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Hills East Looks To Reach Playoffs In 2024

by Mike Merolle

(Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s season preview series.)

Hills East plans for a better year in 2024 after finishing 6-12 last season and missing out on the playoffs. The Thunderbirds finished 10-10 in the season prior. Head coach Tim Belz intends to turn things around in his 16th year managing Hills East. 

“Our league is very good. Every week is going to be a tough matchup for us. We’re going to have to come out and play our best baseball,” said Belz in an interview with Axcess Baseball. 

Belz has been dealt tough cards. Hills East’s varsity squad has the “lightest number” of varsity players this year than he’s ever had. This makes team depth one of Belz’s concerns coming into the season. He plans to rely on his team leaders. 

RHP/OF Ari Gluck (2024) is one of those names that will majorly impact the Thunderbirds. The Adelphi University-commit was an All-County player in his sophomore and junior seasons. He will be the ace of the starting rotation this season. Belz believes he’s one of the top pitchers in Suffolk County. OF/IF Connor Bunce (2024) is also expected to provide senior leadership. The St. Joseph’s University LI commit was an All-League player and is a four-year varsity player along with Gluck. C Luca Villa (2024) is a SUNY Old Westbury-commit and a three-year varsity player whom Belz will look to this season. OF Tyler Varlack (2024), an All-League player, will also provide much-needed senior leadership. 

“They’re like the next waves. We’re hopeful [for them], this is their senior year. We didn’t have much senior leadership last year, and in the year before, we were one game out from making the playoffs,” said Belz about his 2024 seniors. 

When asked about the reasoning behind recent season outcomes, Belz stated, “We’ve been hit with the injury bug at the wrong times, usually in the last couple of years. We’ve had some injuries [before the start of the season] in the past two years that did not make our team complete. The biggest thing this year is to make sure we stay healthy before the season starts and then finish it all the way to the end.”

A rising junior on Belz’s squad is LHP/OF Matt Lerose (2025). Lerose is a reliable No. 2 pitcher and is being looked at by numerous Division-I college baseball programs. Belz is confident in his “1-2” pitching punch with Gluck and Lerose. The third-year varsity pitcher did not pitch last season due to injury but is healthy to throw this season. Some sophomore names to watch for are 1B Gianluca D’Amico (2026), 3B/1B Dean Perlman (2026), and SS Nathan Greene (2026). All three are expected to start. 

Belz mentioned his hopes for the program to return to the success they had in 2015-2018. A part of those Hills East rosters was OF Matt Hogan (2018) who recently signed a minor league deal with the Chicago White Sox in January. Hogan played for Oral Roberts University last season in the Division-I College World Series where he hit an inside-the-park home run. In the 2023 season, Hogan hit for .320/1.122 OPS with 19 home runs and 72 RBIs. 

Belz is taking the 2024 schedule this season series-by-series. “There’s nobody that we’re looking over, there’s nobody that we’re looking under,” he said. Hills East opens their league schedule at home against North Babylon on March 26.