After a rain-soaked preseason, the Rye Neck baseball team finally got on the field on Monday, April 3, to play in their first regular season contest. Although head coach Joe Carlucci admitted that a few Panthers miscues doomed the team to a 4-3 loss to Croton-Harmon, he is confident that as the squad logs more time outdoors, they have the potential for big things in 2017.
Leadoff hitter Corey Parker had an RBI for the Panthers, but the team struggled somewhat at the plate, tallying 12 strikeouts in the season opener. According to Carlucci, inclement weather in the preseason prevented the team from training outside, something that was apparent on Monday afternoon.
“We were only outside on our field for one and a half days, we had one scrimmage with Harrison on turf, and because of that, I feel like we’re way behind,” Carlucci said. “There were a lot of things we weren’t able to do, but we just have to make the best of the situation.”
Overall, Carlucci said he was pleased with the team’s performance against the Tigers, even if there are some kinks to iron out.
“I was happy with the effort, we played hard and we didn’t give up,” he said. “We made some mistakes running the bases, we missed a few signs, and some of that definitely has to do with the preseason.”
Conor Liguori took the mound for the Panthers and managed four strong innings. Carlucci feels that the junior, along with fellow hurler Christian Cefaloni, is poised for big things this year.
“We have two excellent pitchers,” he said. “And we think that, anytime they’re on the mound this year, we have a chance to win the game.”
As a result of the new pitch count rules instituted by New York state this year, Carlucci said that the team’s success will be predicated on more than its top two pitchers, however.
“One thing we used to do is if you threw 100 pitches on a Monday and Thursday was going to be your bullpen day and we had a game, we would let guys throw an inning,” he said. “We can’t do that anymore, and we’ve been looking at more guys to contribute on the mound as a result.”
Offensively, the team will be relying on starting catcher Jack Sheldon, Parker, Kevin Tamucci and newcomer Brian Scott to lead the way.
“We don’t want to put a number on wins; we want to be better than a .500 team and possibly win a sectional game,” Carlucci said. “But we also don’t want to set limitations on how successful we can be.”
