Last Season’s Record: 15-37
Key Additions: Mikey Riesner (SS), Jack Berczi (LHP), Jorge Marrero (RHP), Sean Rausch (C/OF)
Key Subtractions: Brendan Mulligan (LHP), Bowie Matteson (RHP), Alex Eisenberg (RHP), Chris Bonk (RHP), Ryan Karl (INF/OF)
After a tough season where they finished in last place in the Colonial Athletic Association, Hofstra looks to improve on their 2016 season. A preseason poll has tabbed the Pride to finish in the basement of the CAA this year, but it hasn’t done much to dampen the optimism surrounding this year’s team.
Strengths:
Head coach John Russo is kicking off his sixth season at the helm, and this year he is particularly excited about the amount of depth he sees on his roster. He said, “We’ve got about five outfielders, six infielders, and three catchers we’d be comfortable putting out in the field. Then another four or five starters and up to about seven arms in the bullpen.”
The 2017 season will also mark a change for the Pride. In the past, most of the team’s roster has come from Long Island and the surrounding communities. Nearly a third of the team this year comes from outside of the tri-state area. This influx of new blood expands Hofstra’s talent pool, but hasn’t caused Russo to worry about his team’s chemistry. As he said, “Baseball is baseball everywhere, they’ll just have to learn our style of play.”
Hofstra’s style of play may look a bit different from the previous seasons, “Last season we struck out more than I would have liked, I want to focus on guys seeing more pitches and getting on base more often,” said Russo. “Once they’re on base I’d like to get them running a bit more. There’s around ten guys I’d be comfortable sending in any situation.”
Russo also has confidence in his upperclassmen as leaders. He mentioned David Leiderman, a redshirt senior and four-year starter who was an honorable mention for the 2017 pre-season All-CAA team. Leiderman led the Pride with 56 hits in 51 games and drove in 35 runs, the second most on the team. Brad Witkowski was also mentioned by Russo as another team leader. Witkowski is a senior and four-year starter, he led the Pride with a .289 average and put together a 15-game hitting streak from mid-April to mid-May last season. Russo is excited to see where they will be able to take this offense which is returning seven of last season’s top nine hitters.
There are some other returning players that are expected to play significant roles. Vito Friscia and Steven Foster have both already had successful seasons with the Pride. We named Friscia to our 2016 All-Long Island team, thanks to a stellar .415 OBP. Foster was named to our 2015 All-Long Island team, and he was second on the team with a .407 OBP.
They will also be counting on a return to full health for Nick Bottari. The redshirt-sophomore has incredible power, but has been unable to put together a full healthy season since eighth grade. He appears ready to roll and that spells trouble for CAA pitchers. Even in an injury-shortened 2016, he still smacked six home runs. But he has only scratched the surface.
The pitching staff will be led by sophomore southpaw John Rooney. The 6’5″ Rooney showed his 36-0 high school record was no fluke by striking out 77 over 72.1 IP as a freshman. He also lit up the radar gun at the Hamptons League All-Star Game. He started and hit 95 in the first inning in front of a bevy of scouts–which puts him firmly on their radar. We ranked him as the top college player on the island last year (you can read the list here).
Another sophomore that had a great high school career is Andrew Mundy. He showed great potential last year–compiling a 34:5 K:BB ratio but it did not translate in the ERA column. A return to form will benefit the Pride greatly.
Weakness:
With so many starters returning it would be hard to imagine Hofstra’s offense not improving, but if the team wants to move up in the standings this year, the pitching must also improve. Last season the Pride had a team ERA of 6.32–third worst in the conference. After losing several seniors, nine of the 15 pitchers on the roster are now freshmen or sophomores. Russo mentioned Chris Weiss and Kieran Ryan as two of the upperclassmen he hopes to see take a leadership role on his staff, and he also said he will be looking to have his guys throw more strikes early, he felt falling behind hitters was one of their issues last season.
Overview:
It seems that the Hofstra Pride have built a strong base beneath a relatively young roster. The team looks to improve on last season and hopefully chase after a spot in the conference tournament.
The Pride will have plenty of opportunity to grow together before conference play begins. They play 18 games in Louisiana, South Carolina, Alabama, and at home in Uniondale before heading back to South Carolina to face the College of Charleston in late March.
The Pride hope to use the pre-season poll as motivation, and they’re ready to prove themselves on the diamond.
