Blue Waves one win away from clinching postseason

The Riverhead varsity baseball team is in uncharted territory. In coach Kevin Kerman’s first two years at the helm, the Blue Waves compiled a 5-35 record. But he never gave up on his team. Kerman had a vision for what this team should look like, how his players should approach the game, and how this program should be perceived from the outside looking in.

Riverhead hasn’t made the postseason since 2015, so inspiring a winning mindset isn’t exactly a new problem. But Kerman has been steadily turning heads and Blue Waves baseball is starting to get noticed again. With two games remaining on the schedule and a 9-7 record in League I, Riverhead is just one win away from qualifying for the playoffs. The pressure is on for a team that hasn’t done much winning over the years.

“We’re trying to emphasize that it’s not pressure,” Kerman said. “We have a lot of young guys here. We don’t want them gripping bats and we don’t want them stressing. If you believe it’ll happen, then it’ll happen. If you start stressing and panicking and going up to the plate with anxiety, it’s not going to happen.”

Riverhead has taken a game from each of the playoff-bound teams in League I including Longwood, William Floyd and Patchogue-Medford. Walt Whitman has already clinched their playoff spot as well and will try to play spoiler in the last two games. The Blue Waves will travel to Whitman Thursday before returning home on Friday. Both games start at 4:30 p.m.

“We faced two of the best pitchers on the island the last two games in Floyd’s Jack Molini and Whitman’s Jaden Grose,” Kerman said. “They’re both going Division I for college. Good thing is there’s no more of those types of guys coming up. And even against these guys, I thought we put great swings on the ball.”

Camden Wallace, a senior and team captain, will take the mound Thursday before Matt Zambriski, the team’s ace, pitches the final game of the regular season. Zambriski threw the first perfect game in school history in his start against Central Islip earlier in the year but Wallace has been solid all season long and hasn’t given up more than two runs in his last few starts. Nobody is better with the ball in his hands.

“If we play like I know we can play and have to play, we can take care of business,” Wallace said. “We just need a little spark. Everyone is getting a little nervous, and rightfully so. We made a few errors the last two games. We have to play like whatever happens, happens. Go out, have fun and enjoy it. This could be my last week playing here and the last week as a team playing here. We have to rally around that.”

Wallace has been through all the lows the last couple of years and now has seen the team turn into a playoff contender. He knows they have what it takes.

“When I first joined varsity, it seemed like everyone was playing angry,” Wallace said. “So unorganized. We struggled to mesh as a group. It almost seemed like everyone was scared to make an error. We’re a family now. If you can’t take care of it, get that hit or make that play, the next guy will. That’s the kind of confidence a winning baseball team has. Even if we fall short this season, it’s been nothing short of magical. We’ve come so far as a group. The hardest win is the one that’s going to get us in the playoffs.”

To be this close, finishing the deal is just a matter of playing good baseball — making the routine plays and getting timely hits. For the five seniors on the team, this is a chance to break the mold and start a precedent for years to come.

“Baseball has been the same for 100 years,” Kerman said. “We’re not going to reinvent the wheel here. We have to catch and throw. We can’t give away free runs and we can’t give away free bases. We need to execute at the plate and get guys on base, put balls forward and in play with two strikes. We can’t go down looking at the plate. We need to make arms work and get into their bullpen. We do those things, we will find success.”