Varsity team looking forward to great season
This year’s Eastport-South Manor team features one of the league’s strong pitching staffs and an offense that coach Jim McGowan hopes will show improvement from last season.
“The goal for us offensively is to be better than we were,” said McGowan, whose team hit a combined .211 and lost one of its top offensive players, all-county first-baseman Tristan Gatchalian, to graduation.
Gatchalian, who’s now playing at Marywood University in Pennsylvania, led the Sharks in batting average (.365) and home runs (five) while hitting 15 RBIs.
He helped lead the Sharks to an 11-9 regular-season record and the team’s seventh playoff appearance in McGowan’s nine seasons.
With Gatchalian gone, the Sharks will look to their 16 returning players, including third-baseman Logan Walsh, outfielder Landon Davis and McGowan’s sons Drew and Brady, to lead the offense.
Drew McGowan, a two-time all-county catcher, led the team with 20 hits. He batted .345 last season with 10 RBIs and 15 stolen bases. A senior, he’s committed to playing Division I baseball at Marist College next season.
Brady McGowan, a shortstop, made all-league last season as a freshman. He knocked in 11 RBIs and swiped nine stolen bases.
The Sharks return all seven pitchers from last season on a staff that posted a combined ERA of 3.22.
“They kept us in every game last year,” McGowan said.
The pitchers include senior John Coffey, who went 4-1 with a 2.31 ERA and was named to the all-league team, and Cole Johnson, a left hander who posted a 3.68 ERA and has committed to play at SUNY Purchase next season.
Hard-throwing senior Luca Occhiogrosso and Noah Kirwin, a junior who posted a 0.87 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 16 innings, round out a staff that will be among the best in what McGowan calls “a very, very competitive league.”
Some of the other teams in the league include powerhouses East Islip, Hauppauge, and Half Hollow Hills West.
The Sharks’ home field is getting a $2 million makeover with a new turf field, new dugouts, lights, a padded outfield wall, and stadium seating.
The renovated ballpark is slated to be ready in time for the Sharks’ home opener on March 25 when they take on Half Hollow Hills West.
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