Sports
West Islip Baseball Seeks Playoff Berth in '11
Team must break .500 if they want to break into postseason play.
In 2010, the West Islip baseball team was partially done in thanks to a new rule instituted by Section XI that stated in order to make the playoffs, a team must finish with a record over .500. With a 9-9 mark in League III, the Lions were left on the outside looking in.
In his second year as head coach, Shawn Rush will be looking to improve at least one game better and earn a spot in the playoffs.
"We’re just looking to get into the playoffs," Rush said. "Once we get in, the season kind of starts over, and we’ll see what we can do. We have pretty deep pitching, but we’re pretty young everywhere else."
Find out what's happening in West Islipfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The team returns a pair of seniors that were all-league selections in 2010 in Tyler Bell and Robert Pescitelli. They'll be relied on heavily to provide most of the heavy lifting for an otherwise young lineup.
Record last year: 9-11, 9-9 in League III
Find out what's happening in West Islipfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Head coach: Shawn Rush, 2nd year
Top players:
- Robert Pescitelli, OF, senior
- Tyler Bell, C, senior
- Chris Anderson, P, junior
- Christian Stancavage, P, junior
Key losses: The Lions will have the nearly impossible task of replacing two-time All-County shortstop Frank Gagliardi, who graduated in 2010. Rush will continue to work out new players at the position to find the right fit, but they'll surely miss Gagliardi's presence in 2011.
Expectations: Despite rostering a number of underclassmen on this year's team, Rush is looking forward to building on last year's effort that saw them fall one win short of a playoff berth.
"Our league is going to be very tough," he said. "We have pretty deep pitching, but we’re pretty young everywhere else. We only have five seniors, but we’ve got a few juniors with experience. And everyone else is really just a first-year varsity player looking to contribute."
Big games: The addition of Smithtown West to League III makes the schedule slightly more daunting. Though it's tough to say what isn't a big game when the team expects to be in the thick of a playoff race from opening day.
"We really just need to beat the teams we should," said Rush. "After our bye week, we play Smithtown East and Smithtown West, who are the two best teams in the league. That will be a good measuring stick for us. But we still just have to win baseball games that we should."
*Editor's Note: As of April 9, the team has moved to 2-1 with a series win over Newfield.
