Lineup change helps the 20U Pirates get their act together with late wins
July 14, 2023 at 5:03 p.m.
It was a collegiate first—the first time a pair of teammates went one-two as the top picks in Major League Baseball's First Year Player Draft at T-Mobile Park in Seattle last Sunday (7/9). The draft was one of the preliminary attractions to Tuesday's MLB All-Star Game (7/11). The top two selections came from the collegiate national championship team from Louisiana State University, ace pitcher Paul Skenes and slugging centerfielder Dylan Crews.
It was the moment every college player dreams about but all too few get to experience. But for those who don't make it into the MLB draft or play big time college ball, there is still the desire to keep playing for the pure love of the game. Those are the kinds of players stocking the roster of the Port Chester 20U Pirates, a roll of talented but aging athletes who don't want to hang up their spikes.
The Pirates crew
The Pirates are basically a post-graduate alumni team comprised mostly of ex-Rams who have aged out of the Port Chester Youth Baseball League (PCYBL) and are now either in college or working but still want to play local ball over the summer. It hasn't been easy because of early season slip ups due to different college closing times, lack of practice time, rainouts, injuries or conflicting work schedules. But the Pirates seem to have righted the ship now and have gotten their act together with a few key shifts in the lineup.
It has taken a juggling act necessitated by waiting for all the different scheduling parts to finally come together.
Now it is starting to look as though it has been worth the wait and hassle.
Hitting their stride
Despite getting off to a slow start to the 20U summer season in the Greater Hudson Valley Baseball League (GHVBL), the Pirates beat the Mahopac Flamingos twice by scores of 4-2 last Thursday (7/6) away and 4-0 last Saturday (7/8) at home at Rec Park, upping their record to 4-6 with an ongoing lineup shakeup leading to their improved play, according to player/manager A.J. Marini.
Ex-Ram All-League shortstop Tyler Heckel, a Villanova freshman and perhaps the fastest player on the team, has shifted from shortstop to centerfield where he can cover more ground because of his speed. A.J. Marini (Mitchell College), another ex-Ram All-League shortstop who had been sidelined due to shoulder surgery, slipped back into the starting lineup at his old position. Leon Morano (Manhattanville) became the starting catcher and James Moore (a recent Brunswick grad headed for the University of Mississippi) moved into the infield as did RJ Thalheimer (Washington and Lee).
Those moves seemed to help the Pirates jell as did the performance of former PCYBL All-Stars.
Shining ex-Ram stars
In their first win over the Flamingos, for instance, Jack Mutino (an assistant Rams baseball coach from Utica College) pitched five solid innings of one-run ball with Nick Mirando (Manhattanville) closing out the game, allowing one run in two innings. Gavin LaDore went three for three with two runs batted in and Matt Marini (SUNY Cortland, A.J.'s kid brother and another former All-League Ram shortstop) knocked in the winning two runs in the sixth inning with Heckel and Moore also coming through with key hits.
In their second game win against the Flamingos, ex-Ram ace Ishmael Jimenez (CCNY) threw a complete game shutout, Heckel went two for three with two runs scored, AJ went three for three with an RBI and Moore and Matt Marini came through with the big hits.
The name change
"We're now 4-6 on the season, up from 2-6, and starting to come around," according to AJ, who has already seen the alumni team come around quite a bit since he helped start the Rams reunion team as the Sawpit Cardinals, the name a nod to Port Chester's seafaring past, three years ago with the help of experienced older hands like Bob Vyskocil, president of the PCYBL, and Joe Durney, former Port Chester athletic director and deputy school superintendent, who guided him through the bureaucratic maze of a baseball team startup.
Vyskocil, for example, allowed the pioneering team to play with the help of PCYBL insurance and Durney helped them get Rec Field as their home field.
The stacked lineup
"And because most of us learned to play growing up in the PCYBL as Pirates, we decided to change our name to the Pirates last season," AJ said, explaining that the roster is stocked with ex-PCYBL All-Stars like Jason Garcia, Sebastian Alvarez, Nick Dorazio, Mike Gianfransico, Corey Heckel and Mike DeCrescenzo.
Hopefully the stars will continue to align in the Pirates’ next few games including against the Shore Road Sluggers away Thursday (7/13) at 6 p.m. in Mahopac, a home doubleheader Saturday (7/15) at 1 and 3 p.m. at Rec Park with another home game next Tuesday (7/18) against the Connecticut Devils at 6 p.m. It may not be the equivalent of making it into the MLB draft or the collegiate World Series, but it sure beats not playing. Especially when the wins start coming.
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