NYIT Leaning on Trio of Hard Throwers

Last Season’s Record: 17-26

Key Additions: Ben McNeill (SS), Brendan Dowd (C), Nicholas Vitale (SS/2B), Ryan Kuskowski (C), Nicholas Tedesco (1B)

Key Subtractions: Joe Daru (OF), Dixon Marble (RHP)

The New York Institute of Technology looks to continue their steady improvement under head coach Bob Malvagna. The NYIT Bears are the last independent school in the NCAA Division I baseball program, therefore, their goal for their season is different than most teams. They’re not looking to make conference tournament at the end of the year, their focus will be growing as a team. As Coach Malvagna said of his expectations, “Every year we improve is a positive.”

Strengths:

The Bears’ starting pitching will be their biggest strength this season. This class of seniors are the first group that Malvagna has coached through all four years, and he’s very enthusiastic about his rotation. He said of his staff, “We have four starters who can all hit 90+.”

Seniors Matt Diaz, Elias Martinez, and Frank Valentino are going to have to step up and become leaders on this staff following the departure of workhorse Dixon Marble–who led the team in innings pitched and had the second-best ERA last season.

They turned heads during the fall scout day when they all lit up the radar gun with their heaters. Diaz has been on the radar of several teams since our Battle of the Border and Martinez and Valentino have the potential to do the same.

As for the offense, seniors Frank Sanacore, Anthony Caradonna, and Louis Mele will be among those leading the charge. Mele, twice named to the Baseball on the Island All-Long Island team, hit five home runs and batted .313 during the last season.

Sophomore Jake Lebel, 6’5″ 268 lbs, will also be looking to take the next step. He struggled to find consistency during his freshman season, but he was also third on the team with three home runs. Freshmen Nicholas Tedesco and Ben McNeill will also be two of the newcomers that will likely see significant time during the season. Tedesco was considered a Blue Chip Prospect Top 50 on Long Island while at Sachem East. McNeill was All-State at Commack and will be backing up Joe Fusco, a junior transfer from Hofstra.

For the NYIT offense to reach the level Malvagna would like, the team needs to see their upperclassmen improve while grooming some of the younger players for the future.

Weakness:

While Malvagna clearly has confidence in his team, any team that was nine games under .500 the previous year must overcome some deficiencies. Malvagna said, “We need to cut down on the strike outs this year and focus on putting the ball in play…Last season I think we had a lot of younger guys in key situations, it hurt us then, but I think it will help us this year.”

The Bears lost several close games late last season, their hope is those tough losses will serve not only as valuable experience but as motivation for the coming year.

Overview:

Coach Malvagna hopes that this, his fifth season with the Bears, will be the teams’ most successful yet. The combination of talented recruits and developed upperclassmen could give NYIT the ability to compete with some top Div-I teams. They begin the season at Arkansas State, and play most games on the road. Without a conference the Bears schedule many of their games around their opponents’ bye weeks, and because of that they are often forced to travel.

Malvagna acknowledges that this may be tougher on his players, but as he said, “It’s always better to sleep in your own bed, but with a lot of games on the road my guys are going to learn to deal with these challenges and be better for it.”