Today begins the three-day, double-elimination Skyline Conference tournament at Farmingdale State College. The event was held there last year, as well as 2016. Both years the Championship was captured by St. Joseph’s College, but with Wednesday’s 10-9 loss at Maritime, they will not have a chance to do so this season.
The first game will be held at 1pm, between No. 3 Old Westbury and No. 2 USMMA. Following that will be No. 4 Maritime and No. 1 Farmingdale State. The losers of those games will play at 7pm tonight in an elimination game. The winners will advance to play at 10am on Saturday. Let’s look at the two match ups.
No. 3 Old Westbury @ No. 2 USMMA
These two teams met on Sunday, April 14 at Old Westbury, with the teams splitting the double header. USMMA took Game 1, 5-2, while the Panthers captured the second game, 7-4.
The one thing you will notice about that double header is that Andrew Spinnenweber did not pitch. Old Westbury will likely have to face USMMA’s ace this time around and that is not great news considering he was probably the best pitcher in the conference over the past two seasons. He went 5-0 with a 1.10 ERA and 59 strikeouts over 58 innings. Additionally, he compiled that while pitching against the top teams in the conference. When you dive deep into the numbers, it really tells the story of a lights-out pitcher. He allowed just five ER on the season, and he walked only 10 batters. Most impressively, he held the opposition to a batting average of .174, including four doubles, no triples and no home runs. He hit just one batter and threw three wild pitches. That is a pitcher that puts the ball where he wants to. With a big ballpark like Farmingdale, he does especially well because he pitches to the dimensions. When he pitched against Farmingdale, he took a no-hitter into the seventh inning with two outs before a dropped pop up and a seeing-eye single ended his no-hitter and shutout. Regardless, he’s a workhorse and I think his presence makes all the difference.
He will face a lineup that scored 11 against Mount St. Vincent on Wednesday. They are swinging the bat well right now. Leading the charge is their middle-of-the-order sluggers Peter Capel and John Condon. The two lefties are the two leading hitters in the lineup. Condon is hitting .373 with 31 RBI, .432 OBP,, 12 walks and only 7 strikeouts. Capel is hitting .350 with 36 RBI, .440 OBP, 13 walks and 15 strikeouts. Leadoff batter Mike Manetta is hitting .337 and Brandon Wilson is right behind at .313. Manetta missed some time with a hamstring injury but he’s back to 100 percent.
He will likely be opposed by Christian Tessitore, who they were able to avoid using in the play-in game, which benefits them today. Tessitore is an established pitcher who will not be fazed by the moment. The biggest challenge for him will be containing the league’s top-hitting team. Merchant Marine Academy hit .330. Six of their regulars eclipsed .330 led by the terrifying duo of Vincenzo Alteri and Jesse Reinebold. Both are north of .400 and have been all season. Aside from batting average, they both draw walks. Alteri’s OBP of .453 is eclipsed by Reinebold’s .466. That’s not even the highest on the team. That honor belongs to Matt Mundorf who reaches at nearly a 50 percent clip. Overall, the team’s .417 OBP essentially means they get on base at the same clip as Joey Votto.
No. 4 Maritime @ No. 1 Farmingdale State
These two teams met on Friday, April 19 at Maritime. The Rams swept the double header, 6-1 and 5-0.
The Rams will either start Matthew Constantine or Steven Burke. Both have been equally dominant this season and have the experience to handle the big moment. Constantine is 7-1 with a 2 saves over 57.1 IP. He compiled 43 strikeouts against 10 walks and held opposing batters to 47 hits. Burke is 5-0 with a 1.53 ERA over 47.0 IP. My sense is that Constantine gets the Game 1 start, he showed what he was made of last year coming on in relief of David Otero and completely shutting down USMMA in the first game of the tournament.
He will face a lineup that put up 10 runs on Wednesday, but Farmingdale’s defense does not figure to make miscues that allow for extra outs. The biggest challenge will be making sure that Travis Zurita can not hurt them. He leads the conference with six home runs and has driven in 34 runs. Eric Wenig, Ryan Rockhill and Adam Mosca all homered the other night as well so the lineup is far from a one-trick pony.
The Privateers will either start Niko Concha or Travis Bruinsma. They will have to contain a lineup that is hitting .300 and led by one of the top hitters on Long Island, Vinny Rice. He is batting .419 with four HR and 20 RBI. He walks more than he strikes out and also was successful on 14 of his 15 stolen base attempts. Their lineup has contributors up-and-down plus guys on the bench. Fourteen players had 10+ hits and they have a team SLG % of .420.
Prediction: I said in the fall and I will stick to my prediction now. Championship Sunday will feature USMMA and Farmingdale. These were the best two teams in the conference from day 1. They have no weaknesses. USMMA dispelled the notion that they had pitching depth issues behind Spinnenweber and Joe Raab right away and they also have a lights-out closer in Kyle Cunningham.
It’s going to be a great match up, but I will go with my pre-season pick of Farmingdale State. The Rams will break through and capture their first Skyline Conference title since 2014.
