Connor Ruland
Islip Building the Foundation for a Strong Future
RJ Going was a part of three County Championships while playing for Islip from 2007-2011 including two Long Island Championships. Now the Head Coach, he is tasked with re-building the program after some lean years while playing in the shadow of some strong Class A programs. The future of the team appears to be in good hands, especially considering they may have six sophomores playing roles on this team which usually bodes well for the ensuing years. Beyond that, they have eight 8th graders that could wind up playing JV – another sign that there’s some significant players on the horizon. In the interim, they will be led by three returning varsity players. Connor Ruland, a Mercy-commit, was named All-League in 2019. He is a definition of a versatile player as he can play any infi...
Islip Looking To Rebound In Year 2 Under RJ Going
by Zevan Shuster Heading into the 2020 season, Islip head coach RJ Going expects a much improved team from the campaign prior. “Last year, I thought we were just going to take off. We had a bunch of seniors, we had a few kids going to college (to play baseball), but we had to deal with a few injuries early in the season, including to one of our better pitchers,” Going said. Out of the 20 games Going’s club played last year, a staggering 16 were a one or two run game heading into the sixth. Clearly, the margin for error is small, and the need for execution is extraordinarily high. Islip wound up compiling a record of 4-16. “The expectations for us this year is to just win those one or two-run games. We have to flip the script,” said Going. “This year, we set up seven scrimmages before ...
