Mount Sinai baseball names Eric Strovink head coach
New Mt. Sinai baseball coach Eric Strovink. Credit: Family handouts
Eric Strovink has been described as a guy who pours his heart and soul into high school coaching. He has been a longtime assistant coach for Rocky Point baseball and the Mount Sinai varsity wrestling team.
His work never went unnoticed and his athletes in both sports adored him.
Now Strovink moves front and center.
The 56-year-old was named Mount Sinai’s head baseball coach at a ribbon cutting ceremony on the Mustangs’ brand new turf field on the final day of school. He leaves Rocky Point after 11 years, working under head coaches Andrew Aschettino and Anthony Anzalone.
“Mount Sinai is getting a special guy that will impact the community and the baseball program,” said Anzalone, who’s led Rocky Point for the past six years. “He doesn’t do anything halfway. He’s been a tremendous mentor to me since I started my coaching journey. There wasn’t a decision I made without bouncing it off him first.”
Strovink, a 1988 Shoreham-Wading River graduate, was one of Long Island’s big-time hitters, setting school records for home runs and RBIs. He went on to play his college ball at LSU and C.W. Post. He blasted 17 home runs in 45 games in his senior year at C.W. Post before signing a free agent contract in 1991 to play for the Texas Rangers.
“I’m excited about the opportunity,” Strovink said. “I’ll have my son, Brennan, coaching with me and that’ll make it even sweeter.”
It’s a natural move for Strovink, who’s taught physical education at the elementary school and middle school levels for the past 15 years in the Mount Sinai School District.
“I’ll miss my Rocky Point coaches and all the great people I worked alongside in that district,” Strovink said. “They’re all hard-working, blue-collar folks that I always appreciated. It’s a new chapter for me and my family and I’m looking forward to it.”
Anzalone said he could go on and on about Strovink.
“He truly cares about players and their development,” he said. “He’s the guy who goes to the homeless shelters and sets up beds for the people there. He would bring our players to teach them how to help the people who are less fortunate. He’s an amazing guy.”
Gregg Sarra is Newsday's high school sports editor and has been on the beat since the mid-1980s.
