Joe Tardif returns to his home field as Mattituck baseball coach

Joe Tardif, one of the best athletes that Mattituck High School has produced and a member of its 2015 state championship baseball team, will have an opportunity to lead the Tuckers this spring.

Tardif will take over the head coaching reins from Dan O’Sullivan, who will stay on as his assistant.

“I had such a great experience going through the program here,” Tardif said. “It’s an absolute honor to be a head coach where I had so much fun growing up.”

Tardif said that O’Sullivan will be an invaluable asset in his first season as head coach.

“Dan’s great,” Tardif said. “He has about six years of experience at the helm. He knows the dynamics of the league, knows what we need to do in order to be successful. It’s great to have Dan as my right-hand man.”

Added O’Sullivan: “I think that the program is in very good hands with Joe at the helm. As a former collegiate baseball player, 2015 State Champion and 2015 Class B State Player of the Year, he brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise. 

“I am confident that our styles and beliefs will work really well together,” he continued. “We have coached together at the varsity level in soccer and work very closely together every day.”

Tardif will rely on three seniors: pitcher-first baseman Tyler Brown, middle infielder Michael Buckley and third baseman Trey Hansen, who can play the outfield and pitch.

“I’ve been talking with them at length,” Tardif said. “I also coached all three of them at the JV level. We have pretty good familiarity with each other. We’ve got good chemistry. Those are three key guys we’re going to lean on as leaders and have patience with a young team, and hopefully emulate the things that I’m trying to instill in the program.”

Tardif, who is also an assistant coach with the boys basketball team and the Mattituck/Southold/Greenport girls soccer team, will do a lot of teaching this season.

“We’re a young team,” he said. “We are coming off a season where we were 2-18. We’re in a really tough League.”

That is Suffolk County League VI, which includes Class A schools Bayport-Blue Point, John Glenn and Shoreham-Wading River. The Tuckers’ Class B rivals are Center Moriches and Babylon.

“Center Moriches brings back a boatload of players, along with Babylon,” Tardif said. “Our goal this year is to learn the game, learn the fundamentals, keep games close, and learn how to be competitive as a young group, and learn how to battle adversity. And, hopefully, start to get over that hump and start to have some success in winning games.”

The Tuckers have been practicing since January, whenever the gym was available this past winter.

They went outside for their first practice on Monday. With the grounds being muddy due to several recent snowstorms, the session was limited to fly balls, long throws and ground balls.

Mattituck is scheduled to open its season in an away three-game series with Shoreham-Wading River on Friday, March 27, at 4:30 p.m.

Tardif, along with Dan Fedun, had the rare distinction of performing for two state championship squads in the same school year. They were members of the soccer team that captured the Class B state title in November 2014. Fedun is an assistant coach on the Southold boys basketball team.

“During that time, we had a boatload of athletes in the school and both programs,” Tardif said. “All we really knew was winning, growing up and playing in our youth sports. That was the standard, and that was the expectation. When we had that success, it really wasn’t too surprising for us, because that’s what we expected.

“That’s that goal, and that’s the standard I want to try to get back to and start to emulate with this program moving forward,” he continued. “I was lucky enough to be a part of two amazing programs that were incredibly successful. We had great coaches who led us. I can only hope to share those same experiences moving forward for myself as a coach and for our program.”

Tardif earned several personal honors. He was named the Mattituck boys’ athlete of the year by The Suffolk Times in 2015 and 2016 as a three-sport standout, and was state Class B Baseball Player of the Year. He was also a key member of the basketball team. Tardif batted .437 as a senior, batted in 21 runs and stole 30 bases. He also was 6-0 on the mound, striking out 58 in 45 innings, with an earned-run average of 1.56. Tardif went on to star at SUNY-Cortland.

Opening day can’t come soon enough.

Tardif said that he was “just super excited and ready to go.”