by Aaron Diaz
(Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s season preview season.)
Port Washington 8, Oceanside 4
WP: Hunter Trenaman (5 IP, 3 ER, 3 Ks)Anthony Iuorio: 2 for 4, 4 RBIs, Bases loaded triple to break it open in bottom 2
Ryan Gawley 2 for 4, 2 RBI
Jake Scharlat 3 for 3, 2 doubles, RBI pic.twitter.com/eLMVsZNe8A— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 8, 2023
Port Washington will look for a different ending in the 2024 season after two-and-out in the postseason. The Vikings finished last season with a 15-5 season record and lost to Oceanside in two games, 10-0 and 10-2.
The Vikings had control of their conference going into their last two games of the season but losing their leadoff hitter first baseman Lucas Milgrim due to injury stalled them in the playoffs.
“We need to find a way to have playoff success,” said Port Washington Assistant Coach Spotteck. “2 years in a row we have been swept in the first round. The season ended very abruptly for us. We are also hoping to find a way to compete for the conference title that we haven’t won since the 2019 season.”
Now that the 2024 season is close ahead, Head Coach Matt Holzer and Spotteck had some off-season work to do filling in for their graduated seniors.
The Vikings lost second baseman Ryan Gawley, who is at Hamilton College. Gawley was an All-League player at second hitting .373 in the three-hole. He also led the team in RBIs with 22.
Milgrim played at first and batted in the leadoff spot for the Vikings with a .352 average during the season. Missing Milgrim down the stretch halted the team’s chances in the playoffs.
Some other notable players were catcher and DH Jack Robinson, who will be playing at the University of Hartford in 2024. James D’Antonio and outfielder Dylan Epstein will also be missing from the lineup this season.
The Vikings have seven players returning to the lineup with some playing a key role filling in for the 2023 seniors.
In the lineup, senior All-County centerfielder Anthony Iuorio will be a big contributor to the offense with his .417 average last season with 19 RBIs, 23 runs and 15 stolen bases.
Port Washington 12, Baldwin 0
WP: Jackson Garcia 4IP, 1H, 4KRyan Gawley 3 for 3, 2B, 3B, 5RBI, 2SB
Anthony Iuorio 2 for 4, 2B, 3RBI, 3SB
Lucas Milgrim 2 for 2, 2BB, 2SB pic.twitter.com/QhRiFpVInt— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 5, 2023
Sophomore Koki Maezawa has a little bit of everything in his holster playing third base with some big plays throughout last season. He also gave the team some relief out of the bullpen and completed two starts with zero runs and a combined 11 innings pitched.
Junior Jake Scharlat will see some more time at shortstop after he took the job last season. Scharlat could also see some innings as a pitcher this year.
“It’s gonna be a big task for some of these younger guys to set in and replace those guys,” Spotteck said. “They were very consistent in the lineup and they all hit in the 300s so we are going to be missing them offensively.”
Holzer and Spotteck will also look at their JV program to bring some players in 2024.
“We had a very deep bench last year and a very successful JV team,” Spotteck said. “Tryouts should be very competitive. There are plenty of guys that were not on the varsity roster last season that are on our radar this season. We fielded 2 boys off summer fall teams this year with our guys and experienced a lot of success there. We will see how it pieces together for us, come tryout time.”
For their pitching staff, the Vikings have four key returning pitchers, especially their number one and two starters. Senior Hunter Trenamen, who is their No. 1 starter, had a 5-1 record compiling a 1.50 era.
Their second starter, senior Jackson Garcia offers more wide range of pitches on the mound with a 3-2 record last season. His aid in the offense will also help Port Washington.
Two more seniors, Parker Workman and Jeff Radinsky will be a big help out of the bullpen. Radinsky had 19 strikeouts in 12 innings pitched.
“We return this year with a very experienced staff,” Spotteck explained. “This will be the backbone of our team. Out of 129 innings pitched last year, 87% of those innings were by players still on the team. We believe we have a lot of interchangeable pieces and can somewhat attack pitching with a “hot hand.” We will try not to overwork our guys so that we are healthy and ready to go come May and the start of the playoffs.”
The goal for this Vikings team this season is as simple as it gets for this team. “We want to be healthy and ready to hit the ground running on March 11th. One of our main focuses is to have our jey arms built up enough to be ready for those early season games. We know very well from experience that every game matters and no one game is more important than the game we are currently preparing for or playing. We know that to truly compete for a conference title, we need to try and avoid early-season missteps.”
Port Washington will get their season started on Monday, March 25 on the road against Syosset.
