Last year was the first season in which Bridgehampton fielded a baseball team in 43 years.
The team, however, was five years in the making since Lou Liberatore got a job in the school district five years ago. It took passion and a whole lot of patience as the school did not have enough interested players to field a varsity team until 2022.
While they took their lumps going 6-12 in league play, it was far from an embarrassment.
Under the tutelage of Liberatore, who comes from a great baseball family and played collegiate ball at Molloy, and their winter workouts at the Hub 44 in East Hampton, the team has really made some strides. They also work with hitting instructor Henry Meyer, and Liberatore said, “we are really excited about the progress they’ve made.”
Excited is an appropriate word to use as this is only their second year at the varsity level and players are looking to make a leap in 2023. They return their entire team from last year, they were extremely young. They took their lumps last year, and this year should see a more experienced group.
“That’s the hope,” said Liberatore. They will be led by the Vinski twins, identical left-handed pitcher/1b. Kris is committed to St. Joseph’s Brooklyn. He was dominant last season – compiling a 1.43 ERA with 56 strikeouts over 34.1 innings. He’s the first college commit from this iteration of the program – which had been dormant since 1979. Prior to that, of course, they were a powerhouse led by Hall of Fame Carl Yastrzemski. Between 1955 and 1957 they went 29-1-1 despite having 18 seniors in the graduating class.
The Vinski brothers will also platoon at first base.
They will also have 6’2 catcher Milo Tompkins who will catch Games 1 and 2 of each series and pitch game 3.
He batted .352 with a .446 OBP and was named All-League as a sophomore. “He has a high ceiling, he’s athletic. As a small school it’s great to have a player that can do it all and he can do it all,” said Liberatore. He’s also been making great strides as a pitcher as he works with his private instructor Mike O’Reilly.
Their primary weapon out of the bullpen will be freshman LHP Kai Alversa. “We’re excited about him, he will see a lot of innings,” said coach.
“Our strength is our pitching. We have 3 quality lefties and a power righty,” said Liberatore.
At shortstop they will have freshman Tate Foard, who has an interesting story as he spent some time living in Hong Kong before moving back to the states where his father is the Dean at the Ross School. He’s a lefty bat and sure-handed defensively.
They will have senior Dylan Fitzgerald at third base, senior Yudai Morikawa at second base and the Vinski brothers at first.
They will be young in the outfield.
Alversa, a freshman, will be in the mix along with senior Hugo Kapon, senior Jack Boeshore, sophomore Shawn Gnyp and sophomore Evan Buccigross.
The Killer Bees will open up their season with a non-league game against Southampton which will factor into the team’s league record. They are in League 10 in which they will face Port Jefferson, Greenport, Amityville, Pierson and Southampton. They are one of only two Class D teams in Suffolk County which means they will just need to finish above .500 to play in the Country Championship.
