A Hot Stove Chat With New Baseball Coaches

In a season of indoor sports, a good hot stove always helps.

Athletic director Betty Remigino-Knapp did her part recently to harbinger spring sunshine, hiring new baseball coaches at and .

Lefthander vs. righthander? A former first baseman? Or a third-baseman? The product of a big-time small college program or a guy from a university with 73 Nobel laureates?

Ty Bongiovanni and Jeff Billing are really not too different.

"I want to help kids, not just baseball-wise but in every aspect of their lives," said Bongiovanni, who is taking over at Conard. "I believe if you give the kids attention in those areas of their lives, in school and socially, and understand that they are high school kids, they will become better baseball players and better people."

Bongiovanni is replacing Gary Woodfield, who was an interim coach last season. He was an assistant coach the past four years at Maloney, his alma mater where he was a left-handed pitcher, first baseman and outfielder. He was a USA Today honorable mention in 2000.

Bongiovanni also pitched at Eastern Connecticut for legendary coach Bill Holowaty, who has won nearly 1,300 games and produced four national championships. He was pitching coach under Holowaty from 2004-06.

"I learned from both [Holowaty] and my high school coach, Howard Hewitt," Bongiovanni said. "They helped me to figure out my own direction, my own path. I've taken both the positive and the negative, trying to develop my own idea of how I want to do it."

Billing was a righthander at MIT, where he graduated in 2001. Like Bongiovanni, he was a standout multiple sport athlete in high school.

"I pitched and played third base at Fitch under Ed Harvey – the best baseball coach I ever had," Billing said.

Billing takes over for Dave Masters, who . Masters, who lives in Simsbury and is an assistant coach in football, coached Hall since 1999 and won a CCC West title in 2009.

"We've got a real veteran lineup returning with 12 to 13 seniors and two to three juniors competing for the varsity spots," Billing said. "The big question will be pitching depth. If we can get productive outings from our pitchers, we should be in a lot of close games."

Last season, Conard was 10-11 and Hall 9-12, each losing in the first round of the Class LL tournament.

"I'm talking to as many people as I can to find out who's there now, what kind of programs there are for younger kids, little leagues and summer leagues," Bongiovanni said. "And it looks promising. There's a lot of talent there and talent coming up so I'm excited about that."

Bongiovanni, also an assistant basketball coach at Maloney, is an investment advisor at Bongiovanni Insurance & Financial in Meriden, a company his father started in 1987.

Billing, who coached the Hall JV baseball team for two years, also coaches indoor track and is a math teacher at Hall.

Conard's advantage erased

After Tuesday's match got away against Farmington, the Conard wrestling team will have four events to regroup before CCC West competition resumes Jan. 12 against Southington.

Conard built a 25-3 lead against Farmington before dropping six of the final seven matches for a 38-31 loss. Lucas Muntz (152), who was third in the State Open last season, opened the match for Conard by pinning Mike Berlandy in 1:52. Johnny Bello (145), Dainius Lancinskas (171) and Mike Fisher (285) also won by pin. Ricky Cotton (189) and Kevin Fisher (215) won decisions.

On Dec. 28, Conard hosts a quad meet with Avon, Plainville and Maloney. … Hall lost its conference opener 56-15 to Southington, the defending CCC West champion. Hall is at Simsbury's Frank Chaves Invitational Dec. 28.

Binkhorst breaks loose

Senior guard Sara Binkhorst poured in 18 of her 34 points in the fourth quarter as the Hall girls basketball team (3-1) defeated 52-51 Monday night.

Sophomore Alyssa Reaves scored 14 for NWC (2-2). … The Hall/Southington boys hockey team (0-2-1) lost to Rocky Hill/Middletown/RHAM 5-3 Wednesday. Trey Lerner, Kevin SanAngelo and Nick Carpenter scored for H/S. … The Conard/Hall girls hockey team is 1-1-2 after a 2-2 tie with Simsbury (3-0-1). Emily Corrales and Bailey Amenabar scored for C/H and Lauren Sorgleo made 24 saves. … The WCCC 1290 broadcast schedule includes Fermi-Conard boys hockey Dec. 29 at Veteran's Memorial Rink. Pete Lamoureux is on the call (pregame at 6:55 p.m.).

Note to coaches: Please email highlights, notes and comments to JohnHowell.Patch@gmail.com