Bellport baseball coach Bill Batewell gets 500th win

Bellport coach Bill Batewell became the sixth Suffolk baseball coach to reach the 500-victory mark when the Clippers beat West Babylon, 6-1, in a League V game Thursday.

Batewell coached Sachem from 1975 until 2004, winning 452 varsity games, and has been at Bellport since 2008. His career record is 500-338-5 (East Islip's Sal Ciampi is No. 1 at 601.) "It's a testament to longevity," Batewell said. "It's a result of having good players and good assistant coaches."

And he's far from satisfied: "At Sachem we had six league titles and two Suffolk championships. But that's my desire before I walk down the road; I want to pin one on the wall here at Bellport."