Like we did a couple weeks ago with high school, it’s time to debate the top college teams of the 2010s.
The rules are as follows:
- Each program can appear on this list only one time. This is to avoid having the list stocked with Division-I schools.
- The schools that are in consideration are Stony Brook, Hofstra, NY Tech, Adelphi, Molloy, LIU Post, Queens, Dowling, Farmingdale State, Old Westbury, St. Joseph’s, Maritime, Suffolk CC and Nassau CC.
Without further ado, here it goes.
10. Suffolk CC 2018 (Record: 30-13)
This team had a terrific combination of pitching and defense. Leading the charge offensively was Jeff Towle. A catcher with true power potential at the plate, he hit three HRs in one game in early March. He finished the season with a triple slash line of .463/.543/.862. He smashed 10 HR, scored 46 runs and drove in 46 runs. He was joined by James Mattera who batted .359 with five HR and 30 RBI, he was also named the Rawlings Gold Glove Award winner for LF. Overall, they hit 42 home runs and batted .320.
Their pitching was a quartet of dominant pitchers. Ryan Steffens went 8-2 with a 2.87 ERA, he was named Most Outstanding Player of the Region XV Tournament. Chris Berte went 6-1 with a 1.64 ERA and 2 CGs. Tyler Schmid went 5-3 with a 1.89 ERA and 12.04 K/9 and Nick Morena went 6-5 with a 3.88 ERA and 11.95 K/9.
After defeating Nassau to capture the Region XV Championship, they advanced to the District F Championship but lost to Northern Essex Community College by the scores of 9-0 and 7-5. This was Coach Brian Klammer’s only season as the Head Coach before giving way to Jason Galbraith in 2019, in which the team captured the Region XV Championship once again.
9. Nassau CC 2013 (Record: 27-10)
As good of a community college pitching staff as you’ll see.
Alex Brosnan, Molloy’s current pitching coach, was unhittable. He compiled an unblemished record of 8-0 with a 2.23 ERA over 60 innings and fired two no-hitters. He was named Pitcher of the Year. Glenn Cinelli was 6-1 over 42 innings pitched with a 2.89 ERA and 72 Ks. Tim Ingram, who was drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays following the 2015 season, was 5-0 over 35 innings with 40 Ks.
Oh, and the offense wasn’t too shabby.
Brandon Gideon was named Player of the Year after hitting .494. Ryan Sliwak hit an incredible .523 and went on to play at UMBC. Bob Keating batted .413 and went on to play a critical role in St. Joseph’s Skyline Conference Championship in 2016. Mike Cruz, current strength & conditioning coach at Molloy, batted .429 before transferring to SUNY Oneonta. Will Cheshire batted .471 before transferring to Buffalo State to play football. Kevin Monaghan batted .450 before transferring to SUNY Maritime and Kevin Lao batted .300 and became an All-Long Island player for SUNY Old Westbury. Overall, 15 players moved on to play at four-year universities and they peaked as the No. 6 ranked Div-III JuCo team in the country. They made it to the College World Series but lost to Century College that had four players drafted.
8. LIU Post 2019 (Record: 38-16)
LIU Post captures the 2019 ECC Championship! pic.twitter.com/9Aq1bJyHvB
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 11, 2019
This team was an absolute powerhouse outside of 0-4 start to the season. From that point on, they turned on the jets and sprinted past everyone in the ECC to a 24-4 conference record and ECC Championship. At one point during the season, they won 10 consecutive games and scored 124 runs in the process.
The strength of the team was their 1-2-3 punch in the rotation with Joshua Loeschorn (10-0, 1.34 ERA), James Varela (10-3, 2.01 ERA) and Noah Lorenzo (10-4, 2.55 ERA). That accounted for 30 of their 38 wins.
The offense was led by Chris Wasson, Dave Brehm, Mike Manzione, Anthony Vaglica, Zach Fritz, Giovanni Ciaccio and Andy Camilo. They won all three games in the ECC tournament by the scores of 9-0, 11-5 and 15-0. They won the first two games of the NCAA Regional, but lost back-to-back games to Southern New Hampshire to have their season cut short.
The program merged with LIU Brooklyn and is now a Division-I program that plays in the Northeast Conference (NEC).
7. Hofstra 2012 (Record: 34-22)
The story of this team was their offense–specifically Danny Poma. He had one of the finest seasons in the country. He was named All-America First Team after he set a program record for batting average (.430), hits (102), doubles (32) and runs (78). He was selected by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the MLB Draft.
The offense in general was outstanding. They batted .334 as a team. Matt Ford (.384), Jared Hammer (.376), Kenny Jackson (.344), Dalton Rouleau (.328) and Kevin Flynn (.326) were all regulars that batted comfortably over .300.
They had a 20-10 record in conference play, but had their season cut short by Delaware in the loser’s bracket final by the score of 12-9. Hofstra led 7-2 in the 7th inning of the game. With their offense, they certainly would’ve had a decent shot to beat UNC-Wilmington in the championship.
