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08/09/2022 08:29 AMJason Vitale’s first season head coach of the Madison Senior American Legion 19-U baseball program saw the team earn a regular-season record of 11-7 before winning a game in the State Tournament. Coach Vitale said that Post 79 used strong pitching, timely hitting, and a mutual trust of one another in order to find its way to success this summer.
Madison competed in the Zone 2 during the 2022 campaign. Madison held a record of 3-3 through June, but finished the regular season strong by winning six of its last eight games. Coach Vitale was pleased to see his squad play some great baseball down the home stretch, giving Post 79 some momentum as it entered the State Tournament.
“We started off a little slow during the regular season, but towards the end of the year, we started to pick it up and strung a couple wins together,” Vitale said. “We entered the playoffs on a good streak. You always want to enter the playoffs on a high note.”
Madison opened the double-elimination State Tournament by taking a 10-5 loss against Westport. In its next game, Post 79 came back to grab a 7-3 victory versus Glastonbury. Madison went on to face Westport again and lost the contest by a 4-3 score in 10 innings to finish the year with an overall record of 13-8.
Despite the loss, Coach Vitale said that the second Westport game was one of the best he saw all season. Vitale felt that Madison showed how strong of a team it had this year with its performance in that contest.
“The first game was a little rocky. Nerves set in for all of us. We made some mistakes, but we were able to fix them in the second game,” said Vitale. “The third game went 10 innings. It was the craziest game that I have been a part of. Ultimately, we didn’t come out with the right result, but it was fun being in that environment. It was good to get some experience so some people notice us.”
Heading into the season, one of Coach Vitale’s biggest goals was to let this year’s seniors play more baseball and pick up some wins while doing so. The seniors who had played at Daniel Hand over the spring included David Antonetti, Will Bazenas, Jack Kayal, Ryan Knight, Will Kranzler, Ben Lyons, and Axl Pildner. Post 79’s roster also featured Chris Wanat, who plays for Boston College; and Eli Davies, a 2021 graduate of Hand.
While this was his first season as head coach, Vitale had previously worked with several of Madison’s athletes as an assistant coach during the past few years. Vitale wanted Davies and Wanat to take on a big leadership role on the team, while all the seniors wanted to put together a strong season in what could have potentially been their final year playing baseball.
“I’ve been with most of the seniors since they were 13. They knew how I run things,” Vitale said. “Our leadership from Chris Wanat and Eli Davies was a big help. They made sure everyone was on the same page. They knew it could be their last year playing ball, and they wanted to have fun.”
Coach Vitale said that Madison’s pitching staff proved one of the biggest strengths of the team this season. Wanat served as Post 79’s ace by pitching to a 3-0 record with a 0.49 ERA and 31 strikeouts. Vitale knew that Wanat was going to be the club’s No. 1 pitcher and was happy to see how he took his role in stride and ran with it.
Antonetti was Madison’s No. 2 starter and succeeded in that role all season. Owen Scarice, who was a sophomore at Hand this year, held down the No. 3 role in Post 79’s rotation and improved with every start. Knight was Madison’s top relief pitcher and did a good job of piecing games together out of the bullpen.
In terms of offense, Coach Vitale said that everyone in Madison’s lineup put the ball in play and made things happen while working the opposing pitcher. Lyons served as the team’s leadoff hitter and typically found a way to get on base, finishing the year with a .396 batting average. Davies was also one of Post 79’s top hitters and recorded a .320 batting average out of the No. 3 spot in the order. Kaleb Cohen, who attends Hamden Hall, batted .441 and was one of Madison’s best run producers while hitting out of the cleanup spot.
As he took the reins as Madison’s skipper, Vitale learned a lot from Rob Corraro, who is Post 79’s program’s general manager; and Jeff Buck, the previous head coach; about what it takes to lead the program. After coaching several of the players since they were young, Vitale saw how they had come to respect him as a coach. In turn, Vitale had immense respect from his players and felt proud about how far they have come throughout their tenures with the Madison Legion baseball team.
“I’ve known these kids since they were young. I respect them so much,” said Vitale. “They respect me back, and they knew how I wanted things to go this year.”
The roster for the 2022 Madison Senior Legion baseball team included David Antonetti, Nicholas Antonetti, Will Bazenas, Kaleb Cohen, Eli Davies, Nicholas Earl, Jack Kayal, Ryan Knight, Will Kranzler, Ben Kuja, Ben Lyons, Preston Markham, William Patla, Axl Pildner, Owen Scarice, and Chris Wanat.