It was not too long ago that fouls balls landed on Sunrise Highway and overthrows by infielders ended up in the middle of campus at St. Joseph’s.
Now coming off winning the Skyline Conference championship, with a six-year old turf facility and getting an influx of talent via transfers and incoming freshman, St. Joseph’s might be becoming one of the top choices for top players on Long Island.
“Depth is everything,” said Rick Garrett, who will enter the 2017 title defense with a 42 man roster. “We got kids coming from all over because they hear about it. Some of our coaches are from there. Now it’s become an all Long Island school,” he added.
In the past, they were a predominantly eastern Suffolk-based team, which put them at an obvious disadvantage against teams that choose from a wider pool of talent. The results have been obvious, as they are replacing a big graduating class with transfers such as Lou Doria (Wantagh), PJ Martino (Medford), Paul Britt (Commack), Anthony Raucci (Seaford), Dylan Piscitelli (Greenlawn) and impact freshman such as Tyler Sanderson (2016 League V MVP), Tim Woodford ( both Hauppauge), Tom Ekbom (St. John the Baptist), Jimmy Conway and Michael Reda (both St. Dominic).
The pitching staff should lead the way.
Despite losing Ryan Aloise to the NYPD Academy last month, they will be led by seniors Josh Outsen, Brandon Lubrano, Nick Clemente and PJ Martino.
All of those pitchers have proven their mettle at the college level and have experienced the pressure cooker of pitching in the postseason.
Outsen has two career perfect games on his resume, Lubrano compiled a 3.04 ERA over 50.1 IP, Martino was the ECC Rookie of the Year in 2015 and Clemente won two games last year out of the bullpen.
The offense will be relying on senior Anthony Bonilla, who led the team with 25 RBI last year and plays a steady center field as well.
They will be comfortable with a tandem of Dan Campanelli and Britt behind the plate. Campanelli won two NYS Class A titles in high school at Bayport-Blue Point and was a key cog in the championship run last season. Britt, a Cortland-transfer, has been lauded for his ability behind the plate and his line-drive swing at the plate.
Doria, Piscitelli and Raucci could have a real impact in the middle of the order. It will be no small task to replace the group of seniors they had last year, but they will be leaning on their current group of veteran leaders to set the tone.
Also, their outfield should be able to cover a ton of ground–which is very important with the dimensions of their ballpark to the power alleys.
Garrett noted that winning has turned around the perception of the program which, in turn, results in impact players wanting to be a part of the program.
While it will be no cake walk to repeat with Old Westbury, Maritime and, of course, Farmingdale representing obstacles to their destination–they are feeling very good about their chances to compete for a repeat.
