by Max Edelman
Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s season preview series.
Lindenhurst scores 4 runs in the bottom of the 7th and they defeat Commack 7-6 on a walk-off sac fly by Steve Hernandez pic.twitter.com/gloo0C8L9s
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 9, 2023
The Lindenhurst Bulldogs were a team dominated by seniors in 2023. Led by head coach Rob Moore, who is entering his 10th year in the role, looked back fondly on his team last year, and the senior class that drove the squad’s success to 18 wins.
“Last year was an exciting year.” Moore said. “I knew it would be because of the seniors I had. They were with me since ninth grade. We made a pretty good run all the way to the final four. Which was exciting.”
The Bulldogs were victorious in a pair of playoff games over Northport and West Islip. However, they could not overcome Commack, who beat Lindenhurst twice in the playoffs to eliminate them.
“We could never get past Commack.” Moore said. “That was the issue. You have them in the league, and they were the state runner up. It was a borderline minor league baseball team last year.”
Four members of the Bulldogs last year who graduated went off to play college baseball. Chris Carson, who was first-team All-Long Island last year, is playing at Stony Brook. Also, first-team All-Long Island, Thomas Charlwood is playing at Molloy. Lindenhurst also had a pair of All-League players go off to play in college. Max Frank, who is at SUNY Plattsburgh, and Donny Whalen, who is at SUNY Old Westbury.
Moore will be relying on a number of different players to step up to try to fill the holes left by their senior predecessors. Senior pitcher and Adelphi commit Matt Curto. As a junior last year, Curto had five wins.
“We’re basically counting on him as our ace.” Moore said. “To duplicate, if not do better in the win column, to have our hopes to get to 10 wins and to get back to the playoffs.”
6’7 RHP Matthew Curto (Lindenhurst 2024) commits to Adelphi University pic.twitter.com/dNDTDlGNy3
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) August 16, 2023
In terms of returning position players, Moore is getting back his starting shortstop Mike DiGiseppe.
“I’m counting on him.” Moore said. “He’ll probably be at the top of the lineup. He’s got good speed. He has experience, so he’ll be my shortstop, as well as one of my pitchers. He’s going to be counted on as a senior.”
Because of the loaded senior class, Lindenhurst had last year, many of the juniors last year struggled to find playing time, meaning that it will be up to many of those players to immediately find consistency despite a lack of varsity experience. But one thing Moore is excited about is the dedication of his new squad. Since the fall, they have been practicing nearly every day.
Final. Dodgers Nation: 3 Seminoles: 0
Michael DiGiuseppe (Lindenhurst) comes in and records the save, including this nasty breaking ball to record the final out. pic.twitter.com/dxSMLtRw8e
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 21, 2023
“We started playing in the fall in the Brookhaven varsity league.” Moore said. “It’s the first time ever I’ve put a team in that. And it’s because all these guys who grew up and played little league together, and they’re all excited to finally get the opportunity on varsity, and I’m hoping they shine.”
Outside of Curto and DiGiseppe, only one other returning senior was a starter last year, that being the team’s first baseman Vinny Graff. While not a full-time starter, center fielder Zach Migliore found time in center field when other players were needed on the mound. Although he didn’t play a ton last year, Moore believes senior Kevin King can make an impact this year as well.
Moore also has a lot of confidence in his sophomore class. Moore cited Ricky Nunez, Vinny Aaron, and Billy Steinman as sophomores who will likely make immediate impacts on the team this year.
Moore pointed at his team’s speed as their biggest strength this season, and how the fall league helped their team
“The one thing that stood out to me in the fall league was our speed.” Moore said. “I didn’t get a chance to see game speed, but I have a lot of speed this year. A successful fall league with this team, we won some games. Things come out of playing in a league like that. This group has been going twice a week since November. Usually I start in January, but once that league ended, the guys asked me to start right up, so we’ve been going strong since then.”
The Bulldogs will open their season on March. 26, at Sachem East.
