(Photo Credit: Marybeth Zilnicki)
17 minute read
I’ve had more successful seasons and more disappointing seasons from a personal standpoint, but I’ve never been a part of any season quite like 2010 with the Farmingdale State Rams. Yesterday marks 10 years to the day that we overcame a 7-2 deficit in the fifth inning to win 11-10 and capture the Skyline Conference Championship over rival SUNY Old Westbury. To put the season in perspective, it ended on an error that scored to two runs in the bottom of the ninth and it wasn’t even the most demoralizing loss of the day.
I was thinking about it today and I think it could actually be made into a pretty decent documentary when you consider the expectations, the characters involved, the way the season played out and most importantly, the off-the-field events.
For purposes of brevity, I will focus on the baseball perspective which is still plenty. This is a pretty good segue from last month’s article on my trial-and-tribulations that occurred during 2008 and 2009 so this is the sequel to that story. It’s not nearly as much of a feel-good story but it is still entertaining nontheless.
The Expectations
The most important part of this is the expectations entering the season, because it really impacted the team. Farmingdale State College made it to their first Division-III College World Series in program history in May 2009. It was a Cinderella story and it is something that those players will cherish forever. I wasn’t a part of it, though, as I was still in high school but I did get to talk to almost every player that was involved and they felt they could make it back. So right off the bat, I entered my college career on a team that expects to be one of the eight best teams in the nation.
No pressure.
The obstacles were clear though, as they had graduated their top two pitchers (Tom Heeman, Mike Gionesi) as well as their double-play duo of Brian Benvenuto and Rich Gili. This was no small task, as those players were critical pieces to that team. It was very clear how highly they were thought of, and for the players that did return, they often cited how badly they were missed.
I get there in the fall and I immediately had a setback. My EKG came back showing an abnormal heart beat. So I spent the next couple weeks trying to get an echo cardiogram in order to get cleared. If you knew my dad, you know how he was and how little patience he had when it came to me not being able to play baseball. Long story short, he made a little mid-day visit to a cardiologist to ensure I got an appointment the next day. Ultimately, I was able to get cleared but I missed a lot of practices.
In Division-III, you can only have one day of competition during the fall. I’m not sure if that’s changed now but that was the case in 2010 and 2011. That was my first taste of college baseball and it was also the only time I spent significant time with the team. For starters, there was a huge turnout for kids trying out. That’s the benefit of making it to the World Series. People wanted to be a part of the team. The dugout was completely full, I really had no idea who half of the players were and all the new guys were wearing their high school gear or team gear from the school store. I was wearing a Team USA warmup jacket that I got from Citi Field, so needless to say I was perceived as the clueless freshman that was about to get a rude awakening.
Surprisingly that didn’t occur, I waited in the dugout for the first two games but I actually got to start Game 3 against St. Joseph’s College. The details are a little murky because it was 10 years ago and no stats are available, but I know that I pitched three scoreless innings. I even started a 1-2-3 double play, which is hard to believe considering how much I ended up struggling with throwing to bases.
After the outing was done, I did my poles and I felt pretty excited that I passed my first test. It did nothing to shake my confidence, and I went into the offseason knowing I’d have a chance to be in the starting rotation.
That was also the last time I saw any of the guys until the Spring Semester was back in session because I commuted in the fall.
5:30 a.m workouts
All fall I heard ‘just wait till the 6am’s’. I didn’t fully understand because I hadn’t gone through it yet but it didn’t take long to realize it was really a month-long boot camp until the season started and we would start practicing outside.
The night before the first practice, the Jets lost in the AFC Championship Game to the Indianapolis Colts. Even though they weren’t expected to win, it was still really disappointing to be leading at halftime against Peyton Manning with the Super Bowl on the line. What it meant was that the page was officially closed on football season for me and it was time to shift my focus to Farmingdale State baseball.
Even though practices start officially at 6 am, it was pretty clear by the upperclassmen that you better be there by 5:30 am or else. As a freshman, I wasn’t going to take any chances. I remember setting my alarm for 4:30 just to be safe. I had a roommate, DeSean, who didn’t like going to sleep at normal hours. So when I woke up a 4:30 am, he was still wide awake watching re-runs of “The Nanny” which is still funny to this day.
