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| Photo Credit: Farmingdale State Athletics |
After losing two All-American players in the past two seasons in David Zilnicki and Edward Bergmann, it was reasonable to assume the Farmingdale offense would take a step back this season.
After all, it’s hard to seamlessly transition after losing elite players in consecutive seasons.
Don’t tell that to Mike Marino, who–to this point in the season, has arguably exceeded what each of those two players accomplished. Through 84 at bats, he has posted a slash line of .488/.563/.663 with 23 runs scored, 19 RBI, 20-for-22 on stolen base attempts and 14 walks. He has three outfield assists and only one error.
He has improved his batting average by an incredible .145 points from last year.
“I learned a lot from those two over the past two years,” said the senior outfielder. “But one of my biggest takeaways is that speed is a very dangerous weapon in baseball–putting the ball in play with a speedy runner makes the defense rush the routine play they would normally make which will lead them to make mistakes,” he said.
The Skyline Conference opponents have learned that first hand. He also noted that he made a slight mechanical correction.
“I made a small adjustment with my footwork at the plate where I get my front foot down early which allows me to track the ball further and see it better but mainly I have been able to keep the baseball out of the air and hit ground balls and use my speed to beat them out,” said Marino.
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| Photo Credit: Farmingdale State Athletics |
Marino comes from an incredibly athletic family. His twin brother, Joey, played baseball and soccer in high school. His younger brother, Steve, is currently a junior wide receiver at Stony Brook.
Having competition within the family is never a bad thing and can yield unexpected improvements like this.
The 6’0″ Franklin Square native has certainly made an impact on the Skyline Conference this season. He noted that the conference has been “getting better and better” since he’s been playing.
“The past two years we’ve learned that you can no longer take teams lightly,” he said. “Farmingdale has a huge target on our back and we know every team in the conference is coming for us. Every game is a grind and it is going to be a very exciting playoff,” he concluded.
As the season enters the last week of the regular season, Farmingdale is currently sitting behind St. Joseph’s and Old Westbury. They have won seven consecutive Skyline Conference titles and if they want to make it an eighth, they will have to win it at St. Joseph’s home turf.
Last year, they did win at Old Westbury so it is not uncharted territory for the program.
