It felt good to be back in the trenches this weekend. On Saturday I was at the ice bowl between Adelphi and Franklin Pierce and yesterday New York Tech vs Southern New Hampshire. This week, it will get more exciting as teams begin to play midweek games.
Here’s my best stab at how the local teams line up.
Division-I
- Fordham (Record: 5-6, Trending Up)
2. Hofstra (Record: 3-7, Trending Up)
3. St. John’s (Record: 3-6, Trending Down)
4. Stony Brook (Record: 2-8, Trending Even)
5. LIU (Record: 2-6, Trending Even)
Breaking It Down: Simply put, it’s been a rough start for all of these teams but Fordham is playing the best right now. They are riding the high of a four-game win streak following a perfect week against Sacred Heart and a weekend sweep of Furman. On Sunday, they put an exclamation point on the sweep with an 11-3 drubbing. Jason Coules stayed hot with three hits and 4 RBI. He’s hitting .457. Matt Tarabek also had three hits and Nick LaBella had two hits, three RBI and scored three runs. Although the team ERA is an unsightly 6.05, co-aces Matt Mikulski (1.76 ERA) and John Stankiewicz (2.25) are performing extremely well. They have NJIT this week so they may run that win streak up. Hofstra had a nice weekend, winning two of three games in Nevada. Jimmy Joyce seems to have turned a corner with a one-hit shutout, easily the best performance of his collegiate career. On Saturday, sophomore Ryan Rue was lights out over 7 innings. That’s going to be their formula for success. Offensively, they are being led by the incredible start by Anthony D’Onofrio (19-for-38, .632 SLG) and Austin Gauthier (16-for-39, .718 AVG) but Brian Goulard is coming on strong of late with three hits against Wichita State. They have New Mexico in a three-game series this weekend before finally having their home opener on the 12th. St. John’s has lost four in a row, they’ll look to get back on track tomorrow at Presbyterian before traveling to Vegas this weekend against UNLV. Who would’ve thought they’d be led in hitting by freshman Jake Lazzaro (.367 AVG) through three weeks? I have been leading the Lazzaro bandwagon for over a year now, but I thought he would need a year to adjust to college like Jesse Berardi did before he took off. The team .239 AVG simply needs to improve or the 5.71 team ERA. Stony Brook lost two of three but at least their victory was exciting, they exploded for five runs in the 11th inning on Saturday, with the big knock coming on a Chris Hamilton two-run shot. They have CCSU this weekend at home as they look to get back on track. LIU lost two of three as well, to Nicholls State. Josh Loeschorn has shown no struggles adjusting to Division-I baseball, after he threw five scoreless innings and is now 11-0 in his collegiate career. They are hitting .176 as a team, and that’s with Anthony Warneke hitting .429 with a 1.051 OPS. They should get on track this weekend against Saint Peter’s.
Division-II:
- Adelphi (Record: 2-1, Trending Up)
2. New York Tech (Record: 4-4, Trending Down)
3. Molloy (Record: 4-2, Trending Up)
4. Queens (Record: 2-4, Trending Down)
Breaking It Down: So I sat through the marathon 20-17 game on Saturday between Franklin Pierce and Adelphi and I thought it would never end. The Panthers were trailing 20-8 in the 9th inning and came to life, batting around and scoring 9 runs before the clock struck midnight on their comeback. They carried that momentum right into Sunday, where they posted the doubleheader sweep of Franklin Pierce. Make no mistake, that’s a huge character win for Adelphi, who are pretty young after graduating such a big chunk of their starting lineup and their top two starting pitchers from last year (Baram, Taggart). The offense put up 33 runs in three games. Sophomore Kyle Olson led the way with six hits and two RBI, while freshman Matt Alifano showed why he was one of the most underrated players on LI last year, with four hits, four RBI, three walks and scored six runs. Tim Feliz and Lawrence Cicileo drove in four runs, but Brandon Warick did the most damage, driving in 8 runs. Josh Rovner fired six shutout innings yesterday, perhaps answering the question of who the staff ace will be. They have a big challenge this weekend with Southern New Hampshire, who is looking like one of the best eight teams in the country right now. New York Tech had a weekend to forget, as they have now lost four in a row after a sweep at the hands of SNHU. Don’t get me wrong, SNHU is an absolute powerhouse and there’s no shame in losing to them, but Tech is on that level and I really thought it would be a different result. They scored just four runs in the series after looking like a machine last weekend in North Carolina. I think they’ll be fine, yesterday in the game I attended the top three hitters in the lineup were held hitless and that simply won’t happen many times this year with players like John LaRocca, Ben McNeill and E.J. Cumbo. I think Coach Catalanotto has so many options on the pitching staff he’s just seeing what works. With a pitcher like Andrew Imperatore coming out of the bullpen, he has the flexibility to use him like the Indians used Andrew Miller in 2016. He also has Tyler Schmid, who can be a starter, long man, situational lefty or closer. They will turn it around soon. This weekend, they have Pace, another talented team. Molloy had a great weekend, they swept Dominican yesterday. I think they’re an interesting team because with Tim Panetta, Joe Minucci and Anthony Vano atop the rotation, they can pitch with anyone in the conference. Offensively, they are extremely dangerous with James Messina, Peter Theodorellis, Sean Hogan, Matt Overton, Thomas Brady, Chris Peralta , Jake Saltzman and Jacob McCarthy right after one another. If not for a series of debilitating injuries last year, they are probably a 25-30 win team. With that behind them, they are ready to compete for a title.
Division-III:
1.Farmingdale (Record: 0-0)
2. Old Westbury (Record: 0-1)
3. Maritime (Record: 2-0)
4. USMMA (Record: 0-0)
5. St. Joseph’s (Record: 0-0)
Breaking It Down: None of these teams have really played yet, we will gain a lot more clarity this week. I am very optimistic of Farmingdale at least returning to the Skyline Championship game because of what I saw at practice. Outside of that, it’s anyone’s guess right now so 2-5 can go in any direction.
