LIU Post Looks to Claim the ECC Led by an Army of Aces

By Nakeem Grant

The 2016 season is nearing for Long Island University’s Pioneers. Head coach, Mike Gaffney has several goals in mind for his team this season, but their No. 1 goal is to overtake Dowling and win the East Coast Conference title.

Last year, the Pioneers finished fourth in the ECC with an overall record of 18-18. They fell short of their ECC title goal by losing to the Bridgeport Purple Knights in the semifinals, 4-1.

This, however, is a team nobody wants to face.

They won’t have to score many runs. They are returning Baseball on the Island’s Cy Young Jake DeCarli–who compiled a stellar 0.76 ERA and .148 opponent’s AVG over 71.0 IP. He will be joined by Dan Jagiello, who compiled a 3.75 ERA but is now armed with a 96 MPH fastball that has turned heads in the scouting circles.

Additionally, they will be returning two pitchers who are coming off injuries in 2015.

“Several guys [pitchers] were hurt last season,” says Coach Gaffney. “Walks didn’t help our bullpen either. But we’re healthy now and much deeper this year.”

Redshirt senior Joey Arena was one of the top pitchers for the Pioneers in 2014, posting an ERA of 1.75 in 61.2 innings. In the 2015 season, he only pitched in one game as his year was cut short due to a season-ending injury. Coach Gaffney feels that he will be a great addition to this year’s rotation with DeCarli and Jagiello.

“People talk about Jake and Dan all the time. Joey is just as good, if not better.” Certainly high praise coming from Coach Gaffney.

The Pioneers are also excited for their redshirt freshman, Robert Paccione. He’s a 6’2″ right-hander from Commack, and the coaching staff for the Pioneers feels that he can be a huge contributor to their pitching staff as well.

“Robert has the potential to secure the fourth spot in our rotation this year,” said Gaffney.

Also in the mix will be hard-throwing freshman James Varela from Division HS and redshirt-junior Chris Anderson.

Coach Gaffney explains that his club has improved greatly in their offensive approach.  They struggled with bats last year, hitting .254 with a .323 SLG %. It won’t help that they graduated last year’s leading hitter, Vinny Iacono–who hit a healthy .339 over 127 at bats.

Their roster is filled with at least two to three players at each position, most of them being freshmen and sophomores. However, he is not afraid to adapt to his new team’s strengths and style of play.

“If I have nine power-hitters and I’m a small ball coach, I’m not going to take away their power by playing to my style. My team’s playing style is highly personnel driven.”They will be looking for All-Conference first baseman David Groeneveld to provide much of the punch in the lineup along with line drive hitter Thomas Asbaty.

The X-Factor offensively could very well be their young crop of freshman.

Dave Brehm is a power-hitting center fielder that is coming off a Class AA Long island Championship with Connetquot last season. He batted third for the T-Birds last season and was a key cog in the lineup. Also, Joe Piscitelli won the Class A Long Island Championship with Division. Both of those players have experience winning tons of high-pressure ball games and can have an immediate impact.

They will also look for freshman Sal Geraci to have an impact as the back up catcher behind Asbaty. Geraci is another winning player–having won three consecutive Suffolk County championships at Bayport-Blue Point.

Jimmy Mendyk and Ryan Dalton are two other freshmen that could have an impact offensively as well as in the field.

The Pioneers’ season kicks off this Saturday in South Carolina where they will face Limestone College. Coach Gaffney will look forward to seeing his players develop both physically and mentally as their journey to the top of the ECC starts in a few days.