LI CHSAA is laden with talent, and Chaminade has the most
Chaminade starting pitcher John Downing releases the ball during a CHSAA baseball game against host St. John the Baptist on Wednesday. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
In the always-competitive Long Island CHSAA baseball conference, one almost never comes upon a Goliath. This year could prove different.
Surveying the preseason landscape, Chaminade cannot help but stand out. The Flyers are the defending champion and return a dozen players from that team. At least eight Chaminade players have accepted Division I scholarship offers and several others are committed to top Division III programs. And the Flyers have a pair of top-tier starting pitchers in Seton Hall-bound lefthander John Downing and Dayton-bound righty JJ Gatti.
“It is unusual that we have so many kids that are going to good college programs and all here at the same time,” said Mike Pienkos who is in his 39th year as head coach. “To have 15 college commits for baseball is unbelievable. We're really blessed with a group of kids that just happen to fall together like this.
“That said, nothing comes easy in this league. There are a lot of talented teams and a lot of talented players.”
There also is a major league-wide format change. The Diocese of Rockville Centre used to play each other in a three-game series each week. Now they will play twice in a week and the third game will be against a team from the Diocese of Brooklyn (Brooklyn and Queens) on the weekend. Each diocese will hold its own postseason, but the regular season games count toward seeding.
Also the four dioceses in the state of New York will hold a two-day state championship: semifinals and then championship and third-place games.
“We’ve always played the Brooklyn [and] Queens schools in non-league games, but this time they’ll count for something,” Diocese of Rockville Centre baseball chairman Chris Hardart said. “The geography is good. Baseball on Saturday is good. The competition is good.”
One measure of a team is who plays up the middle defensively and that is a spot where Chaminade certainly measures up. Towson-commit Brian Heckleman is excellent behind the plate and has pop at it; he hit three home runs and had 14 RBIs last season. Around second base, one finds strong-armed shortstop Nolan Nawrocki, who is heading to Michigan, and clean-fielding second baseman Brady Steinert, who is bound for Marist. In centerfield, it’s 2021 championship series MVP Mike Sweeney, a junior already committed to Hofstra. And the depth of talent in the lineup doesn’t let up: The Flyers also have Binghamton-bound outfielder Nick Ungania and Fordham-bound junior infielder Matt Dieguez.
“We’re the defending champions, so we expect every team to play their best game against us,” Pienkos said. “One thing we have that will serve us well is the experience. Our guys have done it once and they have confidence.”
Any conversation about who might dethrone the defending champions has to start with Kellenberg, which was swept 2-0 by the Flyers in the ’21 championship series, and St. John the Baptist.
Kellenberg has 17 players back from a team that won the regular season title and was two wins from a championship. Junior righthander Andrew Koshy will be a formidable opponent for anyone after pitching 31 innings to a 1.20 ERA with 43 strikeouts last season. He is joined on the pitching staff by lefty Brendan McCann, who struck out 29 in 18 innings a year ago, as well as veterans Steven Hardiman and Ryan Glupe. The Firebirds lineup includes 6-6 first baseman John Kwiatkowski (.333 average with 19 RBI in ’21) and 6-1 infielder Peter Murphy (.366 batting average).
The Cougars return 2021 CHSAA Pitcher of the Year Kyle Chase, who pitched 34 innings to a 0.21 ERA and struck out 40 last season and is committed to St. John’s. He was also dynamic at the plate with a .306 batting average and 16 stolen bases in 14 games. SJB’s lineup also features 6-2 first baseman Jason Campo, a Stony Brook commit, and slick shortstop Aedan Forde, who batted .412 with a .571 on-base percentage last season before declaring for University of New Haven.
St. Anthony’s and Holy Trinity are also packed with potential. The Friars’ centerpiece is 2021 CHSAA Player of the Year and starting shortstop Jack Vallario; the Fordham commit put up a .405/.577/.676 slash line and stole 11 bases last season. The Titans’ could have a fine rotation with the return of lefty Sadier Vicioso and righty Sebastian Velasquez. The former has committed to St. Thomas Aquinas and the latter fanned 22 in 19 innings last season.
St. Dominic’s reached the semifinals last season and should have a potent offense headlined by Luca Lopetrone Goldflam and Chris Sias, who batted .432 and .362 respectively last season.
St. Mary’s rejoins the league for the first time since 2016 and has a roster laden with freshmen and sophomores. A Gaels rotation could include freshmen Miguel Sime Jr., Todd Fuertado and sophomore Edwin Diaz.
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
