It’s been a solid season so far for the Calhoun baseball team as it heads towards the postseason with county title hopes.
Last week, the Colts dropped two out of three to South Side, but they enter the finale week of the regular season with a 9-4 record, 6-4 in Conference AA-1.
“We can pitch a little bit,” coach Art Canestro said. “I think we can hit one through nine. We just have to be more consistent defensively and I think we can make a little bit of a run in the playoffs.”
As they say in baseball, you have to have pitching and defense to win and Calhoun is not too shabby in the pitching department.
Junior James Smith provided the biggest performance April 29 as he tossed his second shutout of the season, a three-hit masterpiece in a 6-0 win over South Side that was sandwiched in-between 10-0 and 16-11 losses. Smith is 2-1 with 0.96 ERA.
“He’s probably one of our better pitchers,” Canestro said. “He gets ahead of you and he has a command arm. He’s a tough pitcher to beat.”
Canestro has also received some strong innings from senior starter/reliever Nick Rogers and junior reliever Chris Munoz who has a 2-0 record and 1.45 ERA.
Nick Esposito has been outstanding on the mound and at the plate. The junior has a 2-1 record and also plays third base. He has a pair of home runs and 19 RBIs, but it’s what he’s doing on the mound that could signal his future.
“He’s got a D1 arm,” Canestro said. “I think he’s going to pitch in college. He throws the ball very well.”
Junior catcher Andrew Marino leads the team with a .500 batting average and is considered to be the most improved player on the roster after an offseason that saw him work extremely hard.
“He actually grew some which is expected,” Canestro said. “He put on about thirty pounds of muscle so he’s actually having a really nice year.”
Other major contributors include senior first baseman Jack Zagariello, senior second baseman Brandon Meyers, junior left fielder Will Hutchinson, and junior outfielder Nick Maresca who is hitting .378.
“When he gets hot, he’s a tough out,” Canestro said of Maresca. “He’s got exceptional speed on the bases and in the outfield so he can be a weapon when he’s seeing the ball well.”
Calhoun will gear up for the playoffs by taking on New Hyde Park this week in a three-game series that will close out the regular season.
“If we take them lightly, they could beat us,” said Canestro. “But if we do what we know we can do, I think we’ll finish the season with three wins and go into the playoffs on a good note.”
And the postseason is when the fun really starts. Calhoun has all of the pieces to make a run for the Nassau Class AA title, but the key is to tightening up that defense to add to the weapons it has in the lineup and on the mound.
