Longwood Enters 2022 With Talented, Experienced Roster

March 21, 2022

By Michael Malaszczyk

Varsity baseball is almost here, and Coach Ryan McSherry of Longwood is gearing up for the 2022 season. Longwood is looking to be in a particularly good position to have a good season this year.

Coach McSherry was very proud of what his team was able to do in 2021, in an interview with Axcess Baseball. Longwood did have a great season last year; they finished with a 14-6 overall record; their season came to an end against Commack in a Suffolk Conference semifinal.

“Losing is never the goal, but there’s always a lesson to be learned,” said Coach McSherry. “The 2021 team was a very enjoyable and fun group to be in the presence of on a daily basis. We were happy with their attitudes and approach to everything.”

In addition to that aforementioned lesson, with regards to the 2021 season Coach McSherry gave a special shout out to a former Longwood player.

“We witnessed Tommy Ventimiglia get drafted in the 19th round by the Cleveland Guardians,” he said. “He’s the second Longwood Baseball player drafted after Bryan Hansen was taken by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 6th round of the 2001 draft. Obviously, we’re all thrilled for Tommy earning this opportunity and thankful for his dedication in the years he wore a Longwood Baseball jersey. It was a cool experience for everyone involved, so thank you Tommy and good luck!”

In addition to Tommy Ventimiglia’s draft to the Cleveland Guardians, Longwood had some other great players graduate in 2021. These players included Joseph McDonald (Manhattanville College), Josh Dannenberg (St. Joseph’s College), Matt Dragotto (SUNY Purchase), Anthony Caracciolo, Connor Doyle, Kyle O’Neill, Kyle Jones, and John Herbst.

Despite those graduations, Longwood remains an experienced, upperclassman-heavy team in 2022; their current roster has 14 seniors, 10 juniors, and 1 sophomore.

“Our biggest strength is our depth and experience,” said Coach McSherry. “We have a very solid rotation, versatility, a deep bullpen, a strong and balanced lineup, and good defense too. It’s a well-balanced team. We expect our seniors to lead by example.”

Coach McSherry was happy to discuss his players stats. Offensively, be on the lookout for the following players from Longwood:

• Outfielder Jake Hall (‘22, .369 average, 17 RBIs and 14 runs)
• Middle Infielder Devin Montalvo (‘22, .343 average,1 HR, 13 RBIs, 19 runs)
• Outfielder Mason Mehling (‘22, .317, 13 RBIs, 9 runs)
• Catcher Rocco Hall (‘22, .297 average, 6 RBIs, 11 runs)
• Infielder Preston Gerena (‘22, .296 average, 16 RBIs, 16 runs)
• Utility player Louis Kaleb (‘23, .355, 3 HR, 20 RBIs, 20 runs)

On the pitching staff, be on the lookout for these players:

• Ryan McCann (‘22, 4-0, 26 innings, 25 K’s)
• Dylan Govin (‘22, 1-0, 11 innings, 4 K’s)

Additionally, Coach McSherry also named Brendan Mair (‘22), Liam Ryan (‘22), Sean Langan (‘22), Austin Wenz (‘22), and Kevin Monahan (‘22).

“We’re expecting big contributions from Brendan Mair offensively, defensively, and on the mound,” said McSherry. “Liam Ryan has shown great progress over the past year and we feel he can be a key contributor to our pitching staff. Sean Langan has looked great too. Austin Wenz and Kevin Monahan will contribute to a dynamic bullpen as well.”

Longwood has many college commitments on their current team, which speaks volumes about the player quality and the potential success in 2022. These players are Mason Mehling (Muhlenberg College), Liam Ryan (New Paltz), Jake Hall (Manhattanville College), Rocco Hall (Manhattanville College), Ryan McCann (Manhattanville College), Brendan Mair (Cazenovia College), Devin Montalvo (Colby-Sawyer College), and Dylan Govin (SUNY Plattsburgh).

Nevertheless, despite a ton of individually talented players, Coach McSherry’s philosophy is to think collectively instead. We are fortunate to have a lot of talent and we believe we can be successful if we put the team’s success over any individual merits,” he said. “It’s something that’s often talked about, but much more difficult to implement. Championship teams only care about one statistic: the win.”

It’s perhaps this philosophy that, under Coach McSherry, took Longwood to such high heights in 2021. In all team sports but in baseball especially, teams must think collectively as opposed to individually in order to have success.

