Strong bats propel East Rockaway

Posted

Despite a recent slump, East Rockaway is playing an exciting brand of baseball this year and scoring runs at an impressive clip.

After dropping its season opener to Valley Stream South, the Rocks reeled off five straight wins and averaged 12 runs a game during that stretch. They went on to drop three of four since then to fall to 6-4, but three of the losses came against two teams off to torrid starts in Wheatley and Valley Stream North (both 9-1 at press time). The Rocks did hand Wheatley its only loss of the season on April 12.

East Rockaway coach James Hickey is pleased with the season so far and thinks his team could have a strong second half if his players continue to develop. 

“We’re doing a lot of things well, but there’s also some things that we can learn from and hopefully continue to improve in the second half,” he said. 

One of things that Hickey wants to work on further is the team defense. East Rockaway committed 12 errors in its four losses this season, including a season-high six in a 14-9 setback to Wheatley on April 18.

“We’ve been giving the opponent way too many outs,” Hickey said. “Instead of three outs per inning, we’ve been giving them an extra out or two and we’ve faced some teams with good offenses and they make you pay for that.”

All-County third baseman-corner outfielder Dylan Henshaw had two hits and two RBIs in the victory over Wheatley to continue his strong year at the plate. He leads the team in RBIs and runs scored.

“He’s been our most productive hitter,” Hickey said.

Senior first baseman Jon Starkman has also provided some clutch hits this spring with 3 RBIs against Carle Place on March 29 and two more the following week against Oyster Bay.

“When there’s a situation where there’s a runner on third [and] the infield back, he’s got one of the best approaches on the team,” Hickey said. “The stat line may not be 4-for-4, but he’s going to get those runs in when we need them in.”

Pitchers Bryan Morgenthaler, Stefano Cilluffo and Dan Del Valle all have multiple wins in 2018, with Morgenthaler leading the way with three. Hickey credited Morgenthaler with working on attacking the strike zone more over the winter and his pitching performances so far have been a positive result of that effort.

“He doesn’t strike many guys out,” Hickey said. “He pitches to contact. He trusts his defenders behind him and just throws all strikes and battles out there.”

Culluffo had a complete game victory with two unearned runs against Malverne on April 9, five days after yielding just one run and three hits with 11 strikeouts over five innings at Carle Place. Del Valle allowed just two runs while fanning eight against Oyster Bay on April 5. Both have been productive at the plate as well.