Casey McKay, now in his second-year as Head Coach at St. John the Baptist, knows a thing or two about winning. During his playing days at SJB, he led the Cougars to a CHSAA league title in 2008 and finishing runner-up in 2007. He also had a successful collegiate career at LIU Post.
He will have a challenge this year in replacing their high-level of production from last year’s seniors–Kevin Dolan, Noah Lorenzo, Nick Lasala and Tom Ekbom. The first two are now playing at LIU Post, Lasala is at Farmingdale State and Ekbom is at St. Joseph’s.
“This year’s team is a lot different than last year,” said McKay. “We had a lot of guys that hit for power and extra bases, we will have to rely a lot more on our speed, pitching and defense this year,” he said.
They will be counting on ECU-commit Logan O’Hoppe to provide punch offensively and be a leader behind the plate. O’Hoppe, named to our Pre-Season Top 30, has been considered one of the best catch + throw guys to come from Long Island in years.
Logan O’Hoppe making the proudest phone call of his life pic.twitter.com/tqllhGWCWA
— aXcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) October 20, 2016
McKay was extremely complimentary of his star catcher. “He is one of the most intelligent players I’ve seen. He has incredible baseball acumen for a young kid. I will trust him with a lot behind the plate. He also looks like he improved his swing a lot. He got huge in the past year. He will have a chance to be a professional player,” he added.
He will be tasked with handling a pitching staff led by Keene State-commit Greg Piggioli. He was the closer last year–fanning 27 batters in 25 innings, but will be the ace of this team. McKay noted that while he will be filling in the big shoes of Noah Lorenzo, he is a tough kid that should be able to handle it.
Piggioli will be joined by senior RHP Nick Egan. His older brother plays at Quinnipiac University and he has been getting interest from some schools.
“He missed last year with an injury and we missed him A LOT ,” said McKay. “He’s got terrific control and movement.”
Two other key components to the team will be sophomore second baseman Matt Archer and junior outfielder Will Shaw. Archer is the younger brother of Hofstra second baseman Tom, who also played for SJB. McKay noted that Matt fits the same mold of ballplayer, but he possesses more speed.
“He has outstanding hands and defensive abilities and has great speed,” he said. He will be their leadoff hitter and starting second baseman.
Shaw recently converted into a center fielder from infield, has been “drawing pretty good interest” from local Div-I schools. McKay added that he is a switch-hitter with legitimate power from both sides of the plate.
“He had an outstanding summer. He grew and got strong,” said McKay.
The Cougars are coming off a 12-6 regular season. They will be looking to improve on that this year, they will open up this Saturday against Matituck in a non-league game and will open up league play on Tuesday at St. Dominic
