It’s actually been an outstanding run of success for the local teams. This is in stark contrast to the past few seasons which did not feature this level of overall success. Out of our coverage area, all but three teams are over .500. I will continue the same format from last week, segmenting by divisions.
Division-I:
- Fordham (Record: 18-9-1, Trending UP)
They stayed red-hot, winning two of three this weekend from Rhode Island. The major story of the week was their offensive onslaught on Wednesday against St. Peter’s in which they put up a remarkable 29 runs. Five players record three or more RBI. The previous week, they put up 18 against them. That’s almost unfathomable. In Saturday’s win, Ben Greenberg was lights-out, allowing just one hit over seven innings and the combination of Brian Weissert and Kyle Martin was outstanding yet again. Today, Anthony DiMeglio went seven strong innings for his fourth win of the season. Overall a 3.18 team ERA and .277 AVG with 6.25 runs per game (obviously the 37 runs in two game stretch skews it). They will be back in action on Wednesday against Siena in a DH.
2. St. John’s (Record: 17-10, Trending UP)
They swept Villanova this weekend to get back to their winning ways. Five players had multiple hits today with John Valente, Jamie Galazin and Josh Shaw leading the way with three hits. Valente has now reached base safely in 42 consecutive games dating back to last season. Another telling offensive statistic is Robert Boselli III recording a hit and an RBI in his eighth consecutive game. Also, Wyatt Mascarella has quietly taken the team lead in hitting at .386. Very balanced offensive attack, which complements their outstanding team ERA of 2.86–which is top-10 in the nation. They will be back in action on Tuesday against Albany.
3. Stony Brook (Record: 17-12, Trending UP)
They went 2-2 this weekend, but most importantly, they won two of three from America East rival Maine, to keep them in first place. There were a few major story lines. First off, Aaron Pinto tied the program-record with 8 saves in a single-season and also third place on the career leader list with 11. He has been outstanding all season and has a 0.42 ERA. Also, yesterday Bobby Honeyman went 7-for-7 in the double header. I don’t care what level of baseball you are at, that is close to impossible. At the Division-I level that is incomprehensible. Just a great achievement by the senior to raise his season average of .371. The only player he’s trailing in team average is the white-hot Nick Grande, who had four more hits today raising his season average to .394 with a .615 SLG. Those two have been leading the offensive charge. The team average is .267, so that says a lot. The third thing I wanted to mention was Greg Marino‘s strong outing today. He came into the season with very high expectations, and the results haven’t been there. It happens, the sophomore slump is something that has plagued many players before and he won’t be the last. It is commendable that he hasn’t allowed it to crush him and he went out and got the win in a crucial game for the Sea Wolves.
4. Hofstra (Record: 14-10, Trending UP)
Not much more you can say about John Rooney that hasn’t been said. Baseball America ranked him as the seventh best college left-handed pitcher in the country. I think they might even be selling him short–granted he doesn’t have the 98 MPH fastball, but he added to his remarkable season on Friday night with arguably his best outing of the season (no-hitter included), as he fired a 2-hit shutout against Delaware with no walks, just two singles allowed and 11 strikeouts. He also picked a runner off. He has 1.29 ERA this season and is putting himself in the conversation of the top 3 rounds in the draft. On Saturday, Matt Weissheier followed up a great outing (6 IP, 1 ER), he was backed by a game-breaking 3-R shot by his brother, Rob. Good sign to see Chris Weiss hop back on the horse and record the 3-inning save after his blown save last week. They will need him to pitch lights-out to continue their success. The team average of .253 will need to improve, but the 5.16 runs per game is very solid. They will be back in action on Wednesday at Fairfield before another big conference series at Elon next weekend.
Division-II:
- LIU Post (Record: 19-11, Trending UP)
I told you they would get hot and it appears they are just hitting their stride after a four-game sweep of Queens this weekend in which they allowed a total of 3 runs. Couple takeaways: James Varela was in the midst of a great season already, and then he’s gone absolutely unconscious and has fired five consecutive complete games including a 10-inning outing on Friday. He is now 7-0 and is putting himself in the running for the Brett Tomko Award.
