Twin baseball players help baseball march towards playoffs
John C. Longton III
Staff Writer
Darren and Dustin Conte were new coming freshman this year at Hudson Valley Community College. The 2014 Hudson Senior High School graduates were supposed to attend Columbia-Greene Community College and be a big part of the Twin’s baseball program. That is until they met with Brady Farkas, the Hudson Valley pitching coach. They would have made a big impact on a lackluster Columbia-Greene team, but are making a bigger impact on a playoff bound Viking squad.
“We visited with coach Farkas and decided to come here and get away from home,” said Darren Conte. The Columbia-Greene campus is in the same town where the Conte’s are from and getting away to play at Joe Bruno Stadium was a huge selling point for the boys.
“There’s no point in playing on a sh***y field when you can play at the Joe,” said Dustin. Being able to use the multi million dollar facility draws in recruits that are on the fence about coming to Hudson Valley. When making the decision itself to come here the Contes decided that they wanted to come here together.
“If we were going to a community college we figured we would do it together,” said Darren.
“It would be cheaper if we roomed together,” said Dustin.
Both Darren and Dustin are taking the same major and are both still unsure of what they want to do for a career. Right now they are both Business Administration majors, but aren’t sure if thats the field they want to get into.
“I might want to get into accounting, but I really don’t know,” said Darren
“We’re taking different courses, but we’re not sure what we want to do,” said Dustin.
There are questions in the classroom and in terms of where the Contes would play on the team was a question from the beginning. Darren was a pitcher all throughout high school and decided to put it behind him. “I like pitching a lot, but I figured I would finally stop pitching and focus on offense. It turns out they needed me a little bit,” said Darren.
Dustin had been a catcher all through high school, but he is used where he is needed on the field. Earlier in the season when Brandon Martinez went out with a groin injury Dustin filed in and played right field. He gets most of his playing time while his brother is on the mound. That is because when Darren gets the nod it is Dustin that is behind home plate.
The two have done it their whole live and found more success when working with each other. When asked if the two enjoyed working together they replied, “ Yeah we’ve been doing it our whole life. Its easy. Just get the ball and throw the ball.”
It seems that this strategy of letting the brothers work with each other is effective. Darren’s era this season is a team low 0.66. He is also averaging over a strikeout per inning. The two are doing a great job working with each other defensively, but in terms of offense Darren is in a league of his own.
After twenty eight games Darren is hitting .519, which is currently leading the nation. He also has recorded 33 RBIs and 2 home runs. Being an everyday hitter Darren’s numbers are staggering.
The Conte contribution to this Viking successful season is not measurable. Come the the Joe this Tuesday May 5th and watch the Contes take on the Columbia-Greene Twins, the team that they were supposed to play for, for the last home games of the season. The doubleheader starts at 2 P.M.