by Aaron Diaz
Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s season preview series.
A satisfying finish to the 2023 season for the Locust Valley Falcons left the team with a 12-11 record. Head Coach Brian LoRusso took his team to the playoffs but lost in the first round to Carle Place in a three-game series. Now heading into the 2024 season, LoRusso looks to build off of last year’s success with a young team at its core.
“We graduated a large part of our team,” LoRusso said. “We only have three returners this year. Two are sophomores and the other is a senior. We are going to be extremely young but I expect big things from them so we hopefully make the playoffs.”
2023 was a big graduation class for Locust Valley. The Falcons graduated 12 seniors and will only be returning three players from last year’s team.
Jack Baker and Christian Corey led the charge as seniors on the 2023 team. Baker and Corey were both varsity players since they were sophomores. Christian is at Long Island University. “He batted in the .400s as a hitter and had five or six wins on the mound,” LoRusso said. “He was a main piece for us.”
“Baker was huge for us last year as our number two pitcher,” Lorusso explained. “I believe he had the most innings in the county before the playoffs and his little brother is now coming up for us at shortstop.”
Joey Borruso, Anthony Capozzi and Aidan Domin were also fellow seniors that graduated in 2023 and had an impact as utility players for Locust Valley.
The Falcons have three returning players from last year’s team and that starts with senior Kyle Prisco. He is an outfielder for Locust Valley and is a main staple in the lineup heading into this year. Although he batted .250 last season with 2 SBs, he had two big hits for the Falcons in the playoffs against Carle Place. His place in the outfield will be a key factor for Locust Valley this season.
Both sophomores consist of Braiden Houghtaling and Liam Baker (Little brother of Jack Baker). “Both big time travel ball players and they play all-year round,” Lorusso said. Houghtaling will be the primary catcher for Locust Valley this season after an impressive freshman year. He batted .305 with a .405 OBP and 10 SBs.
Baker is touted to be an up and coming player at shortstop after an outstanding freshman season. He batted .311 with eight SBs and an OBP of .357.
Along with those players, Lorusso will be bringing up a big freshman class full of talented potential that he has to build up a team solely off youngness. “We have a big freshman class, a few sophomores and a decent group of juniors that will make up the varsity team. The big piece for us is to be a good teammate and put the motto to be all as one. No one hits the field until they prove they could be a good teammate. I ask the team to put their best foot forward everyday and to give their 100%.”
Junior Christian Gionaukakis will be another dual threat for the Falcons in 2024 as an infielder and pitcher. From the mound, he threw a 3.46 era and hit .350 with 10 SBs. Along with junior Sean Lyons who batted .275 and delivered 23 strikeouts with a 2.37 era last season. Although Conner Powers did not see the field in 2023, as another junior he will be a potent bat in the lineup this season.
Defense still remains one of LoRusso’s biggest strengths of the team along with smart base running. On offense, the coach expects hitters to have strong at-bats and be a scrappy team off the mound as well.
With a young team in front of him, LoRusso understands how young his team will be but the goal remains the same for the 2024 season. “We’re going to be young,” LoRusso explained. “We are taking the approach of getting back to the fundamentals and doing a lot of drill work so we have these guys ready to play at the varsity level. We’re looking forward to developing them and keeping this young core of players together.”
Coach Lorusso and the Locust Valley Falcons will be ready to take the field in 2024.
