Bridgehampton's Kris Vinski To Play Baseball at St. Joseph's University of Brooklyn

Bridgehampton returned to the varsity baseball ranks last spring after a 43-year layoff, and already has a legitimate college prospect.

After a lengthy process that included visiting multiple schools and contacting a number of college coaches, Bridgehampton senior Kris Vinski decided to continue his baseball career at the next level at St. Joseph’s University in Brooklyn. Bridgehampton celebrated Vinski’s accomplishment by holding an announcement that was attended by the Vinski family, Kris, his twin brother Scott, younger sister Kate and mother and father, Jenn and Ed, along with varsity baseball coach Lou Liberatore and athletic director and assistant baseball coach Michael DeRosa, among others.

Vinski is Bridgehampton’s first collegiate baseball prospect in quite some time. Although it wasn’t known as of press time who the last player from Bridgehampton to move on to play collegiately, he joins a strong legacy that includes his grandfather, Edward Vinski, and of course Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski.

Vinski said it’s been a long journey of hour-long car rides to travel games, a massive commitment from his parents which he greatly appreciates, and even getting through some self doubt. But it’s all been worth it.

“It’s been something I had always dreamed of, but also at times, especially around this time last year, where I definitely was having my doubts about it,” he explained. “Was I good enough? Stuff like that. But I was definitely always willing to do whatever it took throughout the process. The right doors opened at the right time, and I’m really glad it worked out.”

Vinski gave a lot of credit to Liberatore and said he was very grateful to him as well. Over five years ago, the coach laid out a plan to bring varsity baseball back to Bridgehampton. Vinski also plays on Liberatore’s travel team, the Bombers Baseball Club, which is based out of Bayport and which leads to the aforementioned long car rides. One of the closest fields to Bridgehampton for the Vinskis was the Eastport South Manor Athletic Complex in Eastport, which is about an hour away with no traffic, but during the height of the summer could be two hours away some evenings. Vinski recalls getting home from tournaments in Nassau County around 1 a.m., with tournaments scheduled the next day at 8 a.m. But it’s all been a part of the process and Vinski couldn’t thank Liberatore enough for making it all happen.

“He really got to know me and my play style and that really helped when coaches went to him and would ask him, ‘What can you tell me about Kris?’” he said. “I can’t even put it into words how great he’s been for me, for the school and honestly for baseball in general. I think our travel team currently has six or seven college commits on that team all ranging from DI, DII and DIII schools.”

DeRosa said that when the plan to bring back baseball to the district was set in place, he and Liberatore knew they had college-level talent and everything is falling into place.

“We’re ecstatic,” he said. “Kris puts in so much hard work. He doesn’t miss any offseason workouts.

“At the end of the day, bringing baseball back to Bridgehampton, Kris was a seventh-grader, and we had kids like his brother Scott, Dylan Fitzgerald, and we told them, you’re going to have to make some sacrifices to grow this baseball program. And to see all of that hard work pay off, it couldn’t have happened to a better kid. He’s such an awesome kid. He’s the type of player that any coach wants because he’s so coachable, he asks questions, and he even makes his own minor tweaks here and there, just minor things that make him so much better. And he’s a leader out there on the field. You know he’s going to calm everybody down and we’re confident when Kris Vinski is on the mound. There’s less stress on the coach and everybody around him and it’s great he’s going to be playing baseball at the next level. We’re all proud of him here.”

There were a couple of schools in play for Vinski to play baseball at, but it was Liberatore who brought up St. Joseph’s of Brooklyn to Vinski as a viable option. So Vinski got in contact with the coaching staff there and he and his family visited the campus over Thanksgiving break. And that’s when Vinski said, “This is a place I can see myself at.”

He applied not long after, but the baseball aspect was still a little slow coming. While Division III programs can’t offer scholarships to players, incoming players still want assurances that if and when they show up on campus, there is going to be a spot for them on the team.

So last month, Vinski met St. Joe’s head coach Peter Blumenauer and assistant coach Justin Ciccotelli at 365 Sports in Bellport, where he threw a bullpen session.

“They said we think you can definitely make an impact on our program and they offered me a spot on the team,” Vinski said. “Once they said that, it was a no-brainer for me. Everything kind of seemed like it fit perfectly. It’s close enough to home, financially it was doable. I think it’s a good fit.”

Liberatore said that St. Joseph’s was always a good option for Vinski on multiple levels. For starters, his father, Ed, is a secondary education professor at the Patchogue campus, so that would help things financially. But also that Blumenauer is a phenomenal coach with a great track record. Before taking the job at St. Joseph’s four years ago, Blumenauer won a state championship with Islip High School in 2007 and was a state finalist in 2008. He was named the NY State Sportswriters Association Coach of the Year in 2007 and was named Suffolk County Coach of the Year for three straight seasons from 2007 to 2009, as he also guided the Bucs to three straight Suffolk County titles those years.

But one thing that Liberatore said helped Vinski also was his strong junior season last spring in which he pitched to a 1.40 earned run average and struck out 56 batters in 34 innings against some strong competition within the league and county.

“And he continued to get better in the summer as well,” Liberatore said. “We play games throughout the Northeast, and Kris is one of those guys who continues to get better and better. Kris was a late bloomer who does all the right things. He’ll continue to get bigger, stronger as he hits the gym. He’s got great arm action. I expect him to be one of the top arms in our league this season, and hopefully that will springboard him into his collegiate career. We’re excited for him to come out and be one of our leaders this spring.”