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Led by 2 Division-I Aces, Kings Park Looks to Return to Class A County Finals

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

By Anthony DiCocco

After failing to repeat as Suffolk County and Long Island Champions in 2025, head coach Andrew Abreu and the Kings Park Kingsmen are laser-focused on returning to the top. 

Last season, the Kingsmen had a nice year, going 14-8 en route to playing postseason baseball. Nonetheless, Kings Park was unable to keep its crown, as both its Suffolk County and Long Island Championship title defenses came to an end with a 4-3 playoff loss to Center Moriches. 

Despite relinquishing the ultimate prize, Abreu was pleased with how his team performed a season ago.

“We love championships just like everybody does,” Abreu said in an interview with Axcess Baseball. “Unfortunately things didn’t go our way like they did the year prior, but we try to measure success on three things: effort, development and who they are as teammates by the end of the year. We checked those three boxes.”

At last year’s end, the Kingmen’s graduated 10 seniors, including C Vincenzo Buffolino, 2B Anthony LoBasso, RHP Jimmy Stewart (Keuka College) and OFs Chase Renna (Suffolk Community College) and Nick Paliotta. Buffolino started for four years at the variety level while LoBasso, Renna and Paliotta were all brought up as sophomores.

Nevertheless, Abreu has been able to utilize a plethora of underclassmen to help stabilize Kings Park’s squad.

“We’ve turned over a lot over the last two years,” Abreu said. “We had a graduating class of 11 guys from that Long Island Championship team. Lots of new faces, but also consistent faces who’ve been up as younger guys moving forward.”

One thing that will not change this season is the Kingsmen’s emphasis on pitching and being opportunistic at the plate. Kings Park had a negative run differential after scoring just 64 runs all year, but finished six games over .500 after going 9-3 in games decided by two or fewer runs. 

“I thought our ability to win those close games was pretty impressive,” Abreu said. “Our group squeezed the most out of who we were last year. We take pride in situational baseball.”

At the forefront of the Kingsmen’s rotation are a pair of junior RHPs in Everett Zarzicki and Dylan Frers. Zarzicki, who is already committed to play at UConn, posted four wins, a 1.29 earned run average (ERA) and 55 strikeouts across 54 ? innings. When not on the mound, he patrols center field while slashing .265 with a .333 on-base percentage (OBP) at the dish.

Like Zarzicki, Frers is set to continue his career at the collegiate level post-graduation with Rutgers. Frers is essentially a second ace at Abreu’s disposal, as he pitched to five wins and a 0.98 ERA with 51 punch outs over 42 ? frames. Along with possessing an electric fastball that sits in the high 80s and has touched 92 miles per hour, Frers batted .306 with a .358 OBP while manning third base last year.

“[Zarzicki and Frers] are interchangeable; it’s a true 1A and 1B,” Abreu said. “Everett is rock solid. Everyone knows who he is as a player and competitor, but the most impressive thing is that he’s become a leader. With those two guys, we feel really good about our chances in the first two games of any series.”

Though most of the attention is placed on Zarzicki and Frers, senior RHP Connor DeKenipp was successful in his own right last year. DeKenipp was deployed as a swingman of sorts, earning two wins plus a save with a 1.93 ERA over 25 ? innings.

“[DeKennip]’s a gamer and a bulldog,” Abreu said. “He’s had the ball in some big spots, he’s put a lot of work in and we look forward to him competing in bigger spots this year.”

Pitchers Tyler Morgan, Charlie Pace and Aaron Matos (Lesley University) will round out the staff. In a small sample size last spring, Morgan allowed five unearned runs while Pace did not surrender a run. Matos posted a 3.11 ERA.

Buffolino, who Abreu felt was the “best defensive catcher county,” contributed to the pitching staff’s success in recent years, but Abreu believes senior C Nicola Cespe will seamlessly slide into the role. Despite being a natural catcher, Cespe played the outfield and second base last year and batted .326 with a team-high .415 OBP and five doubles. His eight runs batted in (RBI) 2025 are the most among returners.

“[Cespe]’s the definition of a team guy,” Abreu said. “He’s really comfortable back there, he has a great throwing arm and he receives it and blocks well. His IQ is super impressive.”

With Cespe moving behind the plate and Zarzicki a staple in center, Anthony Petrone, Jake Padilla, Chris Schor, Dylan Cappiello Jr. and Ryan Landau will compete for the corner outfield spots.

Landau will primarily spend time at second base. Abreu was impressed with his defense up the middle, saying that the junior has “made some of the most impressive high school plays I’ve seen from an infielder.”

After earning the starting role as a sophomore last year, Kyle Nustad will continue to see the lion’s share of playing time at shortstop. Schor and Frers will both see time at the hot corner, while Pace will be deployed as a utility player in addition to toeing the rubber. 

Senior 1B Joe Rossi is slated to shore up the infield. Last year, Rossi struck out just three times, notched five RBIs and led the Kingsmen with a .372 batting average while his .413 OBP trailed only Cespe.

“[Rossi] puts the ball in play,” Abreu said. “He’s a tremendous first baseman, he’s athletic and he’s very comfortable around the bag.”

Frankie Buffolino and Dom Romano are two names to look out for when it comes to competing for designated hitter reps. Abreu called them both “physical dudes” that he would “love to find a way to get at-bats from.”

In a battle of the last two Class A Suffolk County and Long Island Championship winners, Kings Park is scheduled to open the season with a tough road bout against the reigning champion Sayville Golden Flashes on Friday, March 27.