Bill Batewell’s legacy continues to grow. The man that won 452 baseball games as the skipper at Sachem High School has reached another monumental milestone by becoming the sixth coach in Suffolk County history to reach the 500-win plateau.
Batewell has been the head baseball coach at Bellport High School since 2008 after spending the bulk of his career at Sachem from 1971-2004. With the Flaming Arrows he won six league titles and two county championships. His overall record is 500-338-5.
“It’s a testament to longevity,” he told Newsday.com. “It’s a result of having good players and good assistant coaches.”
Bellport beat West Babylon, 6-1, in Batewell’s milestone win this week.
A member of the Suffolk County Sports Hall of Fame and a head coach in the Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League, Batewell will forever be on the Mount Rushmore of Sachem coaches.
Forecasting history: Tom Gambino, a Sachem alum and the heir to Batewell’s thrown as the current head baseball coach at Sachem, currently has 113 career wins as the second winningest coach in Sachem history since he took over in 2005. Interestingly, if Gambino were to keep the same pace over the next 24 years he could reach the 450-win plateau.
-Words by Chris R. Vaccaro