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Hauppauge Riding High Off Magical 2024 Season

Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s series

There’s no other way to put it – 2024 was special for Hauppauge baseball.

“It was a magical season,” said head coach Josh Gutes who has been at the helm since 2014. It was their first Long Island Championship in program history and their first Suffolk County Championship since Josh was a player on the 2000 team.

“I’ve never been part of a team, as a player or coach, where we just knew before the game that we were going to win. They had a ton of confidence, guys really trusted each other and different guys contributed.”

That is not just clichè, but evident in the Long Island Championship when their 8-hole hitter, Alex Ofgang, hit a sac fly to drive in a crucial run and their 9-hole hitter, Vincent Crafa, hit an RBI single despite only having 4 at bats on the season. Crafa, who was their No. 2 pitcher all season, was put into the lineup as the DH as Coach Gutes was hoping for a spark and the senior responded in a big way.

Hauppauge had already defeated Comsewogue in a hard fought County Finals before defeating a loaded Division team in the Long Island Championship at Farmingdale State College.

They advanced to the New York State tournament, where they won an extra inning thriller on a walk-off hit by Kyle Magill. Ultimately, they lost in the NYS Finals to Bethlehem Central by the score of 11-5.

That didn’t put a damper on the year, as they had their best season in program history (22-5) and memories to last a lifetime with their incredible amount of resilient victories.

“It was the quintessential team effort,” said Gutes who was named Axcess Baseball’s High School Coach of the Year.

They had 3 All-County players; Michael Oliveto, Matt Neglia and John Margolies. The latter two have since graduated and are both redshirting at St. Thomas Aquinas.

“They were both 4-year starters for us and were our left side of the infield.”

Neglia was named League MVP in addition to All-County. He went 8-2 on the mound with a 2.53 ERA over 60.2 IP with 67 strikeouts and 1.03 WHIP. At the plate, he batted .436 with 41 hits and even learned how to play 1B in order to help the team.

Margolies had 26 hits, scored 26 runs and led the team in appearances with 14. He went 4-2 with 4 saves. Three of those wins and one save came in the playoffs, meaning he directly impacted 4 of their playoff wins. In the County Championship, he came in during a messy spot in the third inning and provided 2.1 innings. Coach Gutes noted that “wasn’t the plan,” but they needed him to put out the fire, which he did.

“The biggest loss might just be not having John for his 14 appearances, coming in from third base, with no warm up pitches, using his 8 to get loose and throwing a 1-2-3 inning.” That provided them a level of comfort knowing he could escape any jam and get his team back in the dugout.

Oliveto is a player that burst onto the scene last year with one of the most impactful seasons in recent memory. It wasn’t just the stats, which were gaudy, but his level of clutch when the team needed him most. Oliveto was tied for the Suffolk County lead with 8 HRs, but two of those were of the walk-off variety – a grand slam against East Islip early in the season when the teams were vying for 1st place and against Comsewogue in the bottom of the eighth to turn a 4-3 deficit into a 5-4 win and sending them to the County Championship. Overall, he had a ridiculous 1.328 OPS with 6 doubles, 3 triples, 32 RBIs, 23 runs scored and was successful on all 8 of his stolen base attempts.

The 6’3 catcher is committed to Yale and due to his standout performances over the past calendar year, has garnered some interest from pro teams. Gutes noted that there wasn’t even any pro interest for their 2015 Carl Yastrzemski Award winner, Nick Fanti, until after his back-to-back no-hitters during the season. It’s now the 10-year anniversary of that season and Nick is on staff, while Michael is the early favorite to win the award.

“He’a the total package,” said Gutes. “He’s a true leader, he’s the best teammate, he truly cares about everyone’s success. He can go 0-for-4, but if we win, he’s okay with it. He’s just a star of a human being and a star of a baseball play. He is a professional baseball player on a high school field.”

With a player like Oliveto in the lineup, it’s fair to wonder whether he will get any pitches to hit.

“We’ve discussed that with him. We spoke about hitting leadoff or hitting second, depending on if teams aren’t pitching to him. If he hits leadoff and they want to walk him, then the rest of the lineup is coming up with a man on base.”

Protecting him in the lineup will likely be junior Roman Dixon. While he is a bit of an unknown to the rest of the league, Gutes noted he earned the DH spot entering the season a a sophomore, but during their second series of the year he popped his shoulder sliding back to the base and was out for the season.

“He’s a big, strong, physical switch hitter. He earned the DH spot because he puts the ball in the gap and he can hit to the opposite field.” Dixon will likely be hitting cleanup in the order this season.

Another crucial player is SS Tucker Brown. He was called up to varsity as a freshman in 2023 and hit a walk-off single in their playoff win against Half Hollow Hills West. He also started against Hunter Colagrande in their playoff game. Last season, he batted leadoff and played short every game and he was 3-0 on the mound.

“Defensively, he is incredible. There’s no play he can’t make. He can make plays on the backhand in the hole, going up the middle, the slow roller. He’s as smooth as they come,” said Gutes, who added that he’s been garnering some Division-I interest.

The aforementioned Kyle Magill will be their Game 1 starter. Gutes stated that he was brought up as a freshman initially to pitch because of his electric stuff, but that he earned the RF job by performing so well during preseason. He added that, “he put together some of the best at bats of anyone on the team. He fouled off 5-straight two strike pitches in the county finals against Carson McCaffrey.” He will be a critical piece for them this year.

Patrolling CF is senior Cole Wood, who suffered a terrible injury during the football season, but Gutes added that “his recovery from surgery has been remarkable and we are hoping to have him back during the season. He made the play of the year in the state championship to keep the game close. He went full extension in the gap with runners on.” He was named All-League last season.

Ian Rivera will be a critical piece for the pitching staff.

“He might have the best stuff on anyone on the mound. He could be a starter or our high-leverage reliever. If he doesn’t pitch in relief in Game 1, he will probably start Game 2 but either way he needs to be on the mound.”

Matthew Oliveto was called up to varsity to play first base and made a “Willie Mays style catch in the LIC. Defensively, he is huge and he’s our only lefty pitcher.”

Last but not least, Brendan DeMonda “will be another guy right in the mix to get innings.”

Hauppauge will begin their title defense on March 31 at East Hampton, a team that should be extremely underrated this season.