Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s series
by Max Edelman
In his 18th season in charge of the Hills East Thunderbirds, head coach Tim Belz’s team got off to a scorching start to the year. However, they were unable to continue their 7-2 success, as they ended up finishing 9-9. However, with many of his players returning this season, Belz believes that his team will only continue to improve.
“We started off the season 7-2 and finished 2-7.” Belz said. “Things didn’t go right for us towards the end of the season. We lost the last four. But we were a very young team last year.”
While most of the team from 2024 is returning, there were four graduating seniors on the team last year. Of those four, three are currently playing college baseball. Three time All-County pitcher Ari Gluck is at Adelphi. Connor Bunce is playing at Saint Joseph’s LI and Luke Villa is playing at SUNY Old Westbury.
Junior LHP Matt LeRose on the mound for Half Hollow Hills East pic.twitter.com/jK7Uu273nD
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 15, 2024
Matt Lerose, an Alvernia commit, will lead the way for the Thunderbirds this year. Lerose is set to begin his fourth year as a member of the varsity team. Although he is primarily a pitcher, Lerose hit .320 last season.
“He’s going to be a four-year varsity player for us.” Belz said. “Last year he started six games for us on the mound. He was 2-3 with six earned runs in 32 innings. He had 40 strikeouts as well. He’s a lefty that throws 85-86 miles an hour. He’s a strong kid and has very good movement on the ball. He’s a top number one pitcher.”
Both a pitcher and the team’s starting shortstop is Nate Greene. On the mound, he pitched to a 4-1 record with a 3.50 ERA. When he’s not on the mound, Greene provides solid defense in the middle of the diamond, as well as speed and pop from both sides of the plate. Greene will bat in the middle of the Thunderbirds lineup.
Nathan Greene(NY, Half Hollow Hills East, 2026) Rips one down the line pic.twitter.com/tOC1ULH5JY
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) August 1, 2024
Although he missed the first half of last season due to injury, junior Gianluca D’Amico hit over .420 in a limited sample size in 2024, and Belz is hopeful that D’Amico will be able to convert that success across an entire season. Due to the injury, he wasn’t able to feature on the mound, but he is expected to return to his pitching duties this year.
Continuing with the trend of younger players, two of the starters on the varsity team last year were eighth graders. One of which, Jacob Perlman, who despite being an eighth grader, started every game at second base for Hills East. Perlman hit .410 for the Thunderbirds. While not in eighth grade, Perlman’s brother, Dean Perlman, a junior, hit .355 last year before suffering an injury that cost him the remainder of the season.
The second of the two eighth graders is Patrick D’Alien, who hit .327 for Hills East last season. Additionally, both Jacob Perlman and D’Alien feature off the mound. Both D’Alien and Perlman throw in the low 80s on the mound, and will feature as key pitchers for the Thunderbirds for years to come.
In Belz 18 years of coaching, prior to last year, only one eighth grader had started on varsity. Matt Hogan, who is now a Chicago White Sox prospect, leaves tough shoes to fill for both D’Alien and Perlman. However, Belz believes his young stars are more than capable of living up to that hype.
Matt Hogan (Hills East 2018) signs minor league deal with the Chicago White Sox
Hogan had a monster season for Oral Roberts in 2023 – .320 AVG/19 HRs/72 RBIs/1.122 OPS
They reached the Division-I College World Series and Hogan hit an inside-the-park HR pic.twitter.com/2M0ftK6LXj
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) January 30, 2024
“They had more success than Matt did in eighth grade.” Belz said. “They jumped on the scene and were some of our top guys last year.”
When it comes to the biggest strength of his team, Belz looks at his pitching depth. While there are a handful of guys that Belz is comfortable plugging into any spot. There are still a number of players that Belz’s desires to see more from before putting them in at key moments.
“I would say I have six or seven guys I trust right now.” Belz said. “They could either start or come in at any time. But my seven, eight and nine guys are going to need to prove to me that they can do it too, but I think we have a lot of depth.”
The Thunderbirds will open their season against Northport on April 1.
