Riverhead’s Baran continues golf winning streak

After graduating eight seniors from last year’s team that went undefeated in league play and made it all the way to the Suffolk County Final Four, Riverhead’s boys golf team had a major question to answer this year.

“I asked everyone before this season started,” head coach Steve Failla said. “Are we going to rebuild or are we simply going to reload and showcase the program we’ve been building here for years? To their credit, they answered the call.”

Only one player returned from last year’s starting six, Colby Baran, who just happened to be one of the best golfers in Suffolk County as a sophomore last year. The rest of the lineup is brand new, choosing golfers from the JV team last year, who also went undefeated. With Monday’s 8-0 victory over Greenport/Southold, Riverhead is now 9-0 on the season and haven’t lost a league match since 2021. 

Baran led the way, as he has all season, with a personal record 33, which was three shots under par at Cherry Links in Riverhead on Monday. It was the second time he reached that low during the season. He has averaged a score of 36.5 for nine holes of play during his junior campaign. 

“I still feel like I have ways to cut my score down even lower,” Baran said. “I’m super happy with how I have been playing but I definitely left some shots out there.”

After going undefeated last year, the Blue Waves cruised through the conference championship and earned the No. 1 seed in the Suffolk County tournament. It wasn’t until they met Ward Melville in the semi-finals that they finally got a loss on their resume and that was simply because of team stroke play. The Patriots earned three medal points because they as a team had less strokes than the Blue Waves even though the rest of the head to heads were split right down the middle.

“Golf is the only sport that doesn’t separate into classes,” Failla said last year. “Other sports get four divisions and six classes. Golf has one champion and that’s why it’s the hardest sport to win it all.”

Riverhead has made it to the final four twice in its history, once in 2019 and the second time last year. They’re looking to get right back in the mix this season. The conference championships are scheduled for Oct. 16, which will determine the seeds for the Suffolk County tournament. Then the playoffs begin on Oct 24.

Riverhead has trotted out Baran, Cam Wallace, Logan Dempsey, Mason Sidik, Max Gajowski and Brady Hubbard as their starting six for most of the season. Any of them are capable of putting together a strong round and earning the team a point. Wallace, the team’s No. 2 golfer, has averaged a score of 40 during the season.

“Our lineups have looked very similar the last three years because they all came up to varsity as sophomores,” Failla said. “This year was a big change. This was going to be a big test of the program. It’s going to be hard to replicate the success we’ve had the last few years because these guys are brand new to the varsity team but they haven’t missed a beat.”

A lot of that has to do with Baran’s ability to lead. The players feed off of him and try to improve their game alongside him. They see how hard he works and golf is a game that requires constant repetition.

“In the years past Baran was always the best golfer but he was the youngest on the team,” Failla said. “The seniors pushed him last year but this year he’s taken on more of a leadership role. He’s the veteran out there. And nobody works harder than Colby, he lives golf.”

Baran was the second player to make it to the individual New York State championships in Riverhead’s history. He’s looking to take it a step further this year.

“I think we have all the tools to be successful as a team this year,” Baran said. “My first goal this year is to win Riverhead’s first team championship. That’s our goal right now. The individual stuff is great but we’re a team first and hopefully a few shots fall our way this year.”

As a team, Riverhead went down to Spring Lake Golf Club in Middle Island this weekend to get a feel for the course they’ll be playing in the championships. 

“That’s all them,” Failla said. “I didn’t tell them to do that. But they know these are the steps that you need to do. You need to constantly get ahead and play as much as you can. Familiarizing yourself with the championship golf course is only going to help when it’s time to shine.”