Injuries are part of the game. But sometimes they can be especially cruel and derail a season.
“I thought last year’s team was just as talented as the three years before that when we made it to the Finals but when you lose the Preseason Player of the Year for basically 26 games–all 24 conference games–and Tom Brady missing just as much, that’s a huge part of the lineup,” said Molloy Head Coach Joe Fucarino.
The Preseason Player of the Year was Matt Overton, who had a back injury that derailed much of his season. He added that at one point they had 13 guys injured at once.
Despite that rash of injuries, they were able to compile a conference record of 14-14, missing the ECC postseason by one game after a hot streak kept their slim hopes alive until Queens College snuck into the final spot.
It was only the fourth time in Fucarino’s 14-year tenure that the Lions failed to qualify for the postseason.
“That didn’t sit well,” he said in regards to missing the playoffs. “It’s going to be challenging. Even with losing Post and Dowling the past couple years, it’s still a grind every week between us, Tech, Mercy, Bridgeport, STAC and Queens.
The 2020 team seems particularly strong, especially being that they are returning 20 position players and they have one new position player, Division-I transfer Pete Theodorellis. Our audience should be familiar with him for his tremendous career at Commack, which culminated in a Class AA County Championship over West Islip and being named the Blue Chip Prospects Silver Slugger of the Year.
James Messina taking his batting practice swings. Intrasquad coming up at 3 pic.twitter.com/sFKMQGujoS
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 11, 2019
“Pete has been a great pick up,” said Fucarino. Between his overall talent and how he has gelled with the players. He’s brought a good thing to the team with his chemistry.”
Theodorellis batted leadoff and played left field during their recent scrimmage against Hofstra. He is also expected to contribute innings on the mound–possibly as the closer.
They are pretty set at several positions, with first base really being the only position up for grabs. They have a strong catcher in Thomas Brady--a transfer from NJIT and 2017 graduate of Shoreham-Wading River where he helped lead the Wildcats to a Class A Championship. Up the middle, they have Sean Hogan and Thomas Messina and Jacob McCarthy at third base. In the outfield will be some combination of Chris Peralta, Theodorellis, Overton and Jake Saltzman.
Messina led the team in hitting last season with a .349 AVG, he also stole 13 bases and played exceptional defense. Hogan was just behind him–at .348 with a team-leading 32 RBI.
Alex Brosnan‘s pitching staff should be strong.
Today they threw most of their top arms in an intrasquad game. Redshirt senior Timmy Panetta will likely anchor the staff. He led the team in innings last season with 67.0. He struck out 69 batters and won five games. He was sitting 88-89 MPH today and has a good feel for his change up in the low 80s. Joining him atop the rotation will likely be Joe Minucci and Anthony Vano. Both are hard-throwing right-handed pitchers that are seniors and should provide quality and pitch deep into games. Minucci was named to our All-Long Island team in 2017 at Nassau CC, but took a step back last season. Vano missed some time last season with an injury but was 7-2 with 2 CGs in 2018. Rounding out the rotation could be Billy Wildeman who was productive last season pitching to a 3.43 ERA over 57.2 IP.
Stony Brook-transfer Ryan Karp is a hard-throwing right-hander that looked really good against Hofstra. He can compete for a spot or lock down the late innings. A couple freshman arms that will have an impact are A.J. Verga (William Floyd) and Charlie Cucchiara (East Meadow).
Additionally, the future does appear bright for the Lions who have a great crop of 2020 commits. They will be bringing in LHP Ryan Hynes (Ward Melville), Gavin McAlonie (Miller Place), Ziv Gar (Plainview-JFK), Chris Giardino (Clarke) and Chris Einemann (Kellenberg).
They open up their season once again in Myrtle Beach, before heading to Cary, NC and Florida.
