by Vinny Messana
This week there is a changing of the guards at the top of the rankings. After occupying the top spot in the previous four Power Rankings, the Molloy Lions have been unseated by a familiar Long Island powerhouse.
1.Stony Brook
(Record 17-14, Stock UP)
Photo Credit: Vinny Messana
As I’ve mentioned the past couple weeks, April has been their best month over the past couple years. It seems like Coach Senk figures out the ingredients and tests his players during February and March and by April they have it figured out. They are 11-1 at home, and just won two of three from UMass-Lowell. Earlier in the year, the offense was being carried by Toby Handley and Andruw Gazzola, but recently Jack Parenty, Dylan Resk and David Real have joined the party. Chad Lee has been superb–he has emerged as the No. 1 and has 1.00 ERA over 45.0 IP. Freshman Bret Clarke has a 2.45 ERA through seven starts and Tyler Honahan appears to be bouncing back. They look dangerous right now.
2. Molloy
(Record 22-11, Stock DOWN)
Photo Credit: Nakeem Grant
They split with Queens College, which is far from embarrassing. They were bound to cool off at some point after playing out of their minds for nearly two months. The bats cooled off a little this weekend. They still have the ECC-leading hitter in Angelo Navetta and ECC-leading ERA in Ron Bauer who just improved to 6-0 with a 0.68 ERA. Bobby Kelly is also 6-0, so they have two lights out pitchers right now. The overall staff ERA is 3.91 which shows they have been a bit susceptible in the middle relief. They still are in great shape and have a favorable schedule this week.
3. Suffolk CC
(Record 12-3, Stock UP)
After the top two spots, it gets a little murkier. I will take the team that has absolutely torched the opposing pitchers despite its competition. They have hit .378 as a team, and I don’t care if you’re playing in League VIII of Suffolk County or the SEC–that’s an outrageous figure. They have a .469 OBP. Their pitching is not far behind in terms of dominance. They have a 2.39 ERA and the combination of Sean Boyle, Robert Sciarotta, Vincent Negri and Kristopher Killackey has been nothing short of brilliant. This could very well be a World Series team.
4. Adelphi
(Record 17-17, Stock DOWN)
Photo Credit: Vinny Amodeo
They dropped down from the No. 2 spot because they had a disappointing weekend, losing two of three to AIC. They could’ve potentially moved up from the fourth seed in the southwest division of the NE-10. The bad news is that two freshman who had gotten off to incredible starts–Brandon Morse and Brett Malm–have hit a rough patch. The good news is that Kory Cassara and Rob Vani have picked up the slack and have been carrying the offense.Also, Matthew O’Connor has his ERA down to 2.50 and he has been dealing. A crafty lefty, he is the perfect complement to the heat of T.J. Santiago and Jonathon Mulford.
5. Dowling
(Record 15-16, Stock UP)
Moving Dennis Buckstein to the rotation has been a good move for Dowling
They have emerged from the absolute doldrums to be in, not only contention but, position to have a good seed in the ECC. Cody McPartland, John Parisi and Chris Cepeda have been lights out recently for the rotation. Dennis Buckstein has been reliable all season. Offensively, R.J. Going, Chris Russo and Michael Rizzitello have been terrific recently. They will most certainly be tested this weekend when they face old-nemesis St. Thomas Aquinas in a four-game set.
6. Old Westbury
Record (19-12, Stock Down)
Jeremy Charles has been stellar all season for Old Westbury
Today was a bad trip down memory lane for the Panthers, as they played two crisp games but did just enough to lose against Farmingdale. They got great starts from Trey Pizzutello and Danny Aguilo, but they didn’t do anything offensively. In the bigger picture, it didn’t really hurt their playoff chances and they did have a solid week but losing to a youthful Farmingdale team is not a good sign for them. They will most likely be seeing them in the playoffs at some point. I still give them the advantage because they have about 7 reliable arms and a solid lineup up-and-down, but they have had a propensity to play down to their competition recently.
