When the first pitch was thrown by Tim Woodford in St. Joseph’s season opener yesterday, it was significant because it meant all the local had officially started their season. It was a great season opening win for the Golden Eagles, who are looking to bounce back after a disappointing first round loss at Maritime on May 1. If the first game was any indication, they look like a much more complete team this year.
Without further ado, here’s how the locals stack up after four weeks of college baseball.
Division-I
1.Fordham (Record: 9-6, Streak: Win 8)
2. LIU (Record: 5-6, Streak: Win 3)
3. St. John’s (Record: 3-9, Streak Lose 7)
4. Stony Brook (Record: 4-9, Streak: Win 1)
5. Hofstra (Record: 3-10, Streak: Lose 3)
6. Manhattan (Record: 3-9, Streak: Lose 1)
Breaking It Down: It’s been an outstanding span of two weeks for the Fordham Rams, who have now won eight games in a row and appear to be firing on all cylinders. They swept Iona by a cumulative score of 32-3. They have Wagner on Wednesday and a big three-game weekend series against St. John’s. As a team, they are swinging the bats very well – hitting .284 as a team but that is skewed up with the performance of Jason Coules. The sophomore is unconscious at the plate, hitting .469 with a .508 OBP, .673 SLG and 18 RBI. Alvin Melendez is batting .396 with a .563 SLG, Jake MacKenzie is right behind at .364 and Matt Tarabek is at .327. The 4.68 team ERA has started to lower, and the duo of Matt Mikulski (1.29 ERA) and John Stankiewicz (1.71 ERA) is actually as good as it gets. It was also a great week for LIU, who swept Saint Peter’s. They will face Hofstra on Wednesday before traveling to Philly to take on St. Joseph’s. Stony Brook took two of three from Central Connecticut State this weekend, I was there on Friday. They have a real ace in Jared Milch, he was outstanding on Friday. His changeup is a real weapon and as the weather warms up I have a feeling we will start to see some more 91-92s on the gun. Still, their offense has been pretty dormant. It’s hard to believe since they have swung the bats very well the past few years but the team AVG currently sits at .194 and that’s with Evan Giordano (.367) and Chris Hamilton (.300) bringing that number up. Fortunately, the pitching has kept them in ballgames. Hofstra had a rough weekend in Vegas, losing all three games by one-run with each team scoring double digits in each game. They will look to bounce back against LIU on Wednesday.
Division-II
1.New York Tech (Record: 6-4, Streak: Win 2)
2. Adelphi (Record: 4-3, Streak: Lose 2)
3. Molloy (Record: 7-4, Streak: Win 1)
4. Queens (Record: 4-7, Streak: Lose 2)
Breaking It Down: The top three are virtually interchangeable at this moment due to recent performance, but overall I think this is how I would stack them up. Tech turned it around this weekend against Pace, they broke out the bats in a big way yesterday – especially Andrew Florides, who crushed two 3-R home runs in a 17-3 victory. Ben McNeill also had five hits and E.J. Cumbo had three, it was just a matter of time before those two broke out. They head to Florida this week for six games. Overall their numbers look great mainly because of their lopsided victories. They are hitting .306 as a team – led by freshman E.J. Exposito who is at .394 with 3 HR after hitting another one yesterday. Ryan Kuskowski is heating up too, he’s hitting .342. The pitching staff has compiled an ERA of 3.04. The three starters have really performed well (Chris Mott, Bobby Vath, DJ Masuck). Adelphi lost two of three to northeast powerhouse Southern New Hampshire. They won 1-0 in the first game behind 6.2 shutout innings by Josh Rovner, but they dropped a doubleheader yesterday. They head on their annual trip to Florida (Boca Raton, Miami Shores, West Palm Beach) for the next week.
Division-III
1.Farmingdale State (Record: 3-1, Streak: Lose 1)
2. USMMA (Record: 1-1, Streak: Lose 1)
3. St. Joseph’s (Record: 1-1, Streak, Lose 1)
4. Old Westbury (Record: 1-2, Streak: Lose 2)
5. Maritime (Record: 3-4, Streak: Lose 4)
Breaking It Down: Farmingdale kicked off their title defense by sweeping Keene State on Saturday and looking like they didn’t skip a beat. They won the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader against Plattsburgh 5-0, but then dropped the second game, 9-6. Offensively, they posted a team .310 AVG over the weekend led by Vin Napolitano‘s .462 with a .692 SLG. He will be their big slugger this season. Their biggest asset is their depth. They got newcomers such as freshman Phil Gerard and transfers Tony Figliuolo, T.J. Toscano and Mike Iacobellis who will be impact guys. Their pitching is always a strength, they got strong outings from Nicholas Rooney, Joe Wolf and Lou Puccio this weekend. St. Joseph’s looked outstanding in Game 1 behind Tim Woodford, who struck out nine batters, navigated through jams and gave the ball to closer Dan Deckert, who fired a 1-2-3 inning for the save. Both of them will be crucial for them. Offensively, they got a big first inning RBI double from Tyler Sanderson. They will rely on him, Jesse Nakashian, Anthony Raucci and Justin Stromski to be their rocks through out the season. In Game 2, they got a huge day from sophomore Charles Rainone, who went 3-for-3 with 5 RBI. Additionally, the combination of Chris Amato and Michael Badala behind the plate should serve as a well above-average duo. Pitching wise, they struggled in Game 2, but the encouraging sign was freshman Anthony Cinquemani throwing two shutout innings, he could surprise a lot of people and wind up being a key cog. They also have Rob Milopsky who can emerge as a weekend starter down the road. Maritime really struggled over the past four games, but they have a chance to get right with John Jay and Yeshiva this weekend so don’ be surprised when their pitching stats are much improved in one week.
