After finishing eighth in the CAA in 2017, the Hofstra Pride baseball team looks to put last season behind.
The Pride finished with a 14-37 (7-17 CAA) record in 2017. Hofstra has not been to the CAA tournament since 2012.
“We lost so many close games that we almost figured out how to lose,” said head coach John Russo. “And more importantly, we’d almost feel like we were going to lose in the dugout.”
The Pride lost five players to graduation. One of those seniors is David Leiderman, the former Pride starting third baseman, who signed with the Miami Marlins organization and report to minor league camp in March. Leiderman finished his Hofstra career with a .266 average with 11 home runs and 88 RBI. Leiderman is the 16th Hofstra player to join the professional baseball ranks.
The other seniors included catcher Chris Hardardt, pitchers Jorge Marrero and Kieran Ryan and infielder Brad Witkowski.
Not only did the Pride lose five seniors, but they also lost last year’s losing mindset. “I just can’t be around that anymore,” said Russo. “Everything we did in the fall was compete. Everything had challenges to it. Everything was [keeping] score. And I want that to become the staple of this team, that losing is unacceptable and play fearless and with reckless abandonment.”
This season, the Pride outfield returns all its starters led by senior Steven Foster. Foster finished last season with a team-high .317 batting average and 64 hits. Last season, Foster committed two errors, the first two of his college career putting his career fielding percentage at .992. “It’s good to get that error out of the way. Now I can try to not make one this season,” said Foster. He was named to our All-Long Island team in 2015 and 2017.
Redshirt-senior Teddy Cilis will man a corner outfield spot when he is not pitching this season. Cilis, a first-team all-CAA selection as a utility player, finished last season with a .280 batting average, six home runs and 27 RBI.
Sophomore Vinnie Costello rounds out the outfield for the Pride. As a freshman, Costello finished with eight home runs despite a .176 batting average. According to head coach Russo, his classmate Sean Rausch will likely miss the 2018 season due to a torn labrum. Junior Parker Quinn and sophomore Rob Weissheier might see some time in the outfield this season because of Rausch’s injury.
Junior catcher Vito Friscia will be the starting catcher and command the middle of the order again. Friscia finished 2017 with a .305 batting average with eight home runs and 33 RBI. Additionally, he compiled a team-best 27 walks and .404 on-base percentage in 2017. Friscia is also a two-time Axcess Baseball All-Long Island member.
Due to his injuries last season and this past fall, coach Russo will wait for senior infielder Mikey Riesner to recover. Riesner will be moved to either second base or third base depending on the fit.
The weekend starting rotation will feature a familiar ace in junior John Rooney. Rooney was ranked the No.1 prospect in the CAA according to Baseball America and the No. 14 left-handed pitcher by D1Baseball.com. The junior posted 86 strikeouts in 82.1 innings, although compiled a 5.36 ERA for the season. “I’m a complete pitcher overall. I think my knowledge of how to pitch, where to pitch to certain hitters, has gone up,” said Rooney.
Rooney pitched for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox of the Cape Cod League this past summer. “It’s a good place to see where you stand on the food chain,” said Rooney. “It’s one of the most exciting things in the world.” With all the rankings and projections for Rooney, it’s about the mentality to win first. “I want to be the guy that steps on the mound and says, ‘I’m going to be the best pitcher in college baseball.’”
“John has gotten better, he’s evolved,” said pitching coach John Habyan during a podcast with Axcess Baseball. “He came in as a freshman very raw and he’s gotten better each year and that’s all you can ask for,” he added.
The number two pitcher in the weekend rotation will be Teddy Cilis. Although he finished last season without a win at 0-10, Cilis put up the program’s single-season strikeout record with 96 in 75 innings. His 96 strikeouts ranked fourth in the CAA and his 11.52 strikeouts per nine innings ranked 2nd in the CAA.
Senior Chris Weiss will most likely fill a spot in the rotation for the Pride. Russo hopes to have junior pitcher Andrew Mundy healthy by conference play as he recovers from Tommy John surgery last season.
“This is really the first real recruiting class for pitching coach John Habyan in terms of incoming pitchers,” said Russo. “All of the pitching depth is credit to [Habyan] and his work.”
Hofstra gained two players from junior colleges in Matt Siedem (West Hills College) and Daniel Page (College of San Mateo). According to Coach Russo, Siedem will get good playing time catching because of his defense. Page will fight for an infield spot.
In addition, the Pride added 10 freshmen. One of those freshmen, Virginia native Austin Gauthier, will take over as starting shortstop. “He can really play defensively. He can handle the bat. He swung really well. He had a great fall for us,” said Russo. “He has sweet hands at shortstop…I’m expecting him to be right with me in batting average”, said Foster.
Other freshmen that could make an immediate impact include Wantagh native Jimmy Joyce who had a decorated career as a two-way player in high school but will likely only be asked to pitch as a freshmen. Coach Russo said Devon Jeffreys has a chance to earn the starting third base job while Riesner recovers. Freshman pitcher Brad Camarda will join junior Seamus Brazill and seniors Matt Weissheier and Michael James in the bullpen mix.
The Pride open their season February 23-25 at Lamar University for a four-game series followed by a three-game series at Norfolk State on March 3rd and 4th. Hofstra begins CAA play March 23rd at UNC Wilmington in a three-game weekend series.
Despite the record last season, the goal of making the CAA tournament hasn’t changed for the Pride.
“You’re going to see more consistent play. You’re going to see a lot of confidence,” says Rooney. “There’s going to be no heads down,” said Foster.
“It’s all about having that mentality,” said Rooney. “If we say we just want to make the tournament that’s just not going to be good enough. I want to WIN the tournament.”
(Coach Russo quotes are courtesy of WRHU Sports)
