05.12.2025 Sports

Porters baseball success is in their growth, not their score

A baseball player in a purple jersey and gray pants hits the baseball. — One of Greenport’s star players, Juan Vivas takes a cut. (Credit: Bill Landon)

While they might not be Suffolk County all-stars — at least not yet — Juan Vivas and Marcus Kruszeski are the future of the Greenport High School baseball program.

Vivas, a sophomore, is considered the Porters’ best player, and Markus Kruszeski, a freshman third baseman, has demonstrated some baseball savvy on a team that has won the Porters (1–11, 1–11) their only win so far this season.

It has been a difficult season for the team, who returned to play at the varsity level after taking a year’s hiatus. Last year, Greenport only fielded a JV team.

A baseball player in a purple jersey and grey pants slides into second base as the fielding player catches the ball. The sliding player is safe.

An outfield baseball player in a purple jersey and gray pants makes a catch with his arm fully extended.

A third basemen in a purple jersey and gray pants catches the baseball while a player in all white slides into third.

a baseball player in purple jersey and grey pants throws the baseball

A baseball pitcher in a purple jersey and gray pants pitches the ball.

A runner slides toward the base between two fielders looking to tag him out.

a baseball player in a purple jersey and grey pants hits the baseball

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Greenport’s Tanner Wills slides safely into second. (Credit: Bill Landon) Greenport’s Jacob Warner makes the catch in left field. (Credit: Bill Landon) Greenport’s Jacob Warner makes the play in left field. (Credit: Bill Landon) Greenport’s Markus Krucheski with the play at third base. (Credit Bill Landon) Greenport shortstop Cayden Wills throws the runner out at first. (Credit: Bill Landon) One of Greenport’s star baseball players, Juan Vivas, delivers. (Credit Bill Landon) Greenport shortstop Cayden Wills looks to tag the runner out. (Credit Bill Landon) Cayden Wills lays off a pitch for the Porters. (Credit: Bill Landon) Greenport’s Jesus Rios rips a grounder for the Porters. (Credit: Bill Landon) Greenport’s Markus Krucheski bunts the ball for the Porters. (Credit: Bill Landon)

Despite a difficult Suffolk County League VIII season, the players have made the most out of the season.

“I’ve had a fun time because, not because of how games turned out, but of how the team responded to it, and how the team’s attitude was throughout the games,” said Vivas after a 14–0 loss at Smithtown Christian (8–1, 8–1) on Wednesday, May 7. “We were just having a good time yelling, supporting each other.”

Center fielder Kal-El Marine, one of three seniors on the team (catcher Daniel Rivas and shortstop Cayden Wills are the others), has liked what he has seen from the two underclassmen.

“He’s great. Juan’s our best hitter and pitcher,” he said. “He’s a sophomore, so they’re going to have him for a little more.”

Marine added that he has seen improvement in Kruszeski. “You always get hyped every time he goes up, no matter what,” he said.

“I feel our team as a whole is just going to get better. As long as they can develop and get better, maybe next year you win two games, maybe three. You never know, but as long as we get better, it’s good.”

Moving up to the varsity baseball, Vivas realized he needed to raise his game.

“Going from a JV team to a varsity team, it was a big jump,” he said through his translator, Rivas. “The competition was better. The players were better. Everything was better, the game, the structure. It forced me to play at a higher level.”

Vivas holds the distinction of being the winning pitcher of the Porters’ lone triumph, a 5–4 victory over Southold on April 10. He also had the game-winning hit.

“I was locked in from the get-go, just throwing strikes,” he said. “It just meant so much to me, because it was our only [win] of season.”

Vivas hurled a decent game against Smithtown. The right-hander threw five innings, striking out seven, walking two and allowing five hits. He was betrayed by his defense, which committed three errors. Smithtown scored seven runs in the sixth.

“I tried to pitch my best today,” Vivas said. “I was throwing as hard as I could. I was trying to throw as many strikes as possible. But the other team, they had good batters. When you have good batters, you get hits. We made some errors. So, one thing led to another.”

Kruszeski broke up Vaughn Beresford’s no-hit bid with a perfectly placed bunt down the third base line in the fourth.

He said “[assistant baseball coach Chris] Ryder told me to do it. I was kind of scared, because in practice, I bunted, and it hit me in the face. But I trusted the process, and I did it.”

With the bases loaded and in the sixth, Kruszeski made a nice stab of a ball hit by Luke Ruggiero and stepped on third base for the out.

Head coach Chris Golden noted the players’ improvement, but that the team needed more consistency.

“Memorable moments are when the kids make some really good plays, like Markus is putting down that great bunt, making that play at third — Kal shagging fly balls out there,” he said. “We’ve had those moments. But they haven’t been consistent enough. At the JV level, you can get away with giving teams some outs. But at the varsity level, against a team of this caliber — Amityville and Hampton Bays — they’re going to make you pay.”

Golden wants to win, but sometimes it’s more than that.

“You want to make the playoffs. It’s always the goal,” he said. “You want to see players grow and develop, especially the younger players who are going to come back. It’s about making sure that the program is moving forward in terms of the younger players staying for their remaining years and then drawing other kids. The wins and the losses are neither here nor there. It was always about growing and building the program.”