Glen Cove steadily improving

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Every aspect of the Glen Cove Big Red baseball team has been steadily improving since a difficult 2017 campaign. Currently sitting at 5-8 and looking down the barrel at five more league games on the season, first-year coach George Kearns believes the ultimate goal is to play together and give opponents nothing but patented Big Red scrappy play.

“I think we’re going in the right direction,” Kearns said. “We still have a lot to work on, but we’ve been working hard to get there.”

The improvements to the Big Red’s offensive output, especially throughout the latter portion of the season, is through the practice/patience mindset. “Last year and early on in the season we were swinging at balls,” Kearns said. “All throughout our batting practices we preached patience and not giving the opposing pitchers any breaks.”

The team as a whole went from batting a combined .180 to .240 over the course of only a few games. The team average for strikeouts also dropped by a stark amount.

“We were striking out about 8 to 10 times a game, and we now are striking out roughly 2 to 4 times a game,” Kearns said.

Some of these improved hitting statistics come from the top of the lineup. Matt Graf, now in the two-spot after batting sixth earlier in the season, is batting higher than .300 and has only struck out five times in 43 at-bats.

Catcher John Lascyncski, who has added a stellar bat to his defensive prowess behind the plate, is currently batting around .300. Junior first baseman Kieran Calderon has certainly stepped up as a key piece that Kearns was hoping would produce.

“We really had high hopes for him to play the way we know he can this year, and he sure has looked good at the plate,” Kearns said of Calderon, who is hitting .354. Chris Capobianco remains a mainstay as a productive hitter.

Conversely, Kearns believes that the success of this team begins with it’s pitching, sending Anthony Rant and Cameron Fillipone out to the bump confidently.

“Fillipone has some good stuff; keeps people off-balance and can make hitters miss,” Kearns said. Of Rant, Kearns praised his young pitcher’s competitiveness and fire for the game. “I always joke around with my assistant coach that I wish we had 10 Anthony’s, due to the way he approaches and plays the game,” Kearns said.

Glen Cove currently sits at the fourth seed in the conference, the last position for a playoff berth. It had a big walk-off win over Hewlett on April 20 and impressed by taking two of three games against Kennedy last week.

“We’re going to win and lose as a team, a team that competes,” Kearns said. “If things get tough, you could bet that we’re going to go down with a fight.”

Nine of Kearns’17 players returned from the 1-17 team, and with a potential playoff berth in grasp, the Big Red is starving for an opportunity to upset the field.