When Charlie Barbieri was interviewing for the SUNY Maritime Head Coaching position, he was asked ‘when do you think you can compete for a championship?’ He responded with “three or four years.”
Well, it turns out that statement was a foreshadow as they fulfilled his prophecy with a 14-2 victory over Mount St. Mary’s to win the program’s first Skyline Conference championship.
Maritime has done it! They are the 2017 Skyline Conference Champs ! pic.twitter.com/XBjx81XtXs
— aXcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) May 8, 2017
“We believed,” said the third-year Head Coach, who has guided the Privateers to a 26-11 record after taking over for a program that was 14-18 in 2014.
“It wasn’t false bravado, it was legit. They believed and we believed. Now there’s a new sheriff in town, and they play under the Throgs Neck Bridge,” he added, referencing our pre-season article on March 1.
Their offense got to work early and often against St. Mary’s starter Blake Keenan with two runs in the first and four in the second to knock out Keenan. That essentially was the difference in the game, as their starter, Anthony D’Ancona, did a tremendous job of pitching with the lead.
He fired a complete game, allowing only six hits, two runs (0 ER), with two walks and four strikeouts to win his fifth game of the season.
The offense smacked 17 hits, with Phil Russo and Aaron Schiavoni leading the way with three hits apiece. Russo’s two-run double in the second inning was the icing on the cake of their four-run rally. Matt Costleigh, Chris Deddo, Stephen Semler, Brian McLaughlin and Connor Alwan all contributed two hits each on their way to the victory.
Deddo was named Most Outstanding Player of the tournament, and he was in tears discussing the team’s journey. Coach Barbieri had a text message saved on his phone from 2014 in which Deddo stated that he was prepared to bring a championship to Maritime during his tenure.
“We went from pretty much being a club team to now Skyline Conference champions, it’s absolutely unbelievable,” he said fighting back tears. “I have no words to describe the feelings right now,” he added.
The team was built around a potent offense and a young, but talented pitching staff. They wound up a team batting average of .330 with a .415 OBP and .491 SLG thanks to 37 HR. McLaughlin was a force all season, winning the triple crown of the Skyline with a .457 AVG, 9 HR and 49 RBI (nearly doubling the previous school RBI record of 26). McLaughlin essentially re-wrote the program’s record books throughout his collegiate career.
Next up, the team will hope to keep the run going in the NCAA Regionals, but they will have to do so without several of their key players as they must fulfill their obligations to the school’s curriculum with the naval program.
For now, they will enjoy the victory which was a culmination of a ton of hard work and dedication.
“The best part is we have pretty much everyone back for next year.”
