Varsity baseball returning to Greenport after hiatus

Weather permitting, the Greenport High School varsity baseball team will play its first game in almost 23 months when it visits Bridgehampton/Ross on Monday, March 31 at 4 p.m.

Long-range forecasts have predicted rain, but nothing has doused the enthusiasm of three seniors who were sophomores on the Porters’ 2023 team.

“I’m very excited,” said senior Kal-El Marine, who is expected to play several positions this year, including center field, shortstop and pitcher. “Not only have I not played in a baseball game in two years, but it’s my last season at a varsity level. I want to be competitive this year.”

So do the rest of his teammates, including catcher Daniel Rivas and shortstop/pitcher Cayden Wills.

“This being my senior year, I definitely want to go out with a bang,” Wills said on Monday. “We kind of took a break last year. Hopefully that will pay off.”

Last year’s play was reduced to the junior varsity level after the 2023 team was decimated by graduation. Many of this year’s returnees played JV.

“I’m actually somewhat glad that we had it, because we were able to develop our skills without pressure,” Rivas said. “We graduated just one senior. We’re definitely going to make some things happen.”

Varsity’s last tilt was the second half of a home doubleheader, a 15-11 loss to Amityville on May 11, 2023. In the opener, Wills went 3-for-4 with three stolen bases while earning the win in relief in a 10-7 victory.

Wills, who missed last week’s practices, didn’t know if he will have the required 10 practice sessions to be available for Monday. He might have to wait until the home opener on Wednesday, April 2, at 4 p.m. against Bridgehampton.

Thirteen players are on the roster this season.

“Traditionally, baseball in Greenport is not a popular sport,” head coach Chris Golden said. “A lot of the kids that play soccer and basketball tend to play longer sports seasons. The basketball season just ended; baseball season started. Some kids are just tired of every day, ‘I’ve got to go to practice.’ Some want to start work. For us to draw kids is always a challenge. In a small school, that’s not easy to do given our smaller pool of players.”

Rivas and Marine played basketball for the Porters in their 56-39 Class C Southeast Regional loss to Tuckahoe on March 15. Two days later, they were practicing with the baseball team.

“I was able to change my mindset from, ‘We’re in basketball playoffs, we need to win,’ to ‘Now we’re in baseball, we’re still looking for a successful season,’ ” Rivas said.

Golden called Marine the “quintessential utility player” thanks to his versatility in the field.

“Whatever’s going to help the team the best,” Marine said.

Golden’s goals for the long-awaited varsity season are realistic.

“To build a cohesive unit and to be competitive,” he said. “That’s always the call for me as a varsity coach: To take the players I have, and to be able to put them in the positions where they’re going to be the most successful; with the goal of helping the team be successful competitively. The high-end goal is we want to make the playoffs, but we have to take care of all the sub-objectives.”

On Monday, rain forced the Porters inside for the second time this preseason.

They made the most of their time in the gym, playing what Golden playfully called “Australian rules baseball,” a take-off of Australian rules football. A tennis ball was used instead of a hard ball, as was a plastic bat in place of a metal one.

If the ball hit the ceiling, it was still in play and catchable for an out. Golden said that if a batted ball hit a basketball backboard, scoreboard or banner, a home run would be awarded. If it went off the wall, a triple would be given.

There were two outs per half inning. Golden served as catcher and umpire, and the freshmen and sophomores defeated the upperclassmen, 5-3, in a seven-inning affair.

Regardless of the outcome, the players had fun, which should help team camaraderie.

“We tend to bust each other’s chops sometimes, but that’s all part of the game,” Wills said. “It’s encouragement to make each other better than we were before.

“I enjoyed every second of it,” he added. “Unfortunately, we didn’t win today but still had a good time.”

The Porters are looking for more of the same this season.