Despite losing six games in a row during April last year, St. John the Baptist did not wave the white flag. In fact, they stayed the course and wound up in the CHSAA finals against Kellenberg at Hofstra, before losing 1-0 to Miami-commit Jason Diaz. That is a sign of a resilient, well-coached team with strong leadership from upperclassmen.
The Head Coach, Casey McKay, knew things would turn around even during the skid.
“The two things I always told the guys was; keep competing and stay together,” he told Axcess Baseball. “When you lose one-run games and guys get thrown out at the plate, you just have to keep competing and things will turn around,” he added.
Nothing shows the epitome of their team-first attitude like their improbable comeback trailing 5-0 in the 5th inning against Holy Trinity in the semifinals. They mounted a furious comeback and advanced to face the reigning champs from Kellenberg. They would have had to beat the Thunderbirds twice, but they ran into one of the top sophomore pitchers in the nation in Diaz and had their season ended.
The 2018 team will be led by a handful of high-end players; led by East Carolina-commit Logan O’Hoppe, who is considered the best catching prospect on Long Island.
“We can talk forever about how good he is as a player, but kids like him just don’t come across very often,” said McKay, who’s father was a coach in the Chicago White Sox minor system in the early 1990s. “I’ve only been a coach for four years, but I have a feeling I won’t have another kid like him for a while. He’s the type of kid that teammates look up to, he doesn’t have to tell them he’s working hard–he just does it. There have been times when I got to school at 6:30am and he’s been working on agility, catching drills and taking swings since 5am. There’s been times when he’s been out on the field until it’s dark at 8pm. He’s that kind of person,” he added.
While O’Hoppe will certainly be the player garnering the most attention from the scouts, he is far from the only impact player on the roster.
Quinnipiac-commit Will Shaw burst onto the scene last year and batted .430 in the historically pitcher-friendly CHSAA, which uses wood bat. He was named Rawlings first-team All-Region and played a great center field.
“I think he’s one of the better players around,” said McKay. “He has a really good swing from both sides of the plate. He’s going to give you a really good at bat and he can also really get it in center field,” he added.
Joining him in the outfield in Stevenson-commit Tom Force. He batted .410 last year and was named All-League. McKay noted that he didn’t begin the season as a starter, but worked his way into the lineup and “played very well.”
Infielder Ryan Watson is committed to Salem State and is one of the captains on the team along with O’Hoppe. He stated that he is a “grinder” and they will be counting on his strong defense as well. They will be hoping that Matt Lavin returns to full health after suffering an injury during the basketball season and he will be their shortstop after Matt Archer moved to Florida.
He is also high on infielder E.J. Exposito. “He worked tremendously hard this offseason and he’s developed into a player that could have an impact. He has some of the best hands I’ve seen and he has really improved his quickness. He puts the ball in play offensively,” he said.
The pitching staff will be led by Kevin Czeczotka, who they are hoping takes the leap to become the anchor of the staff after throwing only three innings last year due to injury but returned for the postseason. “He’s not a hard-thrower but he competes and he throws strikes,” he added.
Additionally, Queens-commit Bryan Krolikowski will join him in the rotation and McKay stated that he “grew as a pitcher and he looks like someone we can trust.”
St. John the Baptist will be looking to get past Kellenberg this season–who graduated several of their key pieces from last year, but McKay knows they are not to be underestimated.
“Until someone beats Kellenberg, they are the favorite. They have a great coaching staff and no matter what the score is, those kids compete.”