Additionally, they have the potential for a lights-out rotation if they can get all of Noah Lorenzo, Julien Arcos and Joe Valentino pitching to the best of their abilities–as they did this weekend. Offensively, Dave Brehm had another three hits today and he’s now leading the team in hitting at .361. When Rob Andreoli graduates, they will count on him to provide that reliable offense from a veteran leader beginning next year. They now have five players with 30+ hits, they are very well-rounded. They will host East Stroudsberg on Tuesday.
2. Molloy (Record: 18-13, Trending UP)
After another weekend sweep, they have not began the ECC schedule with 11 consecutive wins. Their transformation has been incredible to watch transpire after beginning the season 6-11. Kevin Hiss continued his terrific run of starts, firing eight innings of one-run ball on Saturday to improve his record to 6-1 on the season. The overall ERA is 5.66, but they have improved significantly in recent weeks and have gotten full contributions from their bullpen arms such as Shawn Klotsche, who has five saves, as well as Lucas Burton and Co. The offense is the real story, as they have a team AVG of .297 and scored 6.2 runs per game. Sean Hogan has been a monster; upping his average to .413 with a .488 OBP. He has been everything they could’ve hoped for and then some. Same can be said for freshman Matt Overton, who had two more hits today to increase his average to .333 and has 21 RBI. Angelo Navetta is leading the team in RBI at 25 and Jack McCarty has 38 hits and a .400 OBP. They will be back in action on Tuesday at Molloy.
3. Adelphi (Record: 13-11-1, Trending UP)
They appeared on the ropes just one week ago, but responded emphatically with five consecutive wins to get back over .500. They are 5-5 in conference so they still have their hopes alive as we enter the crux of conference play. Today, they got a huge boost from junior Michael Demarest, who fired seven innings, allowing just one run and striking out 9. His presence, along with their ace, Ed Baram, makes them formidable. Baram is the type of bulldog that they’ve been fortunate to have the past several years. He has taken the baton from T.J. Santiago as the workhorse who doesn’t want to come out of the game–he proved that again yesterday in his victory. David Butler and Max Steele have been huge out of the bullpen. As I mentioned in my column the other day, junior Thomas Colombo has been on another planet offensively. He recently had five consecutive games with three hits. Tyler Becker has taken a tremendous leap forward as well. Lucas Terwilliger and Brett Malm have been heating up as well. Credit to them for not rolling over when times got tough. They are still very much alive.
4. Pace (Record: 12-9-1, Trending EVEN)
They lost two of three this weekend to Bentley, but they did cruise past LIU on Wednesday. They will have another chance to face a local rival in Adelphi on Wednesday. Dan Wirchansky is also in the running for Div-II Pitcher of the Year. His numbers are just silly at this point. He has 63 strikeouts against 5 walks and a 0.71 ERA through six starts. They have a solid 3.27 ERA. The offense has been led by Paul Piccolino, Michael Salmonese, Ryan Crowley and Michael Gulino.
5. NYIT (Record: 5-14-1, Trending EVEN)
It wasn’t a great week as they dropped all four games, but they did receive an encouraging start from D.J. Masuck on Friday against St. Thomas Aquinas, as he went eight innings, striking out five and allowing just two ER. Offensively, Ben McNeill has been hitting the ball very well, his average is up to .298 with a .500 SLG. Dominic Paolo has been outstanding; hitting .379 through 66 at bats.
Division-III:
- USMMA (Record: 20-4, Trending UP)
Just an unbelievable start to the season. Their aces of Joe Raab (5-0, 0.77 ERA) and Andrew Spinnenweber (4-1, 1.71 ERA) have dominated. Quinton Heck and Justus Martin have combined for 4 wins and 42 IP. The .320 team AVG stands out. Vincenzo Alteri is tearing the cover off the ball with a .451 AVG and .531 OBP. Jesse Reinebold is second on the team in hitting at .393. They will be back in action on Tuesday at William Paterson as they look to continue their run.
