Long Beach a work in progress

Long Beach embarked on a tough schedule on Tuesday when it opened the Nassau Conference AA-II baseball campaign with a loss at Great Neck South.

“We play four teams twice and six teams once,” Marines coach Carmine Lombardo said. “It’s an OK schedule, but we’re getting away from ability grouping next year and something has to be done for teams that won’t be competitive in the top conference.”

The 21 teams in Class AA were lumped into two leagues, with all 10 in the top league guaranteed a playoff spot. Long Beach, which won 11 games in 2009, is one of 11 teams in the second group that’s vying for two playoff berths.

“A .500 finish would be nice,” Lombardo said. “We’re inexperienced. We lost eight starters and we’re trying to get everyone to jell. We’ll probably have a different lineup every day for a while.”

The Marines opened with a 2-1 non-league defeat to visiting Valley Stream South last Saturday. Plenty of positives came out of it, however, as junior pitcher/third baseman Mickey Silberfeld had a strong showing on the mound that could land him a spot in the starting rotation. The Falcons managed just two hits, and both runs came courtesy of errors. “Mickey had an impressive outing,” Lombardo said. “He had the fastball and curve working.”

Senior left-hander Fred Weinstein won all three of his decisions a year ago and was one of only two pitchers in the conference to beat first-place Port Washington. “Fred did a nice job last year and we’re counting on him to do well again,” Lombardo said. “He changes speeds and relies on the defense to make plays.”

Seniors Mike O’Connell and Eric Hirschbein-Bodnar and juniors Kevin Lamontagne and Will Shellhorn are also part of the staff, and at least one will be used in the starting rotation. They’ll be throwing to junior catcher Albert Doerbecker, who worked with each of them during the winter. “We have six guys available to throw, but because of all the rain we had nobody got to pitch in a live game more than once,” Lombardo said. “I hope to get it sorted out by the end of next week.”

The bats of O’Connell, Lamontagne and senior shortstop Mike Gounarides, the team’s lone returning starter, will go a long way in determining if the pitching staff gets ample support. Gounarides, who batted .300 a year ago, is penciled into the No. 3 slot and Lamontagne hits fourth. “We’re counting on Mike to make contact at the plate and all the routine plays in the field,” Lombardo said of Gounarides. “He doesn’t have to do anything more than what we need him to do.”

Seniors Gabe Tajada and Dan Malone will contribute at second base, Weinstein and Shellhorn at first, and Silberfeld and Hirschbein-Bodnar at third. Candidates to see time in the outfield include juniors Phil Aguilla, Brian Whelan and Dillon Denker, and senior Andy Bachman.