East Hampton Baseball Seeks Return, Deeper Run in Postseason

The East Hampton baseball team had its best season in over a decade last spring, clinching its first playoff spot in 11 years after finishing with a 10-8 League VI record.

The Bonackers graduated two key seniors, Colin Ruddy, who now plays at George Washington University, and Avery Siska, but with the bulk of the team returning, the ground work has been laid and now the team wants to continue its progression forward, first by not only qualifying for the playoffs by winning a few postseason games after losing both appearances a year go.

“We want to get back into the playoffs and win a couple of games. That’s the goal,” East Hampton head coach Vinny Alversa said. “We’ll see how far we can take it. We’ve got a pretty strong pitching staff. It’ll be a matter of how much we can hit the baseball. That’s been an ongoing theme with us. But we’ve been working at it a lot, and we’re all a year older, so hopefully it pans out.”

As Alversa noted, East Hampton will be led once again by its strong pitching, now led by seniors Jack Dickinson, Will Darrell and Hunter Eberhart. Ruddy was considered by many the team’s ace last season, and if that was the case, Dickinson was a very close second and will assume that ace role this season. But both Darrell and Eberhart have live arms as well — Dickinson (Niagara), Darrell (Vassar) and Eberhart (Crown College) are all expected to play in college.

Carter Dickinson, Jack’s younger brother and a sophomore, will certainly be in the mix for innings as well, Alversa said, and will be a big bat in the lineup. When he’s not on the mound, Darrell will anchor the outfield in center, and will be flanked by a mix of returning seniors Egan Barzilay and Calum Anderson and juniors Danny Lester and Michael Locascio. Nico Horan-Puglia, a junior, returns as well. He’s been the team’s starting catcher the past few seasons. Alversa said he should continue in that role, but may see some more time in the outfield this spring.

The team still has a strong young nucleus of players in sophomores Hudson Meyer and Tyler Hansen. Both got their first years of varsity experience under their belts last season and will continue to be the team’s middle infielders, both being able to be interchanged between second base and shortstop.

Alversa said there are a handful of players coming up from junior varsity, headed by Zach Dodge, who went up and down between varsity and JV last season. He will be up on varsity full-time this spring and will provide meaningful innings off the mound. Also coming up is outfielder Chase Siska, catcher/outfielder Cassius Hokanson and 6-foot-3-inch Kieran Conlon, a left-handed pitcher/first baseman.

Due to the new geographic location realignment, there was a shift in how the leagues were set up this season. East Hampton will compete within League VII this season with Comsewogue, Eastport-South Manor, Rocky Point and Westhampton Beach. There are also mandatory nonleague games that will count toward each team’s league record, thus having an effect on qualifying for playoffs. The Bonackers started their nonleague slate on Monday at home against Hampton Bays, and will open the league season with a three-game series against Westhampton Beach starting on April 10.