Historic season for Hewlett ends

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A breakthrough Hewlett baseball season came to heartbreaking conclusion last week after running into two of the county’s top teams.

The Bulldogs were bounced from the double-elimination Nassau County Class A playoffs 2-1 by top-seeded Seaford on May 16 a day after going toe-to-toe with defending state champion Wantagh before falling 4-1. The sudden postseason exit capped a spring that saw Hewlett rise up as a program to nearly capture Conference A-II title and host its first playoff game this century.

“It was our best year in a long time,” said Hewlett head coach Andy DeBernardo. “We just came up a little short in both [playoff] games.”

Seaford pushed across the winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning on a two-out RBI double from Andrew Chirico to break a 1-1 tie. Hewlett had previously tied the game at 1-1 on an RBI double from Chris Rodriguez, but the offense was mostly held in check by a complete game three-hitter tossed by Seaford’s Zach Grof. The Bulldogs stayed close with the number one seed thanks to solid pitching from junior pitcher Matt Kim, who surrendered just one earned run in six innings of work.

“We rode him all year,” said DeBernardo of Kim, who recorded five wins during Hewlett’s 12-9 season that featured a second place finish in Conference A-II at 11-4.

Hewlett ran into a hot pitcher in the playoff opener with Hofstra-bound Jimmy Joyce striking out 11 in ninth-seeded Wantagh’s 4-1 win at Hewlett Elementary School. It marked the Bulldogs’ first home playoff game in Coach DeBernardo’s 15 years leading the program and created plenty of buzz in the Hewlett-Woodmere School District.

“There were people standing everywhere,” said DeBernardo of the overflow crowd. “It was a lot of fun.”

Hewlett entered the playoffs winning six of its last eight regular season games to finish just two and a half games behind Carey for a league crown. Hewlett had set its sights on winning a conference title, but DeBernardo was proud of how his team competed against some of the county’s top teams to earn a high seed for the playoffs.

“We nearly won a conference title, but we got a home playoff game which was a big goal,” DeBernardo said. “We ran into two very good teams.”

Hewlett’s breakthrough season was rewarded with seven players receiving achievement awards. Harry Fink, Kim and Rodriguez were all named All-County while Jesse Metz and Matt Kohn garnered All-Conference accolades. LIU-Post bound JJ Lantigua and Dillon Ristano were awarded All-League honors.

Hewlett graduates an experienced group of seniors, but returns enough core players that DeBernardo thinks could propel the Bulldogs back to the postseason. DeBernardo will always look at the 2017 season fondly for achieving a longtime goal of hosting a playoff game and nearly winning a conference title.