6. Farmingdale State 2012 (Record: 32-12)
They lost on March 31 to Old Westbury. They would not lose again until May 11 in a tuneup game for the NCAA Regionals against Kean. In between, they won 15 consecutive games including a legendary comeback in the Skyline Conference Championship that resulted in one of the coolest YouTube videos you’ll ever see. This team was led by a dominant pitching staff led by Chris Phelan (9-1 record, 2.01 ERA), C.J. Bula (8-3 record, 4.35 ERA) and Anthony Eilers (3-0 record, 2.40 ERA). The offense batted .327 led by Tom Rydzewski (.394 AVG, .447 OBP), Frank Scarlato (.372 AVG, .424 OBP), Ron Remi (.345 AVG, .396 OBP), Terrence Bohonan (.313 AVG, .355 OBP), David Zilnicki (.326 AVG, .421 OBP) and Anthony Alvino (.345 AVG, .424 OBP).
What makes this team ahead of all the other championships in team history is how close they came to reaching the College World Series. By hosting the NCAA Regionals, they had a huge advantage that allowed them to reach Appleton, WI in 2009. They cruised past Skidmore, 10-2, in the Opening Game behind Phelan and a strong offensive attack. Phelan left this game with a foot injury that prevented him from being used in relief later in the tournament. They also cruised in the next game, 2-0, over Ithaca behind Bula’s gem. He threw five shutout innings, and Eilers gave 3.1 shutout innings of relief to seal the deal.
After a loss to Cortland State to face elimination, they responded with a 4-3 win in 10 innings over Ithaca. This time it was the unheralded Matt DeRamo, who threw 9.2 innings, which amounted to over 1/3 of his innings for the entire season. The winning run scored on an error on a sac bunt.
They got to face Cortland once again, needing two wins to advance to the College World Series. Starter Connor Henson went 2.1 shutout innings before getting relieved by Michael Dolce. The sophomore wound up having the best ERA in the nation in 2013 but in his sophomore year he struggled for most of the season losing his spot in the rotation. He responded in a big way, on this day, as he fired six dominant innings against the high-powered Cortland offense.
Cortland was the home team in this game despite playing on the road. They cashed in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth on a dropped fly ball in center field with a runner on third. There is debate whether the runner would’ve been able to advance had the ball been caught but that is revisionist history at this point. Farmingdale finished with a record of 32-12 while Cortland advanced to the College World Series again.
5. Dowling 2014 (Record: 36-17)
A team ERA of 2.40 led by All-American RHP Tyler Badamo, who fired 70 consecutive innings without allowing an ER. Badamo re-wrote the school record books for pitching dominance with a record of 9-3 with a 0.83 ERA and 129 strikeouts over 108.1 IP. He was joined by Tom Bamman (9-2 record, 2.35 ERA) and JJ Bessell (6-2 record, 2.08 ERA) in the staff. No. 4 starter Kyle DeMeo even went 4-1 with a 2.36 ERA. Freshman Cody McPartland, who wound up anchoring their 2016 ECC Championship rotation contributed a 3.81 ERA over 26 innings. They had one Achilles heel and that was St. Thomas Aquinas. They lost to them in the ECC Championship twice, when they needed to win just one capture the title. After getting an at-large bid to reach the NCAA Regional, they lost to them twice again with an appearance in the Division-II College World Series on the line. Still, that doesn’t diminish what this team accomplished. The offense was pretty dangerous too led by Andrew Abreu (.321 AVG, .399 OBP), J.C. Brandmeier (.323 AVG, 44 RBI, .523 SLG), Jon Cruz (.323 AVG) and R.J. Going (.302 AVG). With their spacious field, they had the perfect team to win at home and they took full advantage of that.
4. Adelphi 2011 (Record: 36-14-2)
This was as close to a Division-I pitching staff as it gets. They ranked No. 3 in the country in ERA at 1.98.
Leading the staff was All-American Robert Nixon who was simply other-worldly. The Cleveland Indians draft pick went 11-2 with a 1.43 ERA over 113.1 IP. He fired 10 complete games. Behind him in the rotation was Mike Scudero, who also wound up pitching professionally in the Frontier League. He was 8-1 with a 1.89 ERA over 95.0 IP. He fired five complete games and was the perfect complement to Nixon’s style. Their third pitcher, who was probably an ace on every other team was Jonathon Gonzalez. He compiled a record of 7-0 with a 1.91 ERA over 84.2 IP. He fired “only” four complete games. Incredibly, sophomore Dillon McNamara threw only 8.1 innings all season and he’s now in his seventh season in the minor leagues after getting drafted by the New York Yankees in 2013. The bullpen was outstanding as well with Oren Rasowski (1.01 ERA, 2 saves) and Jimmy Milani (2.61 ERA, 5 saves) holding down the late innings when their starters didn’t go a complete game.
