Building a bright baseball future for Riverhead

With the success of the Riverhead High School varsity baseball team last season, achieving something that hasn’t been done in over two decades by winning multiple playoff games, the question is how to make this success the norm rather than an anomaly. 

Enter the Riverhead Waves Baseball Club.

The Waves are a travel baseball organization built up of mostly Riverhead kids in an effort to gain exposure to a higher level of talent and increase continuity by building bonds with one another so strong that success becomes a constant. The 13-and-under Waves baseball team, which competes in the Town of Brookhaven Summer League and rarely faces another town team (because most of them are all-star teams with kids all over the island), just won the league title in their division by posting a 15-1 record.

“It was a bunch of little brothers basically when we were forming it,” Brian Miller, president of the Waves said. “Their older brothers either played or play on varsity now. So the idea was to bring this group together and ultimately create a pipeline for the varsity team.”

This group specifically has been playing together since they were 8 years old. That original group, formed during little league, has been sticking together as a core by training, playing in tournaments and winning leagues.

Usually after little league, certain kids will go in other directions and look for other travel teams to play on to obtain maximum exposure. Many baseball-manic parents are always looking for the best opportunity to help their kid achieve their dreams, and many have figured out that the best opportunity is right here with the Waves.

“It’s the kids’ bond more than anything else,” Miller said. “They play baseball together, they play basketball together and they play football together. Riverhead is a big school, but it’s a small sports community. The kids simply love being around each other, and the families are all fantastic and supportive of what we’re trying to achieve here.”

In the final game of the season against the Long Island Sharks on Sunday at Moriches Athletic Complex, Riverhead mercy-ruled the Sharks 10-0 in only four innings of play. The Waves, who were missing a few players due to other obligations, got contributions up and down their lineup. One of those little brothers of the varsity team is Travis Cote, and he had himself a day at the plate. The younger brother of RJ, Travis smashed two doubles in the game that soared over the outfielder’s heads and collected three RBIs. Connor Miller reached safe two times, scoring two runs and earning a stolen base. Jason Hubbard delivered an RBI single in the third inning.

“Being a town team, we’re not supposed to be competing anymore,” Miller said. “But we are, and now we’re looking for ways to increase our competition and enter in more tournament-style play and move away from leagues that don’t give us that feeling of failure.”

In August last year, the Waves traveled to Oneonta, N.Y., for a tournament at the Cooperstown All Star Village, where they played against teams across the U.S. and Canada. They finished in ninth place out of 72 teams with a 6-2 record.

“The Cooperstown tournament was great last year,” Miller said. “That’s something we’re definitely going to look into doing again. They’re at that age that they need these challenges. Our hope is that once they get to the varsity level, the competition level is second nature to them.”

Riverhead varsity coach Kevin Kerman is ecstatic with what Miller has been able to do, producing not only a 13-u team but also an 11-u team to follow in their footsteps.

“In order to have a successful varsity program anywhere, it starts with a successful little league and participation in travel ball from a young age,” Kerman said. “The fact that we have both of those things thanks to our amazing support from our baseball families makes us extremely lucky. I’ve got a great relationship and have been collaborating with Brian Miller to do what’s best for the boys and both programs. Whether this is lending field time, uniforms or sharing clinic information, working together has been a great asset to our programs.”

Kerman, who teaches at the Riverhead Middle School, knows this group very well. “I’ve had the pleasure of teaching this group at the middle school for the past two years, and they are a phenomenal group of young men,” Kerman said.

The No. 1 seeded Riverhead Waves will open up their playoff schedule against No. 8 seed, 5-Star National NY on Thursday, July 31, at 6 p.m. The game will be played at the Eastport South Manor Complex, Field 1.