by Aaron Diaz and Vin Messana
(Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s season preview series.)
Congratulations to Centereach who defeated Smithtown East in extra innings to clinch their first postseason berth since 2010 pic.twitter.com/xX8F8V0Ap1
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 4, 2022
Centereach looks to recapture their magical postseason run of 2022 and bounce back from a down season last year. They will aim to clinch a playoff berth in 2024.
“Last season was very disappointing for us,” said Centereach Head Coach Pete Cammarata. “The season before that we got into bracket semifinals and we made a deep run into the playoffs. I didn’t think we were going to be as good but we were disappointed with where we were last year, we only had four or five wins last year. We are looking to fix that this season.”
The offense will be led by center fielder Logan Norman. The Francis Marion-commit is a fourth year varsity player and he batted .325 last season. He will be batting in the top of the batting order and also will be contributing on the mound in relief. He’s a player that has established himself as someone that can hit elite pitching having done so in summer ball for the past few seasons.
“He’s one of the fastest kids you’ll see, he’s lights out in the outfield and will catch the ball with the best outfielders in the league,” he said.
Uncommitted CF Logan Norman (Centereach 2024). He batted .478 over a 50-game stretch last summer. pic.twitter.com/43osxLcIiq
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) February 6, 2022
Another fourth-year varsity player is SS Josh Ortiz. The St. Thomas Aquinas-commit came up as a freshman and was an immediate impact player.
“He’s a great SS, he has great range. Between him and Logan, they are the glue – the whole team will revolve around them,” said coach.
Mount Saint Vincent-commit Joe DeSantis will be a crucial player for them.
“We will rely on his bat,” said Cammarata. “He will carry us far, he has a good stick. He’s an interesting player, he will definitely be in the mix,” he added.
Another important infielder is Sal Gangi, coach referred to him as a quality second baseman and cited his speed as one of his strengths.
Despite a down season in 2023, Cammarata believes his team will make big strides on the mound with a senior laden team. “ We have arms,” Cammarata said. “I think I’m gonna be able to go deep into games with the arms we have.”
Holden Juliano will be one of their key pitchers and is a hard thrower and one of the leaders of the team.
“He’s a competitor and he’s a fiery kid,” said coach. When he’s not pitching, he will see time in the outfield.
Coach also spoke about the depth of their pitching staff, and he likes that there are many options to choose from. Among those is Western Connecticut-commit Rocco Panaro. Coach stated that he will be utilized in many positions, he will definitely see time on the mound and whoever is pitching that day, he will fill in at their position. They also have junior Anthony Gagliardi who will be utilized in multiple roles. He hit .300 last season on varsity and coach said he plays a solid 3B as well.
When looking at last year’s offense, catcher Benny Licata was a mainstay in the lineup and they’ll have to fill the void left by him this season. “He was our glue for our team two seasons ago,” Cammarata said. “He was our glue last year, we are going to miss him a lot. However, our backup catcher, along with our 10th grader is going to do very well.”
Top 1: Catcher Ben Licata crushes a 3-R shot to open up a 4-0 lead for Centereach pic.twitter.com/eT9DlkJMRp
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 3, 2022
Cammarata believes his team can compete with the best if certain areas are met on the field. “If we do everything correctly and we do all the little things right, I believe we are going to have a team that’s gonna compete with the better teams in the league. So I think if our seniors do their job and play sound baseball, we’re going to do well.”
As Centereach prepares their team, they look ahead to a league full of good teams that they will not take lightly. “Every coach that we face is a good coach,” Cammarata explained. “You have to be on your A-game to face these teams, we don’t play anybody this year that is a pushover. Every team is a legitimate sound team from North Babylon, Northport and Smithtown, there will be no easy game this year. Our rival school, Newfield is well coached and they’re going to be good.”
The goal that Cammarata wants his team to achieve is to, “Win every inning.” “I want more hits, I want more men on base, so the goal for us is to try and win no matter what the outcome is and if we can do that we’ll be okay.”
While it will be a challenge, they do return “a significant amount of players with varsity experience,” and that is never a bad thing.
Centereach will play their first game of the season on March 22 in a scrimmage against Kings Park High School, who is coached by Centereach alum Andrew Abreu.
