Saturday, October 17, 2026
Hewlett’s baseball team is looking to correct what has been a bumpy start to the season, as the group dropped its initial five contests. However, coach Andrew DeBernardo is confident the Bulldogs are capable of much more.
“Mental errors and not getting key hits have been the things we need to improve on,” DeBernardo said. “Carey beat us 11-0 and we outhit them that game. We get guys on first and second and we don’t score.”
Hewlett is mostly young, but retained all but one player from last year’s roster when it won three games. Two-year captain junior Matt Graziose is the starting shortstop for the squad. He is also the closer, but there hasn’t had a closing situation to utilize him.
Junior Jaycen Ng is a left-handed starting pitcher and first basemen. Michael Heyman is a sophomore, and he is both a pitcher and an outfielder. Sophomore Josh Sepe is the starting catcher and has done well early, and a surprising contributor has been Sophomore Zane Branch, who has become the leadoff hitter due to his improving hitting and impressive speed. It is worth noting that senior Eli Mencahe was supposed to be the starting catcher and one of the key contributors for the Bulldogs, but he unfortunately tore his ACL in the third game of the year.
The Bulldogs were neck and neck with Roslyn in the first game of their series before suffering a 9-5 defeat. The second game was tied going into the fifth inning, but Roslyn pulled out a 5-4 decision. Hewlett scored the first four runs of the series finale but couldn’t hold on.
Of course, moral victories will have to translate into real victories for the Bulldogs to correct this subpar start. DeBernardo is cognizant of what elements the group needs to work in order to secure some victories in coming weeks.
“The defense hasn’t been good,” DeBernardo said. “We are booting the ball all over the place and it’s making our pitchers have to throw more pitches. It’s not our outfield. Our infield is not playing as good as we should.”
There is plenty of season left for the Bulldogs to resurrect the trajectory of their season, but it will not be easy. However, DeBernardo is still confident in his squad’s chances in the upcoming matchups still present on the schedule.
“We’ll be in the series against Bellmore JFK, Glen Cove and Sewanhaka and then the Calhoun series will be tough,” DeBernardo said. “We have some speed and we have some bats. Our pitching is deep and we throw strikes. We’ve had bad weather but both teams have had to deal with that. We have 13 games to make some noise and hopefully we do.”
Hewlett will have had 11 days between games since its next series against Kennedy begins April 18. The Bulldogs are home for the series opener and finale on April 21 and travel to face the Cougars on the 19th.
