Really good bullpen from freshman Joe Valentino pic.twitter.com/0fkn9Me6Tf
— Axcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) October 25, 2017
Our Fall Ball Series concluded this afternoon at LIU Post with the reigning ECC Champion Pioneers. I watched their full-team workout and it was very eye-opening.
If there was any question that LIU Post baseball has come a long way over the previous three seasons, look no further than the newly-implemented rule by the school’s athletic department.
On days that the men’s soccer team is playing, the baseball team is prohibited from taking batting practice on the field due to the amount of home runs that have interrupted the soccer games. The biggest culprits have been Rob Andreoli and Zach Fritz.
Head Coach Mike Gaffney noted that in previous years that was not an issue since nobody was hitting the ball that far.
That is the state of Pioneers baseball these days, coming off a 32-win season in which they were crowned ECC Champs led by a balanced team with a closer (Dan Jagiello) that got drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers, an ace (Jake DeCarli) that was lights-out from day 1 and a center fielder (Rob Andreoli) that wrecked havoc every time he stepped to the plate.
DeCarli’s absence will be difficult to replace in 2018
Jagiello and DeCarli (both named to our All-Long Island team) have since departed, along with outfielder Kenny Daley and catcher Thomas Asbaty--whom the team will be tasked with replacing, but Gaffney is confident that his team’s depth will allow for a seamless transition.
Asbaty will be replaced by Anthony Vaglica, who smacked 7 HR and drove in 41 runs and was named to our All-Long Island team and will be counted on to produce runs from the middle of the lineup.
Daley will be replaced by Joe Piscitelli, who was a member of the 2015 Division team that won the Long Island Championship, and will be a threat to steal every time he’s on base.
Gaffney certainly has reason to be confident with the left side of the infield with Joe Spitaleri and Jimmy Mendyk.
They showcased their defensive abilities during infield practice, converting every routine play along with the occasional sparking play. As a bonus, they can both handle the bat very well. Spitaleri was second on the team in hitting at .326 and added 19 stolen bases in 23 attempts. Mendyk batted .276, scored 30 runs and was successful in all 12 of his stolen base attempts.
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The offense is certainly well-balanced, led by Andreoli. He completed one of the best seasons in program history which earned him ECC and ECAC Player of the Year honors. He batted .346 with 5 HR and 44 RBI. He smacked 73 hits including 15 doubles. He will solidify the third-spot in the order, hoping to drive in Piscitelli and newcomer Ramger Iglesias (transfer from Bloomfield College in NJ). According to Gaffney, he runs a 6.4 60-yard dash and could hit second in the order.
They will also be counting on a strong season from junior Dave Brehm and sophomore Zach Fritz, who was arguably the best power-hitter on Long Island coming out of East Meadow in 2016. He smacked 5 HR last year and with a full-season worth of at bats, he could certainly eclipse that number.
He is also very pleased to have a player with the versatility of Bayport-Blue Point grad Sal Geraci. He’s capable of playing infield, outfield and has even gotten some reps behind the plate. Players with a winning pedigree like him that are willing to play all over the diamond are often difference makers in crucial moments.
Gaffney noted the team will utilize their speed on the bases. They were successful on stolen bases 110 times in 130 attempts and could be even more aggressive with the increased role of Piscitelli and the presence of Iglesias.
The X-Factor will be the pitching staff. The obvious challenge will be replacing a workhorse like DeCarli who is coming off a 101.1 IP season with a record of 9-1 and a tidy 2.22 ERA.
Fortunately, sophomore LHP Noah Lorenzo is waiting in the wings as the incumbent. The St. John the Baptist grad was tasked with being a weekend starter last year and he certainly was up for the challenge. He threw a shutout in his collegiate debut, and compiled 79.0 IP with a record of 7-2 and ERA of 3.99. He could be the Game 1 starter. Although not an overpowering pitcher, he has confounded enough lineups to prove his worth as a reliable workhorse dating back to HS.
Beyond him, there is a slew of young arms that have shown the ability to be in the rotation. That list includes juniors Brian Kavanaugh (East Meadow) and James Varela (Division) along with sophomores Kurt Rissland, Julian Arcos (Chaminade) and Mike Stiles (Comsewogue) while freshmen like Joe Valentino (West Islip) and J.J. Lantigua (Hewlett) have impressed Gaffney throughout the fall with their velocity and clean mechanics.
Gaffney noted that Kavanaugh possesses some of the same bulldog characteristics as DeCarli, which I noticed when I watched his outing against Molloy in April of his freshman year. The East Meadow grad was 20-2 during his HS career including 7-0 in his senior season.
The bullpen also features a variety of looks. Big, hard-throwing Greg Haynes (New Hyde Park) could generate lots of swings-and-misses and ground balls with his downward plane, Mike Lazos (Hauppauge) allowed only one run out of the bullpen last year and Pat McCabe (North Babylon) is a strike-thrower with a three-pitch mix that could go multiple innings as well.
My biggest takeaway was not only how well-balanced they are, but how relaxed they were in practice with Coach Gaffney fostering an atmosphere that was equal parts business and fun.
They should have some great match ups with regional champ St. Thomas Aquinas as the two are the early favorites for the ECC crown.
