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| Photo Credit: Vinny Messana Dowling Will be Looking to Duplicate Last Year’s terrific season |
2014 was a banner year for Dowling. In addition to winning 36 games, they were one victory away from heading to Carey, N.C. to compete in the Div. II College World Series. With their pitching staff–that ranked No. 1 in all of the country–they would’ve had a decent chance to win it all, too.
Now that the dust has settled on the year, Head Coach Tom Caputo is ready to move on and is not concerned about the class of graduating seniors that are not with the team anymore .
“Success breeds success,” said the fourth year Head Coach. “We have a group of guys that have been waiting for their opportunity the past couple of years. Now it’s their turn,” he added.
The past couple years have featured teams that are very upperclassmen loaded. Last year was especially the case with guys like Andrew Abreu, JC Brandmeier, Ian Schneider and Rob Veltre in the field and the dynamic pitching staff of Tyler Badamo, JJ Bessell and Tom Bammann. All those players have graduated, but Caputo is confident in his new crop of impact players and is encouraged about the players supporting them.
“The pitching still looks good,” he said. “I don’t know if we’ll lead the nation in ERA again. Maybe we will. But with the size of this field, the wood bats and the cold weather, pitching will always be our strength,” he added.
Last year’s team put up some staggering statistics…
- Team ERA: 2.40.
- K/9: 8.33
- K/BB: 3.16
- Opponent AVG: .230
Those are numbers seen only in the dead-ball era of Major League Baseball.
The pitching staff will be led by Cody McPartland, who pitched to a 2.90 ERA last season in 31 innings, striking out 21 batters. He was runner-up for Pitcher of the Year this summer in the Hamptons League.
Caputo is optimistic about the other facets of the team as well.
“I always try to build the team around speed and defense.Offensively we are much deeper. It took a couple of years to get there, but I’m pretty confident in the guys we have to step in. We have way more options. I like versatile guys. We have multiple guys like that.”
The Head Coach promotes the idea of competition.
“You have to earn your keep every day,” he said. He noted that there are multiple guys at every position that are capable of getting the job done.
Leading the charge offensively will be senior Jon Cruz, who was chosen second-team All-Region last season when he hit .319, scored 43 runs, drove in 29 and stole 18 bases.
The team is slated to begin their season next week, February 25 at Adelphi. With the current weather, that is very much in the air.
“Until I hear otherwise, I told the guys to get ready for next Wednesday,” he said.
They will take on LeMoyne that Saturday and Sunday, another tough opponent.
The Golden Lions have been picked to finish second in the ECC behind St. Thomas Acquinas–who eliminated them from the regionals last season.
