Dayton Baseball Hopes to Rebuild

A quirky trend appears to be happening within the Dayton High School sports programs.

Depending on the season, the boys' and girls' programs seem to parallel each other—for better or worse. During the winter season, the boy's basketball squad went deep into the playoffs, much like their counterparts. And now that the spring season is here, the baseball and softball teams seem to be in transition simultaneously.

While the softball team is under reconstruction, starting over with a new head coach, the baseball team is under the same plight. Last season, the softball team registered only three wins, while the baseball team endured a 2-15 campaign.

But just like their softball peers, the baseball team sees the 2010 season as the first step in a long journey to rebuild a once-proud program. And similar to their equivalents on the diamond, the baseball team begins its journey Thursday at home versus rival New Providence.

New head coach Mike Abbate inherits a Bulldogs team that has the talent to at least compete this season but his mission statement is to build a consistent power—much like what Dayton was in the '90s.

"That's one thing I talk to the kids about," said Abbate, who triples as an assistant coach on the football and boy's basketball teams. "We're building [baseball] back up. With football it was hard to get them to understand tradition. Success wasn't recent, so it was hard at first."

He added: "My approach was that Dayton [baseball] was in the County Final as recently as four years ago, so I told them our baseball tradition isn't 10-12 years ago like in basketball and football. It's pretty recent."

Abbate said his blueprint to regain the glory is to "tap into the Little Leagues and get those coaches on-board. We want to get the whole community involved in this."

He noted he has a nice core group of players, led by a group of at least seven seniors who are dedicated to laying the first brick.

"We have lots of seniors returning and expectations are to improve on the last two seasons, when we didn't win as many games as hoped," Abbate said. "We worked hard in pre-season and continued to work hard to get better."

When asked if he has a win-total in mind, the first-year head coach said building a foundation is his more pressing need.

"We're not putting any expectations on wins-losses," he admitted. "We want to just build a program since this is my first year."

Bulldog boosters shouldn't be dismayed, however, because winning is still a priority for Abbate's crew. But for him, teaching lessons to a young team and trying to make this outfit a community staple is as important.

His goals could be met sooner then he thinks, though, because he does inherit a nice balance of the experienced and inexperienced, as well as a group of multi-sport athletes who've come from winning programs.

"Being at a smaller school it's nice to coach the three sports and be around those guys who are playing all-year 'round," said Abbate. "They know your expectations and know where you're coming from."

He said it's a bonus for Dayton that he also has solely "baseball guys" because he can work with them all throughout the year.

Abbate feels that having a smaller enrollment means that kids are playing various sports, which can help dexterity because they're not honed into one sport.

"You do have to share the athletes [at smaller schools]," said Abbate, whose Bulldogs is a Group 1 team. "It's not like bigger schools where there are specialty athletes and they're only doing one thing."

The Bulldogs have many dual-threats, including seniors Elliot Karp, Alex Popolani, and Sammy Dushkin, who were all on the basketball team. Karp, who's a co-captain on the baseball team, had the same title on the basketball squad. He was also tabbed a "Union County Junior to Watch" last season; a season in which the three-year varsity starter at second base committed only three errors.

Dushkin, a little-used reserve on the basketball team, will be the opening day starter in leftfield.

Popolani, meanwhile, was a co-captain on the basketball team and was named Third Team All-Conference last season. The hard-swinging designated hitter has a slight tear in his shoulder and may miss the start of the season. If surgery is the route to go, he'll most likely miss the entire campaign. Should Popolani miss major time, the regular DH role will land at the feet of senior Jonathan Lewis.

Karp is excited to get this season started, as he feels a major turnaround is in the works.

"I hope to make a state tournament run," he exuded. "We have eight seniors and have a lot of young talent, so the components are there to have a good 12-15 wins – a huge turnaround from last year."

Karp hopes his batting prowess and base-paths speed sets the table for the accomplished sluggers.

Sluggers like Lewis, senior co-captain Marquay Mayo [third base], senior centerfielder DJ DiProfio, sophomore shortstop Tyler Bujnowski, and sophomore rightfielder Matthew Roland will be Looking to bat him in. Dayton will be even more formidable if senior co-captain Jordan Sack quickly recovers from a torn ACL. Sack, last season's starting first baseman who batted fifth in the order, hurt his knee last fall while playing soccer. If he can't fully recover, the duties will fall to freshman Chaz Bohannon.

Carrying the load as the ace will be senior Ross Goldfarb. Starting catcher Tommy Clark [senior] and even Roland will also get some innings on the hill.

Whoever is in the regular lineup, however, Karp fully trusts Abbate's judgement and feels coach knows best.

"Coach Abbate is a great motivator," Karp said. "He gets the most out of us and lets us play our game in a relaxed manner. His intensity and attitude fuels us to get the most out of ourselves and leave everything we have on the field."

Karp is equally impressed with Abbate's X's and O's as he is his passion for the players and game he loves.

"I mean when we see our coach diving and running around in practice, like he does, it just provides that extra incentive to make a great play," Karp continued. "He always says, 'you never have to go 4-for-4 to make it a good day because it only takes one play in baseball to turn around the game.' I am excited to play for him and I think he will make Dayton baseball a household name."

Abbate appreciates the sentiment but knows he won't turn this program around alone.

"We've had some guys in-and-out these last couple of years and different transitions," said Abbate. "One thing asked by the administration was to bring some stability back to the program. I trust that the players, community, and me and my assistants [Dayton alums Jay Mullman and Corey Berger] can turn this around."