Wayne Hills baseball heads back to counties after an impressive regular season. Loaded with talent, let’s take a look at the Patriots’ first county game, which is against Passaic Valley on Saturday, May 4.

Wayne Hills: Hills comes into counties play feeling very confident and upbeat. They had a 7-3 county record during the regular season, and have some real studs on the offensive side of the ball. Led by shortstop Jason Sanfilippo, who has committed to play baseball at Misericordia University in Pennsylvania. Sanfilippo is having another great year, showing his ability to hit to all fields with a .385 batting average, and 8 doubles on the year. Sanfilippo also plays a great shortstop and is the typical leader of the team in the infield, as all great shortstops are. John McConeghy is the cleanup hitter on the team and has shown his power by hitting .353 as well as a .634 slugging percentage. McConeghy plays the hot corner on this team and is another essential part of the infield. He and Sanfilippo make quite the dynamic duo. Other key contributors on this team include leadoff hitter Lou D’Agati, second baseman Cole Monisera, and catcher Mike Disteso. This team runs very deep, however, as guys like backup catcher Justin Reicher and sophomore pitcher/outfielder Dom Casamassina have stepped up and played when guys went down. The pitching staff for the Patriots is very up and down. Christian Puntillo, AJ Losito, and Dom Cassamsina are all guys who can give you 4 scoreless innings, but sometimes when the game gets out of hand, it looks like they get a little shaken up and can be prone to make bad pitches. The team’s success in the tournament will be on the pitching staff and how well they will perform against this powerful PV lineup.

“Going into Saturday’s game, we expect that while it won’t be an easy matchup, we will come away with a win and advance to the semi-finals next weekend at PCTI.  Show out,” said Senior Jason Banfilippo.

PV: This Saturday will be Wayne Hills’ third encounter with Passaic Valley this season. PV defeated Hills 7-2 on opening night at Hills. The second time they faced off was two days later after opening night and Hills won 15-7 on the road. This Saturday will be the opening round of counties. PV with the record of 7-9 and Hills with a record of 10-3, these two teams are hoping to grab a win. Arben Adili, of PV, has a total of 16 hits this season, coming along with two home runs, and a batting average of .356. Zakary Ferguson, another PV player, has a total of 18 hits with a batting average of .367. With just a glimpse of these players, it makes PV a threat on the field. PV is a great offensive team and could pose a huge threat to Hills in the first round.

It will be a great matchup to watch on Saturday, as Hills begins their run for a 2nd county championship in 4 seasons.