Riverhead baseball ’14: Absent Crohan, pitching rotation in flux

It’s been six years since Riverhead baseball made the playoffs. And though every season had promise, an injury always seemed to decimate the effort down the stretch.

What’s it going to take to turn it around this year?

“Hard work, dedication, which we’ve been getting and we have to stay away from the injury bug,” head coach Rob Maccone said.

“We had key injuries in each one of those years and that’s a big problem,” Maccone said. “In 2010, Bryan Palermo was hurt, 2011 Jon Tucci was hurt, 2012 Matt Crohan was hurt and last year John Wendt got hurt. Every year was the woulda, couldas and we never seemed to respond after that.”

To lose a big arm like Crohan or Wendt midway through the season makes it hard on any team’s confidence while trying to make a playoff bid. When Crohan got hurt, the Blue Waves were 6-6, they finished 8-12. Last year, when Wendt went down, the Blue Waves were 6-5 and finished 8-10.

“These injuries happen usually to one of our starting pitchers and it just kills us,” Maccone said.

Though arguably the best pitcher in Riverhead history, Matt Crohan, has graduated, the Blue Waves return a plethora of starters — most of the lineup is still in tact.

Three of the biggest names — catcher Cody Smith, outfielder/pitcher Ryan Gaffney and shortstop Jesse Patriss — were each all-leaguers last year so big things are expected from them. Smith hit an unprecedented .435 last year, hitting four home runs and driving in 15 RBIs. Gaffney batted .398 with four home runs and 21 RBIs and Patriss hit .390 with 11 RBIs.

“I don’t think I’m rolling out a weak lineup this year,” Maccone said. “1-9 in our lineup will be able to get their bat on the ball.”

Rounding out the lineup will be Bobby Dilworth at first base, Cody Weiss at second base, Kenny Simco at third base, Brian Brenton in left field, and Nick Stimpfel and Nick Herzog will battle it out in right field. Josh Brewster will be getting playing time at third base though his main objective is at this point, the No. 1 starter for the Blue Waves.

The pitching staff is the center of the Blue Waves’ worries. Wendt suffered an injury to his back during the summer so he will not play this year which leaves the rotation in a state of flux. Maccone said he will try to piece together innings from the seven guys he has and do more of a pitch-by-commitee approach. Among those would be Brewster, Simco, Brenton, Bobby Dilworth, Stimpfel and Herzog. Gaffney is also expected to pitch but has been experiencing soreness of late.

Gaffney pitched last year and threw well for the Long Island Titans travel team during the summer, throwing his fastball from the low to mid 80’s.

Had Wendt returned, the Blue Waves would have returned three starters but because of injuries, Brewster’s the only one throwing right now with significant varsity experience.

“We’re going to do things a little different this year and have our guys go a couple innings at a time and play match ups,” Maccone said. “Because bobby’s a lefty, Herzog’s a lefty, Stimpfel’s a lefty and if Ryan gets healthy he’s a lefty. So four of the seven are lefties so that’s kind of nice. We’re going to be able to bring kids in for certain situations maybe two times a week.”

Through the first four scrimmages of the season Maccone has gathered that if his pitchers throw strikes, they’ll be effective. Brewster threw against Pat-Med, which are one of the better teams in the county. He hurled four innings, gave up one run while throwing just 32 pitches. He walked two batters in the inning he gave up a run. Stimpfel also pitched that day, registering three innings and surrendering three runs. But the inning he gave up the three runs, he also walked two batters.

“That’s kind of where we’re at,” Maccone said. “If we don’t throw strikes, we get ourselves in trouble.”

Riverhead will play five non-league games before opening the league season at Half Hollow Hills West on April 8.