I got to practice and I just remember the huge turnout of players still and also that I was the first pitcher asked to throw a bullpen. I was never a morning person and here I was throwing at 5:45 am on January 25. I used to love that attention, and I remember throwing extremely well and most of the team was watching. I also remember all the other pitchers throwing pens and it was really remarkable how deep our pitching staff was. Pitcher after pitcher throwing in the mid to upper 80s, and we had a great mix of experience and youth along with lefties and righties.
I remember calling my dad after practice and that became the routine for the next few weeks. Wake up early, practice 6-8, call dad and then shower and go to class. I got pretty used to it, although you can never really get used to that amount of running. Part of the idea of the early morning workout was to improve the team’s conditioning. Every error made during infield practice was another set of sprints or ‘suicides’ as they are referred to. I couldn’t even imagine doing it now, but it wasn’t uncommon to have to do 2 or 3 sets of suicides consecutively which would be impossible now.
As the season got closer, I remember hearing Coach Caputo preach how the target was on our back as one of the top 8 teams in the nation and we better be ready for Opening Day in North Carolina.
Dose of Reality
February 19, 2010 was our Opening Day. It’s a far cry from waiting until April 1 for high school baseball. North Carolina is also a far drive and this isn’t the SEC so we took a coach bus down south which took 12 hours. We were all excited to start the season, but once we got there that excitement quickly evaporated. For starters, North Carolina apparently isn’t exempt from poor weather in February and there was frost on the ground.
Appropriately, we were mercied by Frostburg State, 13-1. We were reamed out by coach in the postgame talk. I chalked it up to first-game jitters and assumed we would bounce back strong.
That proved to be naive thinking, as we lost our second game as well. While we managed two runs, we also allowed 14 and the game ended in a run-rule in the 7th inning.
I remember going back to the hotel and one of the senior pitchers told me I was starting the third game. I was really excited to get us in the win column. I was riding high on a 12-game win streak and there wasn’t a doubt in my mind that I would dominate. My dad couldn’t make the ride down because of work, but it was okay because I had plenty of family in North Carolina and they all made the trip. In total there was about 8 of them in the stands, which accounted for about half of our cheering section.
They didn’t get much to cheer for, as it turned out. While we didn’t get run-ruled, we lost 9-6 and I was tagged with six runs (2 ER ) over 2.2 innings. I struck out two but also threw four wild pitches and made an error. I was disgusted with myself.
Not only did we lose that game, but we also lost the next day, 12-0 to finish our trip at a miserable 0-4.
That ride home was humbling and exceptionally long. I couldn’t help but wonder what happened to the team that won 30 games the season before.
Team Bonding
I remember being at practice the next week and players were surprisingly upbeat, undeterred by that awful showing to start the season. As it turns out, it’s pretty common for Long Island teams to go down south and get their butts kicked against teams from the south. That doesn’t make it any less embarrassing when you’re living it.
One of our captains, Mike Labrozzi, told me he thought the team just needed to bond more. For commuter schools, it’s pretty hard for players to build up a rapport with each other when they live at home. But that next weekend, we had our Spring Training trip to Florida for a week and that was just what we needed.
There is nothing better than escaping the northeast weather in February to play in Florida. It’s hot, you face good competition, you get reps in but most of all, it’s better than trying to beat the weather on Long Island. I look back on that trip and it was really necessary to spend time with teammates because you can’t simulate that any other way.
We played eight games – winning four but the relief was finally getting a win and it happened in our first game. Sophomore Chris Phelan – who wound up becoming the winningest pitcher in program history got us on the board and we needed that. It was also Keith Osik‘s 100th career win.
I got my shot at redemption in the third game of the trip. We faced Milwaukee School of Engineering. The line doesn’t look great, but I got back to feeling like myself, throwing four shutout innings to start the game and earned my first collegiate victory. It was a strange feeling to get a win in February, but I’ll take it. It was great to run through Disney after the game as opposed to running poles in the cold.
Humble Pie
One moment that really stands out to me is from March 7. We were hosting SUNY Cortland. Not only are they a perennial powerhouse, but this might’ve been their most prolific offense they’ve ever had.
About 45 minutes before the game we still didn’t know who was pitching. I assumed it would be one of the veteran arms, considering this team was our toughest test yet. Unbeknownst to me, it wound up being me. I was thrilled because this is the challenge I wanted.
Knowing what I know now, I wish I would’ve respectfully declined.
