Klein to take on bigger role next season

SYRACUSE - As the four starting seniors from the East Islip boys bowling team posed for pictures to commemorate their final high school match, freshman starter Jacob Klein watched from nearby. With his teammates' departures, one of the more heralded bowling programs in the state was officially passed down to him.

"I guess you can say I'm the baby of the group," the 15-year-old Klein said.

All babies must grow up, and in terms of bowling, Klein is about to do so a little faster than most.

With a seemingly endless supply of talent within the East Islip program, there's usually very little room, or need, for freshman starters. Which is what makes Klein's freshman season, which came to an end Saturday at the state tournament in Syracuse (East Islip finished in fourth place), all the more impressive.

Flashback to the preseason: Klein was engaged in an open competition for the fifth and final starting spot in East Islip's lineup. Thanks to the evident signs of his offseason progression, Klein went on to win the job easily but remained the lone uncertainty on a team of sure things. Yet from the season opening match to the state tournament, Klein held a stronghold on the spot, finishing with the 10th best average in Suffolk with a 216.6, the highest amongst freshman bowlers on Long Island.

"Since I put him in, I've never taken him out and that was very surprising," East Islip coach Rick Papandrea said. "Almost every single person I've ever started, I've always seen them stumble and had to pull them out for a game or a match, put somebody else in and let them work themselves back in. Once Jacob got that job, he wrestled it away and hasn't looked back."

Now with just one season under his belt, Klein will be asked to take on an expanded role as a sophomore next season when he transforms from an inexperienced freshman who solidified the back end of the rotation to the battle-tested face of the franchise. With four starters graduating, East Islip will dip into its farm system to replenish its lineup, leaving Klein to inherit the title of captain and serve as the anchor for the defending county champions.

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"It's a big honor," Klein said of being named captain. "There might be some pressure with that. But I think I've had a lot of experience this year. I started every match this season, I got to bowl in the division tournament, I got to bowl in the county tournament and now the state tournament. So I think I'm ready."

Klein's coach, and now former teammates, all agree that the team is being left in good hands.

"He's a bright kid, he's a natural born leader and he's got nerves of steel," Papandrea said. "I'm looking forward to him being a captain next year because we're going to have a real young team and he will lead us. We still expect to win."

Baby of the group one day, leader of the group the next.