Thursday, October 1, 2026
You know the saying offense wins games but defense wins championships?
It’s something the West Hempstead baseball team takes to heart. Standing 8-3-1 overall, its strength is dead center in the field: the pitchers. Purely coincidentally, those on the mound are as lethal in the batter’s box.
“We’ve got more arms than usual this year,” said Rams coach Rob Bauer. “We’re pretty deep this year compared to years in the past.”
Enter junior Tim Pendergast, who is 4-1, has a 1.56 ERA, and 45 strikeouts. When he picks up the bat, he also happens to have a .500 batting average and .683 on-base percentage, with 3 homers, 16 RBIs, 21 runs and 21 stolen bases.
“[Tim] has been one of our main guys for the last three years, he’s been on varsity since he was in the eighth grade and he’s a junior now,” Bauer said.
There’s also junior Jon Oquendo. 1-0 right now with a sub-1.00 ERA and 12 strikeouts, his heat is dominant, no matter the weather nor wind on Long Island. His offense is punchy too: .722 avg, .848 on-base 14 RBIs, 15 runs and 17 steals.
“[Jon] has a little bit of everything, he even catches a little bit; plays third, players center, pitches,” Bauer explained.
Senior Brendan Felix has been putting on a show lately with his fastball and slider, his bread and butter. Originally an ace when he was on the JV according to Bauer, he transitioned to a bullpen piece when he was brought up to the varsity level. The starting rotation was saturated with upperclassmen. Now an upperclassman himself, he is back to dominating, stepping up amongst the rotation.
“This year, especially the last two or three weeks, he’s really stepped into some big shoes and filled the back end of our rotation really well and he really battles,” Bauer said about his right-hander. “The big thing about Brendan is that he commands the zone, especially at the high school level, throwing strikes is really essential.
“You find a lot of times in our conference that one of the biggest issues is that teams struggle to throw strikes, so we know when Brendan’s out there, at least we know that the ball is going to be put into play or he’s going to be around the zone to give us a chance defensively,” the coach added.
Senior Dom D’Agosto is making a name for himself on the diamond. Not only is he behind the plate daily, he also posts a .429 batting average. Bauer also said that the growth between last year to this year for D’Agosto has been massive, with the slugger taking on a much bigger presence both on the field and in the clubhouse.
With him in the offense are senior Ryan Mitchell and his .417 avg, 9 RBIs, 20 runs and 15 steals, as well as Tim Hill, a freshman center fielder who leads off with a .500 on-base percentage and 20 runs. Mitchell is one of the key arms in the rotation as well.
“We’ve had a lot of contributions throughout the lineup, really one through nine,” Bauer said.
