Double barrel action with Brian Herrmann and Kris Killackey pic.twitter.com/zNqkpZNGmj
Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) September 28, 2017
If you like pitching, you will enjoy the 2018 Stony Brook Sea Wolves.
Without question the strength of this team will be in the pitching staff. They can come at you from all different arm angles and sizes. Senior LHP Teddy Rodliff has the “funky delivery” according to Head Coach Matt Senk, owner of 745 career wins and a .606 winning percentage. Cole Creighton stands 5’9″, while Greg Marino is an imposing 6’6″. All of these pitchers, though, throw hard and will make it very difficult for opposing batters in the America East.
The 2017 Axcess Baseball Rookie of the Year, Brian Herrmann, will be looking to build off his terrific freshman campaign. He led the team with 80.2 IP and a quality 3.46 ERA. Fellow sophomore Greg Marino (4.18 ERA, 60.1 IP) will join him and hopefully provide quality innings for the Sea Wolves.
“Both of them had really good first seasons for us,” said Senk. “They’ve been throwing and could be starting on the weekends for us,” he said.
Senior Aaron Pinto will have a crucial role on the staff. The hard-throwing RHP has garnered plenty of looks from scouts in the fall and already this winter. He led the team in ERA at 2.88 over 40.2 IP with 48 strikeouts and a .238 AVG against. Pinto sits high 80s and low 90s and has a devastating change up that will induce plenty of swings-and-misses and ground balls.
In 2016, Bret Clarke was dynamite for the Sea Wolves. We awarded him Rookie of the Year thanks to a remarkable 2.19 ERA over 61.2 IP with a record of 6-2 and a .241 AVG against. He endured a rough sophomore slump, though, and his numbers fell across the board. Do not count him out, though, as the PA native has opened eyes already.
“We recently had an intrasquad last week and he was sitting 90-91 MPH and touching 93. His slider is plus and it’s his out pitch. I think he’s back to his freshman form. Now that he’s a junior he is more physically mature as well,” said Senk.
Another potential X-factor could be Hills West 2015 grad Aaron Glickstein. He was considered the top pitcher in the class coming out of high school, after an undefeated 10-0 season his junior year. Everyone that faced him raved about his command and pitchability, combined with his 88-90 MPH heater that never seemed to be above the knees. After his Tommy John surgery his senior year, though, he was slow to recover and compiled only 4 IP last year. Now a redshirt sophomore, Glickstein might be over-the-hump in terms of his recover. That would be a huge bonus for the Sea Wolves.
“He’s never changed his work ethic, he’s an unbelievable competitor,” said Senk. “You never know how someone will respond to a serious arm injury but he’s been solid so far,” he added.
The team will also be counted on the aforementioned Teddy Rodliff, the submarine-style left-handed reliever. He has pitched in the Cape Cod League the previous two years and has been a reliable reliever for the Sea Wolves. Last year he compiled a 3.16 ERA over 17 appearances out of the bullpen. He has been a hybrid reliever in the style of Andrew Miller, who can come on in the middle innings and close out the game, or simply to shut the door for three outs in the late innings.
Senk also named Cole Creighton and Kevin Kernan as important seniors that will be counted on to get important outs from the bullpen.
“Kevin is someone you need to get into a championship,” he said.
Not to be overlooked is the offense. They will have the task of replacing the production of two four-year starters in Toby Handley and Casey Baker who have both graduated.
They will be counting on seniors Bobby Honeyman and Andruw Gazzola to step up in their absence and produce runs.
“It’s hard to believe Andruw has already been with us four years. He does a lot of great things for us. He’s turned himself into quite an outfielder. He has a great skillset and can run.” In regards to Honeyman, Senk noted that he’s “really turned himself into a complete player.”
They also will be counting on some returning players such as Michael Wilson, Nick Grande, Chris Hamilton and Sean Buckhout among others. They have plenty of transfers such as Michael Russell, Cristian Montes and Brandon Alamo who could contribute immediately.
They will open up this weekend against Nicholls State in Thibodaux, LA. In the third weekend of the season, they will play the reigning national champions in Gainesville. Regarding their challenging schedule, Senk said the following:
The schedule we put together is similar to the one each year since we moved to Division-I almost 20 years ago. We want to play the best non-conference opponents we can. We want our players to play in venues that offer great experiences. You can’t have great wins if you don’t play great teams. Hopefully it makes us improve as a team and we hope to play these teams again at the end of the season. It might not necessarily be conducive to getting off to a great start, but it has always been more about the wins at the end of the season rather than the beginning.
After that, they will begin play in the America East, which has become a very strong conference with the emergence of teams like Binghamton, Maine, UMBC and Albany.
“It’s become a battle every weekend, even more so than ever. Every team has quality players, every team has quality arms. Now it seems whoever comes into the conference tournament the healthiest comes out on top,” he added.
