Northeast Displays Confidence For Upcoming Season

Northeast lost its best player overall from last year among some other seniors who graduated, but talk to the players and coaches here and you’ll find an air of confidence about the upcoming season.

The Hurricanes, who went 9-13 last year, saw the departure of Corey Korenic, their ace and top hitter. Korenic won just two of his seven starts, but he struck out 58 in 40 innings and posted a .398 average, scoring a team-leading 17 times and driving in 21, second-most on the team.

“That’s a guy you can’t really replace when you’ve got an ace arm like that,” Hurricanes manager Kevin Carney said. “What we have this year are three guys who we feel will be able to step up, and them combined we’ll make up for Corey hopefully.”

The team’s number three from last year, Eduardo Uriarte, leads the returning pitchers. He struck out 24 in 30 innings while going 2-1 with a 3.27 ERA. He also was the team’s second-best hitter with a .358 average.

“We really expect a lot out of him this year both from a defensive standpoint at short stop and offensively in the first three holes, and he’s going to be able to contribute on the mound,” Carney said.

Uriarte is hoping to become the team’s top pitcher.

“I’m a senior this year, so I’d like to think I’m the ace,” he said. “I just need to help out the team more. I need to keep my composure on the mound because I get mad a lot.”

The team’s other main returning pitcher is Ralph Morel, who started at second base last year and will play that position or short stop this year when not pitching. He threw 21 innings last year.

The pitching staff got an unexpected boost when Abrailis Jimonez transferred in from Boynton Beach.

“He’s a good-sized kid, good arm, live arm,” Carney said. “We’re hoping he can help us on the hill and play a little bit of third base. He’s a nice surprise. We didn’t expect him.”

The team lost Daniel Swanson behind the mound but Carney says good things about Mike Grosfield, a first-year starter behind the plate whom Carney called “an extremely hard worker.”

“We feel he’s improving every game, and he’s going to get the bulk of the work on the varsity,” Carney said. “He’ll be able to get that experience he needs for the spring.”

There are other players who Carney believes will be crucial to the team’s success this year. One of those is Carlos Perez, a junior right fielder who will also play some infield and pitch.

“He can swing the bat a little bit and is going to be another key guy,” Carney said.

DJ Kelly, a two-year starter in center field, is “another guy we’re going to count on offensively as well as defensively. And as far as leadership goes, he’s going to be a big key for that.”

Vince Duarte, a three-year starter, is a third baseman who was moved to first last year.

“It was kind of a transition year for him,” Carney said. “At first, he kind of resisted, but then once he saw how fun it was to play first base and how much action you get there, he kind of fell in love with it and he’s still working on his game. He’s the kind of guy we feel is going to swing the bat pretty well from the left side and produce some RBIs for us.”

Carney said a team strength is speed, and that will be key to the Hurricanes being successful with small ball, its approach this year.

“We’re not a big power team, but we’re trying to teach putting the ball in play and bunting,” Carney said. “I think that’s big now at the high school level, situational hitting. That’s the kind of what we’re working on.”

Doing those things successfully is the main priority, especially in the fall when the object is getting prepared to earn wins in the spring.

“I always approach the fall with developing for the spring,” Carney said. “That’s the biggest thing. It’s always nice to win a game, but as far getting guys in certain situations and seeing how they do, it’s almost like this is our spring training. We use it to get the team ready. We try to keep our guys together in the summer as much as we can, but we get a lot of new guys coming in and out. So we try to use this time to build our team so that this way we’re not waiting for the spring to build the team. That’s been the hardest part here, the adjustment, getting these guys to believe and play together as a unit. We’re still working on that. Hopefully it’s going to be there by spring time. That’s what we’re really focused on right now.”

Some of the players believe that team chemistry is there and that friendships and bonds have been formed. One such player is Kelly, who said he plans on giving guidance to his teammates.

“I just want to keep our team intact,” Kelly said. “I feel we’re playing more as a team this year. Last year, a lot of kids wouldn’t listen. No one really took leadership last year, so I really want to step up and be a leader.”

The lack of direction translated into a lack of fun, Kelly said, something that brought the team down last year.

“If you’re not having fun, you’re not going to have the energy to get up to get up to the plate and say I say I’m going to do good,” Kelly said. “We have to stay focused, stay happy. We can’t always stay down. It builds confidence if we stay happy to go up to the plate and make a play.”

Staying confident will be a benefit to the team as it tries to go for a district title, something that’s attainable outside of a district that contained perennial powerhouse teams Nova and St. Thomas. Last year, Northeast moved into a district with Monarch, Coconut Creek and Boyd Anderson. Monarch is the main obstacle to the district title, and last year, the Hurricanes lost to the Knights three times, the third meeting being the district championship.

“We have an opportunity to compete for a district championship in this district,” Carney said. “We felt we played [Monarch] tough last year. They were just a little better than us in certain areas. They had a little bit more experience overall. We’ve created a pretty good rivalry based on what happened last year. And we’d like to come out and put our best effort forth and play a good game against them.”

Uriarte likes his team’s chances against Monarch and the other district foes this season.

“This year, I think we’re going to come out on top,” he said. “We’re definitely a better team this year.”

Kelly agrees.

“I definitely think we can beat them,” he said. “They lost a few of their best players. We’re playing as a team and understanding how to play as a team, so I think we have what it takes to beat them.”

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