2. St. Joseph’s (Record: 11-9, Trending UP)
Today was a big sweep of Mount St. Mary’s, who played very competitive both games. They got a huge outing from Joseph Murphy in Game 1, with seven strong innings. He was relieved by Adam Brisman and Tyler Villez, who combined to slam the door shut on the victory. Lou Doria drove in two runs in the game. In the second game, P.J. Martino cruised for much of the game, going six strong innings before giving way to Elliot Robles for the save. Things got a little tense, as he loaded the bases with two outs in a three-run game but he induced a fly out to left to end it. Anthony Raucci had three hits and drove in two runs and Paul Britt just missed a home run, but settled for an RBI double for a much-needed insurance run in the bottom of the sixth. Britt is hitting .400 with a .692 SLG and is really establishing himself as one of the best hitters in the region as well as a top defensive catcher. They have a huge weekend coming up with Old Westbury and Farmingdale in consecutive days.
3. Maritime (Record: 14-9, Trending DOWN)
I haven’t seen them since the opening weekend of the season, but I can tell you that today’s sweep at the hands of USMMA was not a positive. They received an outstanding effort from ace Anthony D’Ancona today, firing a complete game but getting saddled with the loss, 1-0. Their team AVG of .314 and team ERA of 3.18 still screams elite. They will host Manhatttanville on Tuesday as they look to get back on track, I think they will be fine. D’Ancona has been lights-out, he lowered his ERA to 0.98 through 36.2 IP. Phil Russo is leading the team in hitting at .408 with Travis Zurita right behind at .403.
4. Farmingdale (Record: 13-8, Trending EVEN)
They always seem to have the most tightly-contested games against Old Westbury and today was no difference with their 3-0 victory and 4-3 defeat. Huge outing by David Otero Jr. firing a complete game in game 1, doing his best imitation of Matt Seelinger. Huge defensive play by Tyler Schrimpf saving a run with a diving play to prevent the Panthers from getting on the board late in the game.With a team slugging percentage of .381, they are clearly not the power hitting team of yester-years, but they have the talent to win low-scoring games. They will count on their upperclassmen like Shawn Blasberg, Anthony Gigante, Ernie Geraci, Domenic Palumbo and others to lead the way.
5. Old Westbury (Record: 9-11-1, Trending DOWN)
The injuries have decimated them, they still are a very competitive as they proved today against rival Farmingdale but not many teams can withstand losing their ace and they also have to be careful with Christian Tessitore as he is coming back from Tommy John. They got a huge outing from Steve Tellerias for his first win of the season. He helped keep them afloat. Offensively, they have been terrific. John Condon is in the conversation for Player of the Year with a .423 AVG and .500 SLG. They have also received tremendous seasons from Jesse Russo, John Fogarty, Liam Slattery, Mike Manetta. A .325 team average is pretty significant. They will be back in action on Tuesday at Lehman.
Juco:
Suffolk (Record: 18-4, Trending UP)
This weekend they put up video game numbers. They swept Kingsborough and Monroe, outscoring them by a combined score of 87-5. They had a “scare” on Saturday when they only won 7-4. They are Jeff Towle’s numbers are ridiculous (.553 AVG/.617 OBP/1.128 SLG with 6 HR, 28 RBI, 8 BB and just 6 strikeouts. Michael Pascuzzi is batting .486 and Jimmy Mattera is batting .440. The pitching staff, led by Nick Morena, Tyler Schmid, Ryan Steffens and Chris Berte have compiled an ERA of 2.58. Just crazy stuff.
Nassau (Record: 5-6)
They haven’t kept consistent stats on their website, but I did watch them play last week against ASA.
