Former Collegiate League manager to lead Bucks
A familiar Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League (HCBL) manager will be switching teams this summer, moving to Fiske Field as the skipper of the Shelter Island Bucks, after coaching the North Fork Ospreys last summer.
Taylor “Shooter” Hasty was to lead the Bucks in 2020 when the season was canceled during COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, the Bucks were unable to field a team since an insufficient number of Islanders, still in the throes of the pandemic, were unavailable to host players.
Threatened with expulsion from the league if they don’t play this year, the Bucks are determined to play this summer. General Manager Brian Cass, aided by assistants Frank Vecchio and David Austin, are working to secure the Bucks future within the HCBL.
As of Monday, Mr. Cass reported he has picked up seven more beds for June, almost closing the gap for that first month, but still needs 15 more for July.
Mr. Hasty is a baseball lifer, playing the game all his life, and has a career as a coach and manager. A Marine Corps veteran, Mr. Hasty provides professional pitching instruction in Tampa, Fla, and has a long list of coaching experiences dating back to 1987.
He’s also the high school athletic director at Silverdale Baptist Academy, a private pre-kindergarten to grade 12 school in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Mr. Hasty has coached at the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I level for six years, two as a head coach and four as an assistant. He also was a head coach at the National Junior Collegiate Athletic Association level for seven seasons and served as a head coach at the high school level in Japan for a year. In 2010, he managed in Europe and in 2011, he guided the Will County CrackerJacks based in Illinois to the Midwest Collegiate League championship, and was named the MCL Manager of the Year.
In 2014, Mr. Hasty served as the pitching coach for Southwestern College in Chula Vista, Calif., and his pitching staff paved the way to a super regional championship.
He’s also an author, penning “Pitcher Perfect — A Complete Mechanical Analysis of the Pitching Delivery.”
In addition to coaching the Bucks, he and his assistant coach, Justin Brock, will be offering kids baseball camps on the Island, something that’s been a tradition for the team throughout previous seasons.
If the name Justin Brock is familiar to Islanders, it’s because he was a Bucks player during the summer of 2013, playing second base and shortstop.
“Chasing the dream” is how Mr. Brock described his pursuit of a baseball career, playing in Quebec, Indiana, Australia and Cologne, Germany.
Following his time in Germany, he returned to the United States to pursue a master’s degree in accounting between 2018 and 2020. He’s currently coaching at Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire.
His goal for the summer? Help guide the Bucks to a championship, their first since 2015.
Willing to invite a player or two to share part of the summer with your family or ask questions about hosting? You can reach Mr. Cass at 631-445-0084 or email [email protected]; Mr. Vecchio at 516-317-8687 or email [email protected]; or Mr. Austin at 415-613-1991 or email [email protected].
