The unexpected arctic temperatures put a huge damper on baseball this week on Long Island. A few of the teams were able to escape down south to get their games in, but the rest were left to track the weather fronts all weekend.
In the case of Farmingdale and St. Joseph’s, the weather delayed there season until the second week of March.
With that being said, here is my best attempt to rank the teams in our coverage area.
(Note: These rankings are based off a team’s current momentum and performance against their competition, not weighted to Div-I, Div-II, etc)
- St. John’s (Record: 10-1, Stock UP)
It’s hard to imagine a team getting off to a better start than them. This week they defeated the reigning national champions in Coastal Carolina. They finally lost today, but they come home as a nationally ranked team with a tremendous offense that is hitting .341 and a pitching staff with a 2.55 ERA. John Valente and Jesse Berardi have been on fire.
2. Maritime (Record: 2-0, Stock UP)
They came out of the gate red-hot with 10-0 and 8-7 wins over Southern Vermont today. Catcher Steve Semler drove in six runs with a double, triple and HR. Head Coach Charlie Barbieri is very high on him and feels he can be an All-American this season.
3. LIU Post (Record: 6-3, Stock EVEN)
They did not play this week due to the weather. They will be hoping that it doesn’t stop their momentum–they are riding a five-game win streak. Anthony Vaglica was voted by his peers as MVP for the month of February.
4. Adelphi (Record: 1-2, Stock DOWN)
They won their first game of the year in crisp fashion over a very strong St. Thomas Aquinas team, but lost their next two games to Franklin Pierce. They have received great starting pitching from TJ Santiago and Ed Baram and strong hitting from Mike Stack and Brandon Morse so far.
5. Fordham (Record: 2-8, Stock DOWN)
They lost three of four this weekend to Canisius, losing in 10 innings today despite a stellar effort from starter Jimmy Murphy, who went 9.1 IP with 11 strikeouts. They won a wild game on a walkoff Saturday that featured several lead changes. Luke Stamfl is making a strong case to get drafted–he already has 17 hits in 43 at bats and has hit for the cycle. Brian Goulard is right behind him with 14 hits. The weakness has been the starting pitching that has compiled a 5.93 ERA.
6. Old Westbury (Record: 1-2, Stock DOWN)
Today was the ultimate mixed bag of results. They won a wild 9-inning game on a walk-off error, but then were promptly no-hit in Game 2 by Paul Wetmore. They entered the season with a loaded offense but they have not yet to score more than five runs in a game. They hit .334 as a team last year. Tommy Ziegen (5-for-11) is the only player off to a great start offensively.
7. Suffolk (Record: 2-3, Stock DOWN)
They had an uncharacteristic meltdown in their 11-7 loss to Garrett College in which they blew a 7-1 lead in the seventh inning by committing six errors. Coach Brown stated that was the first time that’s happened in his 30-year tenure. They responded with a 12-6 win over Western Technical College, so they overcame it quickly.
8. Molloy (Record: 2-8, Stock DOWN)
They are coming off two wins in their last three games, so they may have begun to turn things around. Elijah Leerdam, Michael Rahn and Anthony Alberghina are off to great starts offensively, but the rest of the team is hitting only .234. They have a 9.82 ERA so that will need to turn around as they head down to Florida this week.
9. Hofstra (Record: 2-8, Stock DOWN)
They are riding a four-game losing streak, but two of them were one-run losses. Steven Foster and Mikey Reisner are hot at the plate, but the rest of the team has been slumping offensively. Jorge Marrero has been a terrific find, John Rooney and John Ryan have been solid, but it hasn’t yet translated to a hot streak. They will play one home game this week before going back down south to Alabama.
10. Stony Brook (Record: 1-8, Stock DOWN)
They are also on a four-game losing streak, with two of them coming by one-run. The offense has been carried by freshman Michael Wilson and senior Toby Handley, but they are hitting .217 as a team. The bright spot in the pitching staff has been freshman Brian Herrmann, who had his second great outing today. They will be hoping their five-game home stand can turn the tides.
11. NYIT (Record: 1-6, Stock DOWN)
They didn’t play this week, they will play Hofstra and Stony Brook this week with lots of bragging rights on the line as they will be looking to show their progress as a program.
