The Tomcats are ready to prowl.
Most members of the Riverhead Tomcats baseball team arrived in town yesterday for a preseason orientation session at the Hilton Garden Inn.
The Tomcats play their season opener Friday night against the North Fork Ospreys at Cochran Park in Southold. Their home opener, at Riverhead High School, is scheduled for Sunday, June 6 against the Southampton Breakers.
Riverhead’s team will be managed this year by Randy Caden, longtime head baseball coach at St. Joseph’s College in Patchogue.
Like other teams in the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League, its players are drawn from colleges across the country. The Tomcats have two Riverhead locals on the roster this season, infielder Kevin Curtis, of Riverhead, who will be a senior at Farmingdale State this fall, and southpaw pitcher Jimmy Powers, of Jamesport, entering his sophomore year at Temple University. (See the full Tomcats 25-man team roster here.)
The league, in existence since 1967 and sanctioned by both Major League Baseball and the NCAA, consists of 13 teams playing in three divisions. Its player pool is drawn from college students who have completed their freshmen, sophomore or junior years.
The Hamptons Division is the brainchild of its president, Rusty Leaver, owner of Deep Hollow Ranch in Montauk. The division made its debut in 2009. It fields five teams, the Riverhead Tomcats, the North Fork Ospreys, the Westhampton Aviators, the Southampton Breakers and the Sag Harbor Whalers. The teams play a 40-game schedule between Between June 1 and July 31, followed by interdivisional postseason playoff games.
Major League pitching ace Tommy John has signed on as senior vice president of development for Hamptons Collegiate Baseball this year.
“John will assist in raising the Hamptons’ national profile and working toward the objective of becoming one of the premier summer college baseball organizations in the country,” according to a statement issued by Hamptons Collegiate Baseball.
Bob Furlong, who along with Anthony Sammartano, serves as general manager of the Tomcats, says he’s excited about the 2010 season. “We had a pretty high level of quality in the division in its first season last year,” he said. There was a lot of interest in the division among college players, who are looked at by league coaches and signed to a division over the winter.
“The community response in 2009 was very good,” Furlong said. “The brand is growing. It’s a great community enterprise.” he said, noting that in addition to free admission to games, the teams run Little League camps and get area youth groups and scouting organizations involved. Local families host the team players and local businesses get involved as sponsors, he said. Players are not paid to play. Their compensation is opportunity to play in a competitive summer league and the chance to showcase their talent for the Major League scouts who attend games to look at players, Furlong said.
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