by Max Edelman
Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s season preview series.
Final: Wantagh 2, North Shore 1
WP: Colin Crispyn (5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 6 Ks)Wantagh improves to 12-3 pic.twitter.com/lsEYrfeXWo
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 5, 2023
Another spring means another season for Wantagh Warriors head coach Keith Sachs. He is entering his 30th season as head coach of the Warriors and looked back on last season. Despite finishing with a 16-5 record, they were eliminated from the playoffs by Calhoun. However, Sachs still considered 2023 a “solid season” for his program.
“We had a solid season.” Sachs said. “We went to the semis. We won a couple playoff games, and we finished second in our league. Nassau A has always been some of the best baseball in New York state. We had a good season, but we fell short of getting to the counties.”
Wantagh has reached the playoffs in all but two seasons under Sachs. They won the Long Island Championship in 1998, 2010, 2016, 2017 and 2018. They are among the true baseball powerhouses on Long Island under Sachs who has over 500 career wins.
Wantagh lost one big piece to graduation in the form of Timmy Hennig. Hennig was the Warrior’s number one pitcher last year, as well as a runner-up for the Diamond Award. Hennig is now pitching at the University of Binghamton. When Sachs was asked about Hennig, he put it in simple terms. “He was phenomenal.”
“He was the biggest loss.” Sachs said. “He was 8-1 on the mound, and pitched a bunch of one-hitters. He was a legitimate great player, great leader, great academic, just a really great kid.”
In terms of the players that are returning for the Warriors this year, Sachs pointed at senior catcher Aidan (AJ) Bardi. A Maine commit who is entering his fourth and final year on varsity. All three years Bardi played on varsity, he was an All-County player.
Maine-commit AJ Bardi (Wantagh 2024) with an absolute nuke in an 8-2 win over Plainedge pic.twitter.com/jlZfTsh35F
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 4, 2023
On the mound, Sachs has high hopes for senior pitcher and Adelphi-commit Jack Tate. Tate was the Warrior’s number two pitcher last year but could step into that number one spot in 2024.
“He was our number two pitcher last year.” Sachs said. “But he was dominant. And he also plays center field for us. I think we have two real good players. One full blown stud, and one kid who last year came into his own. Who hopefully this year will be dominant also.”
Jack Tate (Wantagh 2024) commits to Adelphi University pic.twitter.com/FsMwqoVK7L
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 29, 2023
Also returning for the Warriors is Paul Fontana, who is a Queens College-commit as well as Shane Russo. Despite the lack of returning players, Sachs believes that the quality of his returners outshines the quantity of them.
1B Paul Fontana (Wantagh 2024) commits to Queens College pic.twitter.com/pO4fNqmrQi
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) November 3, 2023
“While we don’t have a lot of returners, what we do have returning is good.” Sachs said. “We expect to make a run, we always do. We expect Jack to be one of the best pitchers in the county. We already know AJ is a Diamond Award candidate. So we have two really good players. And everyone else is fighting for a spot.”
In terms of newcomers, Sachs has high hopes for players such as Nick Spinelli, Ryan Conigliaro, and Christian Danzilo. However, not all spots for the Warriors are guaranteed, and Sachs is excited to see his players compete for playing time.
“We have a lot of good players fighting for spots,” Sachs said. “In terms of our rotation, our one is solidified and everything else is wide open.”
The Warriors will open their season on March. 30 against Baldwin.
