Riverhead
Riverhead Looks to Build On First Playoff Appearance in a Decade
Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s series by Max Edelman In his three seasons as head coach of the Riverhead Blue Wave, Kevin Kerman’s team has undergone a full transformation. In his first year in charge, Kerman’s squad managed only one victory in 20 games, fast forward just two years, the Blue Wave finished 14-10, the first time Riverhead finished over .500 under Kerman. “Last year was a huge step in the right direction for our program.” Kerman said. When I took this team over 4 years ago, we were in rebuild mode. We were a young group that needed to get bigger, stronger, and gain more experience. We went from 1-19 in year one to 4-16 in year two, to 14-10 with two playoff victories in year three. It was a massive improvement from our p...
Up Next Powered by Ken Kortright State Farm: Jason Davis
by Trevor Dugan (Editor’s Note: This is the eleventh installment of the Up Next series in which we highlight the top underclassmen on Long Island. Previously, we featured Jack Mulligan, Alex Pagano, Quincy Gibbs, Michael Cotto, Charlie Edwards, Evan Picciano, Nick Lawrence, Robbie Mascia, Jacob Abran and Tyler Camastro. Special thanks to Ken Kortright State Farm for sponsoring this year’s series.) Middle infielder Jason Davis (Riverhead 2028) is a hard hitting lefty with the @ec_lumberjacks. He was called up to varsity as an eighth grader in 2024. His brother Braden played for the University of Maine, and is currently rehabbing from Tommy John surgery pic.twitter.com/9LEXOBQKRa — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) March 9, 2025 It was a renaissance season for Riverhead in 202...
GAME RECAP: Sachem East Cruises to 13th Straight Win, Sets Up Sachem East-North Playoff Match Up
Bottom 3: AJ Vurchio rips a 2-out, 2-run double to extend Sachem East’s lead to 5-0 pic.twitter.com/AxM1n0Isjf — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 20, 2025 Whatever was said during that team meeting worked. Back in mid April, Sachem East lost to Connetquot, 10-9, to finish off a sweep and fall to 1-5 on the season. Since that point, they’ve been flawless. They went on to sweep Bay Shore, Ward Melville, Commack and Lindenhurst to end the regular season. Playing as the No. 5 seed against No. 12 Riverhead, they continued their incredible play with an 11-4 win to move onto the winner’s bracket. “We started the season against two very talented teams in the first week vs Sachem North and off our bye vs Connetquot,” said head coach Kevin Schnupp. “The players ...
Young & Talented Core Should Bring Success to Riverhead
Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s series by Joe Bello The Riverhead Blue Waves are looking to improve from last season as we quickly approach the 2025 season. Kevin Kerman is entering his 3rd year at the helm of the Riverhead baseball program, and is excited for what this season has to offer for the Blue Waves. The Blue Waves finished with a record of 4-16 last year in a tough League 1. “Obviously not the result we wanted but we are still very much in a retool mode.” Kerman said. “We saw improvement from the year prior and got varsity experience for a lot of our younger guys. At some points of last year we had an 8th grader and 3 freshmen in the lineup. We are looking for those guys to take a nice step forward this year.” A key piece of the t...
Riverhead Expects Major Improvement In 2024
by Mike Merolle Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s season preview series. Riverhead 2, Longwood 1 Mark Gajowski threw a complete game 2 hitter. He brought a no hitter into the 7th inning. 0 earned runs, 6 K’s, 2 walks. Senior Luke Pilon went 2-3 at the plate with a key RBI. pic.twitter.com/ek1ThaNPXc — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 27, 2023 The 2023 season did not go as planned for Riverhead. The team finished with a record of 1-19. It was head coach Kevin Kerman’s first season taking over the role but he sees the positives in a season of negatives. “In an extremely competitive league, we had a disappointing season last year. We are going to use that season as motivation to push this group forward to improve. We have to work extr...
Up Next Powered by State Farm Ken Kortright Agency: Matt Zambriski
It is no secret that players on Long Island have long been overlooked. More specifically, players from the east end have been overlooked as they have to not only deal with the cold weather, but the issue that some college coaches and pro scouts don’t often make the trek out east. Some players have broken through recently, specifically Kyle McGowin of Pierson and Chris Pike of Southampton, but the challenge remains. Travel organizations like the East Coast Lumberjacks are helping to eliminate that challenge as they travel around and play in the most competitive tournaments in the country during the summer. Riverhead RHP/INF Matt Zambrinski is one of those players that is hoping to break through. The big righty was called up to varsity as an 8th grader. His coach, Kevin Kerman, had the...
Where Are They Now Powered by the BK7 Brand: Matt Crohan
During the summer of 2012, Matt Crohan had a routine that was unique for a 16-year-old. As one of the top prep left-handed pitchers in the country, everyone wanted to see him play against the best competition and that happened to be in the south. “I used to fly to Florida on Fridays and wait to hear where I was pitching the next day,” said Crohan. “I would pitch a couple innings, then I would hang out for the next couple days until it was time to go home,” he added. That was during a time in his life in which his name became increasingly more synonymous with the best amateurs in the nation. On one particular weekend, he recalled flying to Fort Myers, FL to pitch in a Perfect Game tournament in which he threw four shutout innings with nine strikeouts, allowing just one hit and one walk. His...
Riverhead Looks to Take the Next Step with First Year Head Coach
by Andy Smith The Riverhead Blue Waves finished the 2022 season with an 8-10 record and missed the playoffs by just one game. Entering his first season as the head skipper, Kevin Kerman looks to carry on the legacy of Rob Maccone. Kerman explained, “I’d like to start by thanking Rob Maccone for his almost 20 years of being at the helm of Riverhead Baseball.” Kerman first began his coaching career as a varsity assistant with Floyd. Maccone then brought Kerman into the middle school catching staff in March of 2020, when Kerman was hired as a physical education teacher at Riverhead. The new head coach may be familiar to fans of Dowling College. The infielder was a member of the team from 2009-2013 under Tom Caputo. During this time, Dowling captured two Conference Championships and two Ea...
Suffolk County Leagues Not Yet Finalized
I was very surprised to hear that the Suffolk County leagues are not yet official, despite the chart being posted on Section XI’s website. Nassau County’s is posted and we are only a couple months away from the season at this point. So what’s the hold up? I was told that Riverhead’s status is the hold up. If you remember earlier in the school year, they were intending to eliminate sports for the 2020-21 year in order to save the district $960,000. They reversed course and reinstated sports. The issue was that Section XI had progressed to move on without them for this year and made the 2021 leagues. Now that they’re back, a decision will need to be made in regards to where to place them. Their enrollment would typically fall in either League 2 or 3. Once a deci...
Where Are They Now: Matt Crohan
During the summer of 2012, Matt Crohan had a routine that was unique for a 16-year-old. As one of the top prep left-handed pitchers in the country, everyone wanted to see him play against the best competition and that happened to be in the south. “I used to fly to Florida on Fridays and wait to hear where I was pitching the next day,” said Crohan. “I would pitch a couple innings, then I would hang out for the next couple days until it was time to go home,” he added. That was during a time in his life in which his name became increasingly more synonymous with the best amateurs in the nation. On one particular weekend, he recalled flying to Fort Myers, FL to pitch in a Perfect Game tournament in which he threw four shutout innings with nine strikeouts, allowing just o...
