Huntington Baseball Builds for Future Success

Everyone associated with the Huntington High School baseball program knew that 2024 would be all about developing a strong foundation for the sport in the district, not only for current players, but for future team members still in elementary school.

Head coach John Romano instituted an extensive off-season training program and a series of winter clinics was held for elementary grade level players. Former Walt Whitman great Eric Garcia joined the staff as the varsity assistant coach and district art teacher Nick Matarazzo came aboard as the JV coach. Finley science teacher Tom Tantillo returned to the dugout after an absence of several years to coach the seventh and eighth graders.

The Blue Devil varsity went about its business in a mature manner. “Harry Baliber was our leader on and off the field,” Romano said. “He was a complete wall as a catcher and was able to mentor and handle our young pitching staff with his leadership. We had a series that he missed to start the season and it showed very quickly how important Harry is to our team. Harry did stuff this season that doesn’t end up in the box score, but does make a dramatic impact on our team.”

Harrison Uvena was another standout. “Harrison is a natural hitter,” the coach said. “He batted .444 on the season and he actually went into a slump to end the season he was batting .600 with two weeks left in the season. He has great baseball skills and is a baseball guy who eats, sleeps and breathes baseball. His talent is uncanny and he could have the ability next season to become an All-County player with his hitting and great defensive play in the outfield.”

The highlight of 2024 was winning two of three games against Bellport. “With great pitching and timely hitting, we were able to win both games,” Romano said. ‘Our pitchers set the tone in both games by throwing strikes and trusting our defense. Our offense hit with runners in scoring position all series, which allowed us to get the wins. This series was as well as we played all season. We had similar games where we were tied going into the sixth inning and lost.”

Freshmen Will Donaghy (OF/P) and Joey Perotti (2B/P) both enjoyed successful varsity debuts. Donaghy smacked 19 hits and batted .414. He also struck out 17 batters in 25 innings on the mound. Perotti batted .300 and sparkled in the field, tightening up Huntington’s infield.

Leadoff batter Kaedon Halbeisen led the team in homeruns, extra base hits and runs scored. Uvena’s 28 hits and .444 batting average were tops in those categories. George Mueger’s 21 walks were a team high. Presley Moss’ 10 runs batted were the most for the Blue Devils. Moss also had a team best 23 strikeouts in 24.1 innings pitching. Perotti’s .968 fielding percentage was also a Huntington best.

“We battled some really good baseball teams this year,” Romano said. “Although the final score doesn’t match up to how the actual games went, we battled and kept a lot of games close. We are a very young team with great senior leadership and hopefully what we learned this year we’re able to carry over into next season and have great success. With the younger guys getting consistent at bats and playing time that sets us up well for the future.”

Returning to the field next spring will be Uvena, Mueger, Moss, Donaghy, Perotti, Griffin Kanzer, Jibreel Murtaza, Anthony Addeo, Luke Wesnofske and Henry Gerberg.