(Photo Credit: James Escher)
When St. Joseph’s graduated two All-Long Island pitchers, Brandon Lubrano and Josh Outsen, following the 2017 season, it was a major question mark as to how they would replace two rock-solid veterans anchoring the rotation.
It took almost until the New Year, but they seem to have answered that question with the addition of two-time All-State pitcher Anthony Papa, who transferred from Coastal Carolina (originally attended LIU Post in fall 2015). Papa was regarded as one of the best pitchers on Long Island during his stellar career at Division HS that culminated in firing a six-hit shutout against Bayport-Blue Point in the 2015 Class A Long Island Championship at NYIT.
Papa will join forces with Joseph Murphy, a transfer from Suffolk CC (Sachem East 2015) is coming off an outstanding season in which he was named to our All-Long Island team in large part to a 6-1 record on the mound and a 1.21 ERA over 52.0 IP.
The Levittown native will have three years of eligibility remaining. He underwent Tommy John surgery which prevented him from appearing in a game in 2016. Following the season, he transferred to Coastal Carolina, where he did not appear in a game. Despite the two-year layoff, early reports are that he has been throwing and has regained his mid-to-upper 80s velocity to go along with his dreaded knuckle-drop.
Those two–along with Nick Clemente and P.J. Martino could spell doom for Skyline Conference opponents. The Golden Eagles are coming off a strong season in which they went 25-14 but had their season end on a sour note–with a home loss to Mount St. Mary’s by the score of 8-5.
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