also look to four seniors for some leadership as some of these guys were there for the 2021 run to the playoffs. Mike Furst, Jack Schulz, Ryan McFall, and Peter Davies will all be tasked to lead Oceanside as they are now the upperclassmen on this team.
If some of those last names sound familiar it is because Justin and Ryan are the younger brothers of Leo Alvarez and Brendan McFall who were both part of Oceanside’s powerhouse 2018 team which was in the Nassau County finals against Massapequa.
Leo Alvarez drives in two runs with a double! Tying run now on 2nd with 2 outs as it’s now a 6-5 ballgame. pic.twitter.com/Pwv2fx1Lz6
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 26, 2018
The Oceanside Sailors open up the season on April 3rd at home against the defending Nassau County and Long Island Champion Massapequa. “We are expecting the sophomores and juniors previously mentioned to take the next step this year”, said coach Postilio, “and our senior class is ready to prove any doubters wrong”.
