Eye on the Ball: What (and who) makes the Bucks run

Shelter Island is once again on the brink of an exciting sports season.

For the next four months it won’t be hard to understand why so many folks love coming out to the end of Long Island to vacation. It will be easy to figure out when folks realize how many activities our little Island offers in the summer. You just have to drive around to see people fishing, sailing, boating, kayaking, golfing, swimming, water skiing, parasailing, running, walking, bicycling, gardening, shell collecting, playing volleyball or tennis, horseback riding, mini-golfing or watching or playing the grand old game of baseball.

Speaking of baseball, the Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League, in which Shelter Island is involved and hosts young men from colleges all over the country, is gearing up. Our team, the Shelter Island Bucks, will open its fourth season with an away game against Sag Harbor on Sunday, May 31, followed by two home games against Riverhead and Westhampton the next two days.

Bucks General Manager Dave Gurney and Mike Dunning are the two guys who put their heads together and organized everything five years ago so our Island could have a team. The first two years, Dave was the assistant general manager and then he took on the responsibility of the team’s general manager.

When I met Dave, I was impressed with how much time and work goes into this volunteer position. Surprisingly, he somehow manages to stay under the radar and out of the limelight. Dave maintains that without the 100 percent support from his wife and biggest helper, Laura, this would not be possible.

He does a great job getting volunteers, delegating the work, giving everyone their deserved credit and, brilliantly, leaving them alone. This year, Dr. Frank Adipietro will be back as the lead announcer and Mark Ford will take on the role of official scorer. Our beautiful scoreboard memorializing Ken Lewis will be kept accurate again this year by a scoring professional, Jerry Mundy. Katie Springer, our singing angel, will be in charge of getting people to sing the National Anthem before each game.

Dave will have four assistant GMs this year — Jon Kilb, Dr. Frank Emmett, Cori Cass and Mark Ford, all volunteers. Of the three Buck coaches, Head Coach Jamie Quinn and Pitching Coach Casey Buckley are paid members of the staff, but Assistant Coach Scott Donahue, who played for the Bucks in season one and three, is volunteering his services.

Over the past four seasons, the Island has proudly supported its team with more fans than any other East End town. One reason is that of all the grounds I’ve seen, Fiske Field is the best kept. Major credit goes to Walter Richards — the Shelter Island School has to be thanked for the use of the field — and also Mike Dunning, Brian Springer, Jay Card, Jon Kilb and Brian Cass.

During home games there’s a crew selling hot dogs, hamburgers and drinks at a stand usually manned by members of the Lions Club, frequently led by Frank Vecchio. All proceeds from food and drink goes toward the team’s expenses. If you think home games are easy to host, Dave told me that for a 5 p.m. home game, he’ll start preparing at 9 a.m. that morning.

Dave estimated about 56 meals have to be served to the players and coaches each home game. These meals are provided by our local food businesses at no charge to the league. Thanks to the following restaurants that will be feeding the teams this summer: SALT, Shelter Island House, Sweet Tomato’s, the Islander, VUE, Schmidt’s and Vine Street Café.

Bucks fans will remember our team going to a championship series game in Southampton where there were more Islanders attending than Southampton fans. Even though we lost the series, it was a great run.

This year, don’t be looking for familiar names since there will be a complete turnover in players. One player of two years ago, Mac James, was drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays last summer and possibly two Bucks from last year will be drafted this year. That’s the caliber of athletes our fans have come to expect.

Military-style caps were donated this year by Shelter Island Ace Hardware to be worn at Monday home games and on the 4th of July. In all other games, they will be wearing their traditional black and orange caps. On Saturday, June 27, the Bucks will be selling “laces for cancer” at the game. The money will be donated to “Katy’s Courage” in Christopher Tehan’s name.

With the popularity of the Hamptons League, Pepsi decided to sponsor the entire league this season. Pepsi has donated a bicycle to each team to be raffled off to help meet the team’s expenses.

The most difficult job this year was providing housing for all of the Bucks and coaches. With almost 30 people needing housing, you can imagine the difficulty, regardless of the fact that everyone has had a positive experience with the boys in the past. Team management is still scrambling for two more host families.

The first couple who volunteered their home in the first year of the Bucks was Julie and Sean O’Shea. This will be the fourth straight year they’ve offered to take the young men into their home for the summer. Ditto for Dr. Frank Emmett and Colleen Smith who have also taken in boys each season. Patrick O’Shea enjoyed having big brothers in his house. This year he’s attending Haverford University in Pennsylvania and this summer will be pitching for the Bucks.

Dave said he’ll be happy to answer any questions you might have concerning the team or the league. You can reach him at 433-1502. Get more Bucks info at hamptonsbaseball.org/.

Hope to see you for the Bucks home opener at Fiske Field on Monday, June 1 at 5 p.m.