7. Farmingdale
(Record 13-12, Stock UP)
Matt Seelinger gave Farmingdale a much-needed CG today
Wow. This hardly resembles the team that began the season 0-6 with Kean coming to town. Since that low-point, they are 13-6 and have gotten contributions up-and-down the lineup. Today they received two sparkling pitching performances against Old Westbury from their veterans–Matt Seelinger and Kevin Martinez. They have lowered the team ERA to 4.79 and that is remarkable considering where it was recently. The offense did take a hit today when Dalton McCarthy went down with what appeared to be a hamstring injury. He is their biggest power threat, but they have manufactured runs as well as any team recently. With Josh Shapiro, Brandon Ernest and Nick Attardi, they have three speedsters at the top of the order that get on, steal and score. This is not the team that hit .320 of years past, but they showed today they can still play with anyone.
8. St. Joseph’s
(Record 14-9, Stock Down)
They have actually won four of five and appear to have righted the ship now that the rotation has solidified with Brandon Lubrano’s emergence. He won two games this week, including a one-hitter in a must-win game at Farmingdale on Wednesday. He went out on three days rest today and beat Mount St. Mary’s. Along with Josh Outsen and Ryan Aloise, the rotation has stabilized this week. The offense really hasn’t performed as expected. They have a strong .374 OBP, but they have not really done their job against the top teams. When we ranked them as the No. 1 offense in January, that was with the assumption that they would wreak havoc on every pitcher, not just the mediocre ones.
9. Hofstra
(Record 12-24, Stock UP)
It was the best weekend of the year for Hofstra
Just when they appeared dead in the water, they went out and swept the College of Charleston this weekend, who ranked No. 15 in the nation. They won on a walk-off two-run HR by David Leiderman on Friday, a stellar outing by John Rooney on Saturday and a huge eighth inning rally today. Speaking of Rooney, there may not be a player with higher upside on Long Island right now. The 6’5″ southpaw was sitting 88-91 yesterday, touching 94 with plus command of three pitches. Offensively, they have struggled batting average wise but they have hit 30 home runs and Steven Foster (.438) and Vito Friscia (.450) have been on-base machines. Kevin O’Connor has been a nice surprise out of Harborfields HS. They have a young nucleus in place that, along with Kyle Young, could be unstoppable in another year. For now, they have 17 games left and will look to do some damage and sneak into postseason play.
10. NYIT
(Record 14-17, Stock DOWN)
It’s not their fault that they dropped down in the rankings–they won their only game of the week, but it was a product of other teams really skyrocketed their value. They beat Penn 6-5 in 12 innings. Joe Daru smacked two home runs and he has been sensational this season–scoring 30 runs, driving in 23, slugging .661 with 5 HR and batting .381 on the season. They have also been lifted by Anthony Caradonna and Louis Mele’s strong seasons. Aside from them, the offense has sub-par to this point. The pitching has been led by David Plotkin, Dixon Marble and Matt Diaz.
11. LIU Post
(Record 13-19, Stock EVEN)
They split with the University of Bridgeport this weekend, winning today on a walk-off single by David Groeneveld. He is leading the team with 30 RBI and .534 SLG. He scored Rob Andreoli, who has been another savior for the offense. He is leading the team with 46 hits, he has scored 25 runs and drove in 27 while batting .377. The pitching has struggled to a 5.39 ERA but Joey Arena and Jake DeCarli have been the two anchors of the rotation in recent weeks.They are 5-11 in conference which puts them at a big-time disadvantage.
12. Nassau
(Record 13-11, Stock EVEN)
This is not to say it’s been a bad season for Nassau, but losing to Suffolk 3 of 4 hurt their chance at the No. 1 seed for the postseason. They have a solid team but they don’t quite stack up against Suffolk, in my opinion. The offensive attack has been led by Nick Marino, Mike McCormick, Luciano Morello and Nic Milata.
