Rosen Inspires Baseball Revival at Croton High

CROTON-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. – Croton High School’s first-year baseball coach Eric Rosen has been working for several months in preparation for the Tigers' spring season, fundraising, fixing the school’s baseball fields and getting his team ready for a new era.

“We started our preparation for the season when I got the job,” said Rosen, who is the school psychologist and a former high school and college baseball player. “We have a great group of very good athletes who are picking up things very quickly. We planned a trip to Florida that we expect will build team chemistry and get us prepared for the season.”

Rosen, who played his high school ball at nearby Lakeland High, a local powerhouse, and at SUNY New Paltz, will take his Tigers on a trip to Vero Beach, Fla. beginning Friday. The Tigers, who had a .500 won-lost record last season, open their season April 10 at Rye Neck.

Croton has four key seniors; pitcher/shortstop Dennis Traditi, pitcher/first baseman Tyler Bello, pitcher/third baseman Brian Oliver and junior outfielder Brian Soares, upon whom Rosen will depend on to build a successful season. Soares and Traditi were standouts on the Tigers Section 1 and state regional Class A football champions last fall.

“Dennis and Brian are good athletes and know what it takes to win,” Rosen said. “All of the kids are working very hard on learning the game. We want the baseball program to be as successful as our football and basketball teams. We've had great support from the community.”

The Croton roster also includes seniors Austin Millen and Brady Aarons and juniors Matt Gennerelli, Mike Hrycko, Nick Brous, Adam Shaukat, Christian Doughty, Brandon Glover and Tom Syku.

Rosen said the unusually warm weather has helped get the preseason off to a good start and the trip South will add to the preparation.

“We’ll play a couple of teams from Minnesota and a couple from the New York area, so we’ll have a good base before opening on April 10,” Rosen said. “We’re excited about this team. We think we can be very successful.”

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