Sussex Central senior DJ Long finishes great high school baseball career

Sussex Central’s baseball program since its inception has seen its share of great players.

Last Tuesday in a state championship game loss to St. Mark’s, the Golden Knights saw one of their recent greats take his last swing in a Central uniform.

Knights senior DJ Long, who tripled and scored the club’s last run of a 2009 season that was Central’s best in 20 years, will now take on next level competition at the University of Delaware, as he signed his letter of intent to play for the Blue Hens over the winter.

Still, Long, who has started since his freshman season and been on four playoff-qualifying Central teams, had some unfinished business to attend to his senior year.

“Our goal [as seniors], was getting out of the first round and making a run in the playoffs,” explained the senior, whose previous three trips to the postseason with the Knights ended in the opening round. “Right now, it’s tough because we lost in the final, but we had a great year.”

Both the team and Long did, in fact, have great seasons, and the senior earned several end of the year accolades for his work on the diamond.

A season ago, the Henlopen Conference decided it would name a player of the year in both the Northern and Southern Divisions, as voted on by coaches, and fittingly his junior season Long claimed the inaugural North award.

As would be expected by most, although not by Long himself, the Knight was once again named Henlopen North Player of the Year for his most recent campaign, making it two straight.

Along with the player of the year honor, he was also awarded first-team All-Conference honors at shortstop.

“Honestly, I was surprised, there are a lot of good players in the North, and I thought [senior teammate] Peter [Ott] would get it,” Long said. “To be named player of the year [for the first two seasons of the award] obviously makes me happy.

“It’s something I’ll always remember.”

Winning the North award and all-conference honors, however, were just two of many memorable moments about the ’09 season for the senior.

Early in his high school career, opposing coaches knew Long was a force to be reckoned with, and as such, he was given All-State honorable mention honors his freshman season.

Unfortunately for the Central star his high school playing days started just a season behind former Seaford shortstop Derrik Gibson, who graduated a year ago and was drafted in the second round of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft by the Boston Red Sox.

Due to that fact, Long had to settle for second-team All-State honors his sophomore and junior seasons, but as a senior, the Knight finally got top-billing at short.

“My father, [former Indian River football quarterback Dave Long] was first-team All-State in football, and since I never got that, I wanted to at least get it in baseball,” joked Long, who was a gridiron signal caller for Central in three Division I title game appearances. “Being behind Derrik those first three years made it tough, but I’m glad I [was named to the] first-team this year.

“It’s better I got it in baseball,” he continued when asked if he would have preferred first-team football honors, “because that’s the sport I always knew I was going to keep playing.”

Accolades aside, there are other things Long said he will remember about playing with the Knights for four seasons, most of which came during his final diamond campaign.

Tops amongst those memories is a diving snare the senior made on a line drive against Salesianum in the bottom half of the final inning of a semifinal bout that sent Central to its second ever state title game.

“After that game, I told my dad, ‘it doesn’t get any better than this,’” Long said about the game-ending grab. “My senior year, I recorded the last out in a game that gets us to the championship, I’ll always remember that.

“We had a 20-3 record, got to the finals, and I had a triple at Frawley stadium,” he added. “It was a great year and some of the most fun I had playing baseball.”