Offensively, they had Omar Velazuez leading the way with a .335 AVG. He scored 42 runs, crushed 5 HR, drove in 30 runs, slugged .526 and even stole 42 bases. Catcher Rich McCarren hit a healthy .328 with a .423 OBP. The strength of the team was certainly in its pitching and defense. With a double play combo of Craig Matteo and Lucas Romeo, anything on the ground was an out.
They had their season cut short by Southern Connecticut in the NCAA Regionals. They needed to win one of two games to advance to Cary, NC. They lost 9-1 in the first game before sending their ace, Nixon, to the mound on two days rest after a complete game. The Panthers took a 1-0 lead in the second innings, but Nixon allowed back-to-back home runs in the third to fall behind 2-1. That was the only scoring of the game. Nixon went 8.1 innings on two-days rest.
3. New York Tech 2019 (Record: 37-16)
Head Coach Frank Catalanotto on NYIT’s rapid ascension in his first season pic.twitter.com/le2EN2ND3e
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 18, 2019
This one is most fresh in our memories and it’s still unbelievable that it occurred. Despite losing to Bridgeport in the ECC Playoffs on their home turf, the Bears were invigorated with an at-large bid to the NCAA Regionals at Adelphi University, in which they pulled off shocking upsets against perennial powerhouses Franklin Pierce and Wilmington University. What was amazing was not just that they won, but the fashion in which they did. They cruised past Franklin Pierce 9-3 and Wilmington by the score of 6-3. The games were never in doubt.
They rode that momentum into the NCAA Super Regionals against an even more formidable opponent, Southern New Hampshire. The Penmen entered with a record of 40-13 but the Bears defeated them, 9-8, and 6-3. The 9-8 game was a nail-biter as they nearly relinquished a 9-4 lead in the ninth inning. In the clincher, a 4-run first inning propelled them to the victory. Freshman Joe Keller fired 4.1 shutout innings of relief for the victory.
That week leading up to the College World Series was a media tour as they were interviewed by every major publication covering college sports. Head Coach Frank Catalanotto was even featured in Yahoo! for his achievement of taking a team from 13 wins to 37 in one year.
Their run came to an end in the Division-II College World Series with back-to-back losses to Colorado Mesa and Ashland but that didn’t mitigate how great of a story that it was.
2. St. John’s 2012 (Record: 40-23)
Four players drafted in the top six rounds. Five players drafted total. They made it to the NCAA Super Regionals before losing to the eventual National Champs. In the Big East Championship, they barely broke a sweat, defeating Notre Dame, Seton Hall, Notre Dame again and USF in succession by a combined score of 27-9.
In the Regional, they kept that momentum going. They defeated East Carolina, 11-3, before sweeping North Carolina by the scores of 5-4 and 9-5 to advance to the Super Regional. In the first game, catcher Danny Bethea hit a remarkable walk-off 3-R home run to shock the North Carolina crowd. You can see the video above.
They made it to the Super Regional, but that’s where the luck ran out. Tasked with facing the top team in the country, they lost 7-6 in 10 innings and 7-4.
Jeremy Baltz was selected in the second round of the MLB Draft. Baltz, who hit 24 home runs as a freshman in 2010, led the team in hitting at .344 with 8 HR and 52 RBI. Matt Wessinger, the Hofstra hitting coach, was drafted in the fifth round, Matt Carasiti was drafted in the sixth round as was Kyle Hansen (St. Dominic 2009). Sean Hagan was drafted in the 29th round despite going 8-2 with a 2.72 ERA over 102.2 IP.
- Stony Brook 2012 (Record: 52-15)
No surprise here. The only team in this decade to make it to Omaha from New York and their appearance was the first time a northeast team made it since 1986. They had seven players (Travis Jankowski, Willie Carmona, Maxx Tissenbaum, James Campbell, Jasvir Rakkar, Pat Cantwell, Tyler Johnson) drafted and Jankowski is still in the big leagues.
They were put in an extremely difficult Coral Gables regional in which they had to play Miami, UCF and Missouri State. After crushing Miami, 10-2, in the Opening Game, they lost to UCF, 9-8. They had to win three straight elimination games–and they did–against Missouri State and UCF.
As if that wasn’t impressive enough, they had to travel to Baton Rouge, LA to play LSU at the legendary Alex Box Stadium. After a crazy 5-4 loss in 12 innings, they bounced back to win consecutive games with their backs against the wall by the scores of 3-1 and 7-2. The clinching game featured MacArthur grad Frankie Vanderka firing a 130-pitch complete game.
The magical ride finally came to an end in Omaha when they were defeated by UCLA and Florida State.
The Sea Wolves hit .331 as a team, led by Jankowski’s .414 AVG (110-for-266), Carmona at .395 and Tissenbaum at .390.Tyler Johnson led the staff with 12 wins and Vanderka led in ERA at 2.33. Brandon McNitt led the team with 104.1 IP.
This team was my inspiration for starting the Baseball on the Island blog. I remember that June 10 evening when Stony Brook was on ESPN2. I was at my bartending job and thinking to myself that this team had gone grossly underappreciated to this point. I knew Long Island baseball deserved to be covered.
