Baseball Champs Learning How To Win Again

Springfield's summer legion baseball season began last week and, save for a few holdovers, the defending conference champion Bulldogs got a total team make-over.    

Gone are stalwarts like second baseman Elliot Karp, first baseman Alex Popolani, third baseman Marquay Mayo, and ace pitcher Ross Goldfarb. All, by the way, were First-Team All-Conference performers and garnered several other post-season county awards.   

To say that the Bulldogs now have a youthful feel is an understatement; and something that hasn't been lost on the one constant, head coach Mike Abbate.   

"The summer is about a learning experience and to see what the new guys can do," said the award-winning head coach. "We have some guys we're trying to replace, so we know we're going to take our lumps."    

Abbate warned his young team that in order to regain its swagger – and retain their conference title – they'd have to be willing to be broken down and rebuilt from the ground-up. He'll be more than willing to experiment with different schemes and situations but his mantra will remain the same: play with consistent enthusiasm and execute the little things.    

"Even though we may have guys trying new things like swinging away on 3-0 [pitch count] or doing things like that, where we wouldn't be doing that during the season, we still want their energy to stay consistent," he said.          

Abbate allowed that other than obvious talent, energy and enthusiasm will also take this raw team a long way.     

"What we're trying to keep consistent is the energy level and that's something that's sometimes not there at the beginning of a game," he said of a team playing .500 ball so far this summer. "But the level picks up when we're making comebacks. I need energy to be up always."    

It'd behoove this new batch to listen to Abbate's edict because his awards mantle shows he may know a thing or two about what it takes to be successful. Last season as a rookie head coach at JDHS, Abbate went on to earn Union County Coach of the Year honors after taking a two-win 2009 Bulldogs team and turning them into 10-2 league champions.    

As expected, the low-key Abbate deflected personal praise and was humbled.    

"It's a nice honor because we play with [perennial powers] Cranford and Governor Livingston and for them to pick me from all those coaches, it really means a lot to me," he said.    

But Abbate, who clearly has no desire to publicize himself, was quick to refocus back on the tasks at hand.   

"As nice as it was when it ended, we have to refocus," he said of the not-so-distant championship run. "It's going to be a challenge but it is what it is and we'll try our best."   

The summer legion schedule was purposely made a tough one, so Abbate could get a gauge as to what he'll have to work with come next spring.       

"We're just trying to stay competitive against tougher teams," he said of his Group I program's summer scheduling. "We scheduled a lot of Group IV teams like Elizabeth, so it's a good little test."      

He realized it'll be an uphill fight but said it's all for the good of the program's long-run.     

"This is a younger level, like sophomores that played jayvee or freshmen. We're back to square one," said Abbate who added that thanks to last season's success more guys want to play, which means for the first time in two years, Springfield was able to form a summer league team. "We're just looking for the kids to be excited and want to be better and want to come everyday to play a game they hopefully love. And I give them credit [because] they're all doing it."    

He added that last season's team, although laden with talented seniors, still had to overachieve some.    

"It wasn't like we had great players last season. We were good as a unit and everything just came together," he said.                

Last season, however, is already in the rearview mirror, according to Abbate. He admitted that such quick success may be a gift and a curse because as a result of their league dominance, Dayton was moved into a tougher division of their conference. A whole new challenge now lies ahead.   

"We'll move into the Mountain Division to play teams like Roselle Catholic and Johnson," Abbate said. "That's a whole new challenge to play bigger schools and try to beat them. But if we learn to throw strikes, play defense, and play more consistent, we can build from there and hopefully make some noise."  

The road back to the top will take a different path for next season's Bulldogs but as long as Abbate is leading the program, the formula will always remain the same.