Coach McSherry is coaching for his seventh year at Longwood, so he is very familiar with Longwood’s program and all of the players on the current team. “To me, baseball is a lot of excellent memories with my dad, my friends, teammates, coaches and players. It’s also a challenge,” he said.

While McSherry knows any opponent can be dangerous, their league will consist of Sachem East, Brentwood, Patchogue-Medford, William Floyd, Central Islip, and Riverhead in 2022. “Winning is never a given,” he said. “We’re looking forward to playing 3-game series again this year.”

With a team full of experienced players who have bright futures in baseball ahead of them and an experienced coach with a “we’re all in this together” kind of philosophy, Longwood will be a real contender for a County Championship in 2022.

Longwood’s opening day is set for March 28th. They will hit the ground running, as they will be playing against Sachem East.

Brentwood 15, Longwood 9: Kevin Fajardo pitched five innings and gave up three earned runs while striking out nine to lead Brentwood (1-3) in Suffolk I. Farjardo also went 3-3 at the plate with three RBIs. Aaron Oliver’s grand slam gave Brentwood a 9-5 lead. Rob Ortiz went 2-for-2 with a home run and two RBIs. Erik Campis also went 2-for-2 with two walks and three RBIs. – April 6

Longwood Forces Winner-Take-All With 4-3 Win Against Commack

May 25, 2022

Well I guess they won’t want me covering any more Commack games. The Cougars, who had been riding an 18-game winning streak since their last loss on April 5 – which was when we last covered them – lost 4-3 to Longwood which forces a winner-take-all Conference I Championship today.

Longwood brought their bats in the first inning against Stony Brook-commit Eric Mohr. Devin Montalvo led the game off with a walk and he was sacrificed to second base by Mike Arbuiso and he scored on Louis Kaleb’s RBI single to make it 1-0. Mason Mehling went the other way with a single and Preston Gerena scored Kaleb with an RBI single of his own to make it 2-0. After the second out was recorded, Brendan Mair added another run on an RBI single up the middle to make it 3-0 in favor of the Lions. Mohr escaped the jam with a ground out to second base by Rocco Hall.

Opposing him was RHP Sean Langan who did just enough to keep Commack off the scoreboard for the first time through the lineup. He retired the side in order in the first and second innings, and allowed just a walk to catcher Anthony Chiappetta in the bottom of the third. Mohr had settled down after the rocky first inning to keep Longwood off the board for the next several innings.

In the bottom of the fourth, Commack woke up. After Joey DiMotta grounded out, Chris McHugh laced a double into the left field corner and moved to third on an infield single by Connor Schramm. Matt McGurk ripped an RBI single to left to score McHugh and make it a 3-1 ballgame and there was still one out. Longwood went to the bullpen, calling on Brendan Mair. It proved to be the right decided as he induced an infield pop out to Mike Pulcini and struck out Alex Hildebrand looking to end the threat.

Mohr fired a 1-2-3 fifth inning to give his team a chance to comeback.

It did not happen in the fifth inning despite a two-out single by Joey Patane to center field. Mair retired DiMotta to end the inning. Mohr worked around a two-out HBP of Gerena in the sixth inning to keep them off the board again.

In the home half of the sixth, Chris McHugh drew a leadoff walk and Mike Pulcini hit a two-out single to bring the potential go-ahead run to the plate but Alex Hildebrand’s hard ground ball found Devin Montalvo who stepped on second for the easy force out.

In the top of the seventh, Brendan Mair led off with a double to left center that probably should’ve been caught but fell between the left fielder and center field. A bunt by Rocco Hall moved Mair up to third and Jake Hall did what he needed to do – driving a fly ball deep enough to score Mair and make it 4-1 ballgame.

The run proved to be the difference, as Anthony Chiappetta blooped a leadoff double to start the seventh and scored on Justin Crispino’s two-run HR to make it a 4-3 ballgame. Joey Patane ripped his second hit of the day to put the tying run on base. That was enough to prompt a pitching change – as Longwood HC Ryan McSherry called in Luciano Lorefice to put out the fire. After a walk to Joey DiMotta to add further drama, it brought up VCU-commit and arguably the best hitter on Long Island, Chris McHugh. Shockingly, McHugh popped one up in the infield for the first out. Connor Schramm struck out swinging on a high breaking ball out of the zone andMike Pulcini struck out as well to end it.

Longwood was fired up, and rightfully so, as they ended Commack’s 18-game winning streak on the road. It forces a do-or-die scenario for today as it will be the classic “all hands on deck” situation. Commack will have the home field advantage again. First pitch will be 4pm.