The culture within the Riverhead baseball program has changed dramatically.
The Blue Waves, led by three-year head coach Kevin Kerman, went 4-16 last season and 1-19 in 2023.
This spring, Riverhead (10-4, 8-4 Suffolk League I) has won nine straight and needs to win just two of its final six games to secure its first playoff berth since 2015 and its second since 2008.
“That would be the ultimate reward for these guys,” Kerman said. “Obviously, I’m pretty competitive, and I don’t want to stop there. I want to get there, and I want to keep going. Let’s get there and win.”
Senior righthanded pitcher and shortstop Camden Wallace, a three-year varsity player, has been there through the tough times. He is one of the leaders this season, hitting .477 with a 1.074 OPS and pitching to a 3.90 ERA in 25 1/3 innings.
“Seeing us go from a team that had no chemistry and struggled to have a leader on the team and it really brought us down, to now our seniors this year are trying to be the leaders that we didn’t have in the past years,” Wallace said. “It’s really paid off.”
Riverhead carried 12 players during Kerman’s first season and only 10 last year. It is up to 14 this season – four seniors, five juniors, three sophomores and two freshmen – with 18 more on junior varsity.
Sophomore righthander Matthew Zambriski has a 1.65 ERA and 49 strikeouts in 25 1/3 innings. He threw a perfect game against Central Islip last Tuesday. Freshman second baseman Jason Davis is hitting .409 with a 1.135 OPS, and senior Brady Hubbard is batting .392.
“Even our own school just assumes that we’re going to be bad again,” Wallace said. “It just kind of took the mentality, like it’s us versus everyone else. We got to fight and be gritty and pull out every win we can get to impress some people.
“Now the goal is not to impress people, now it’s to make the playoffs.”
Jets’ new era
Bill O’Connor’s return to East Meadow, where he graduated from in 1982, has exceeded his expectations.
The former Jets star and All-American at Adelphi is in his first year leading the program.
With a group led by 13 seniors, East Meadow (12-4, 9-3 Nassau Conference AA-I) is on the brink of its first conference title since 2016, when it also won the Nassau Class AA championship. It needs to win two of three against Glen Cove this week to guarantee a share of the crown. A sweep would bring an outright title.
“The kids, that’s what one of their goals was – to win the conference and then go from there,” O’Connor said. “To check that box would be great.”
O’Connor has brought back old East Meadow traditions, echoing the pride that comes with playing for a program that has won five county titles and the 1997 state championship. It has won six of its last seven games.
“They’ve been battle tested,” O’Connor said. “They’ve came through. I think they’re ready for the next step. They’re chomping at the bit for that.”
Ben Dickson joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins’ teams.