by Vinny Messana<\/p>\n

If you could buy stock in high school baseball teams, your financial advisor would tell you to be all over Bellport<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Coming off a 10-win season in which they started a bevy of underclassmen, they appear ready to make serious noise in, not just League V, but Suffolk County.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Head Coach Bill Batewell<\/strong>, who has been coaching high school since 1970 and Bellport since 2008, is very high on his crop of 11 seniors.<\/p>\n

The ever-humble coach is not one to make bold proclamations.<\/p>\n

“We have a chance to do reasonably well,” said the man who has won 532 games and two Suffolk County titles.<\/p>\n

Among the impact seniors will be Michael Veit<\/strong>, a CF and pitcher, who will most likely hit third or fourth in the order and is somewhat of a physical specimen. The 6’1″ senior runs a 6.7 60-yard dash and has serious power.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

“He tracks the ball real well out there in center field, he’s rather quick” said Batewell.<\/p>\n

Joining him in the middle of the order will be Stony Brook<\/strong>-bound SS Garrett Heaton<\/strong>. He’s known for his steady hands in the field, line drive swinging ability and his high baseball IQ.<\/p>\n

His father, Neal, is the pitching coach and will be tasked with harnessing a very talented pitching staff.<\/p>\n

Anchoring the rotation is junior Joe Greco<\/strong>. He’s been with the varsity team since ninth grade and is now one of the more polished power pitchers in Suffolk County. He is armed with an 87-MPH fastball and will form a solid double play duo with Heaton.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

“He’s got a plus fastball and a nice change up,” said Batewell. “And he’s gotten bigger since last year,” he added.<\/p>\n

Batewell acknowledged that the district has a shallow talent pool some years and that has forced them to promote players aggressively.<\/p>\n

“We have been killing the middle school and JV programs but that’s what we have to do to survive. We have to move forward with the impactful kids,” he said.<\/p>\n

They will have a test right off the bat against East Islip<\/strong>, the reigning league IV champs from last season. They’ll follow that up with a three-game set against Deer Park<\/strong>, which Batewell said will be a “good test”.<\/p>\n

While it will be no slam dunk, considering Hauppauge<\/strong> finished seven games ahead of them last season, they certainly appear to be a team that will breeze to a postseason berth and present a tough challenge to any team come playoff time.<\/p>\n

Share your thoughts in the comment section or tweet @BaseballLI<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Vinny Messana If you could buy stock in high school baseball teams, your financial advisor would tell you to be all over Bellport. Coming off a 10-win season in which they started a bevy of underclassmen, they appear ready to make serious noise in, not just League V, but Suffolk County. Head Coach Bill Batewell, who has been coaching high school since 1970 and Bellport since 2008, is very high on his crop of 11 seniors. The ever-humble coach is not one to make bold proclamations. “We have a chance to do reasonably well,” said the man who has won 532 games and two Suffolk County titles. Among the impact seniors will be Michael Veit, a CF and pitcher, who will most likely hit third or fourth in the order and is somewhat of a physical specimen. The 6’1″ senior runs a 6.7 60-yard dash and has serious power. “He tracks the ball real well out there in center field, he’s rather quick” said Batewell. Joining him in the middle of the order will be Stony Brook-bound SS Garrett Heaton. He’s known for his steady hands in the field, line drive swinging ability and his high baseball IQ. His father, Neal, is the pitching coach and will be tasked with harnessing a very talented pitching staff. Anchoring the rotation is junior Joe Greco. He’s been with the varsity team since ninth grade and is now one of the more polished power pitchers in Suffolk County. He is armed with an 87-MPH fastball and will form a solid double play duo with Heaton. “He’s got a plus fastball and a nice change up,” said Batewell. “And he’s gotten bigger since last year,” he added. Batewell acknowledged that the district has a shallow talent pool some years and that has forced them to promote players aggressively. “We have been killing the middle school and JV programs but that’s what we have to do to survive. We have to move forward with the impactful kids,” he said. They will have a test right off the bat against East Islip, the reigning league IV champs from last season. They’ll follow that up with a three-game set against Deer Park, which Batewell said will be a “good test”. While it will be no slam dunk, considering Hauppauge finished seven games ahead of them last season, they certainly appear to be a team that will breeze to a postseason berth and present a tough challenge to any team come playoff time. Share your thoughts in the comment section or tweet @BaseballLI  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1876,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[460],"class_list":{"0":"post-5057","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-archive","8":"tag-archive"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n