This was the first time in my life I can honestly say I couldn’t have done anything differently. I threw strikes, I threw pretty hard and had a sharp breaking ball and still induced zero swings and misses. The moment when I knew it was a wrap was when Steve Nickel hit an opposite field, inside-out two-run shot just inside the right field foul pole. I wound up getting tagged with my first loss of the season, I allowed seven hits and four ER over two innings.
We threw eight pitchers and four of us yielded crooked numbers. It was a humbling experience. I wish I could say I learned something but all I learned was how good Cortland was and how tough college baseball is – even Division-III.
Turning It Around
Eventually, the schedule turned in our favor and I’m assuming that’s why everyone on the team knew we would be fine. The way our team was constructed, we had so much talent, that literally we had three separate lineups we could trot out and 15 pitchers so finding the right mix took a while.
The real season is when the conference schedule starts which was on March 20 against NYU-Poly. They were awful and we beat them 19-3 and 26-6. Surprisingly, he gave me the ball in Game 1. I pitched well enough, giving up 2 runs over 5.1 but I really wanted to throw more of a lights-out game to get my numbers back down. If you’re just looking at the conference stats, it paints a more rosy picture. It did feel good to get back in the win column, though.
The turning point was really the next day, when we faced rival SUNY Old Westbury and their ace, Dan Fordyce. He was holding us at bay until the bottom of the fourth inning, trailing 3-1. We desperately needed a big hit with the bases loaded and 2 outs.
Up stepped Mike Labrozzi. The senior unleashed what felt like a month of pent up anger and demolished a grand slam up the hill in left field. The dugout exploded and for the first time, it felt like we truly had turned the season around. That’s exactly what happened, we wound up sweeping the doubleheader and suddenly we were on the right path.
The next weekend was another pivotal moment for me. I remember I had been taken out of the rotation because other pitchers had stepped up. We had a big doubleheader against SUNY Purchase. For some reason we played at Westchester Community College which was on the water and it was freezing.
I wasn’t mad at the coaches, I was mad at the situation that I had lost my spot in the rotation, even though the pitching staff was incredibly deep. I was told to be ready in relief, which ended up being the 8th and 9th inning of a blowout win. I pitched well, throwing two shutout innings with two strikeouts. After the game, Coach Osik told me to be ready in the next game in case they needed.
I entered in the fourth inning in a 4-2 game with the bases loaded. I walked the first batter to allow the tying run to score, but buckled down and struck out the next two batters.
Even though Purchase isn’t Cortland, they were extremely rowdy in the other dugout. The combination of my frustrations and their over-the-line comments put me over the edge. I have an extremely high threshold for anger but that got me in that rare ‘seeing red’ phase. I remember screaming at hitters and into the dugout. That made my dugout more fired up.
I struck out six over 2.2 innings of relief. To this day, I think that was the outing I was most proud of during my college career. It wasn’t the longest and it wasn’t shutout baseball, but I had my back against the wall and I think I answered the bell.
After that, we split with St. Joseph’s and then swept Maritime. That was before Maritime turned the program around with Charlie Barbieri so it wasn’t an intense game but I did have my most dominant college outing and that was 6.2 shutout innings with 9 strikeouts and allowed just four hits. I had the stuff to go longer, but I hadn’t built up enough equity to be trusted to get 21 outs in a game.
Then we basically had a bye week with a doubleheader against Yeshiva where I went five shutout innings in a 23-1 win. At that point, I was back to feeling very confident on a college mound and I felt like I belonged. On a huge team with such a veteran presence, it can be hard to fit in but I think they welcomed me and respected what I brought to the table when I was on the mound.
Additionally, I remember that April being exceptionally beautiful weather which added to the enjoyment. Also, since we mainly played weekend doubleheaders we only had practice during the week. As a pitcher, that usually meant show up, run poles, take ground balls and throw a bullpen or a flat ground. Many days I was out of practice by 3:30.
All told, that was probably the best month of my life as I got to enjoy being on a winning team, formed great friendships and experienced living on my own for the first time. Things were going great.
Skyline Conference Championship
The intensity is ramped up 15 notches for playoff baseball – especially in a conference like the Skyline. Dugouts are louder and every pitch is important.
Honestly, it’s impossible to remember the details of every game correctly but thankfully we have box scores online. We locked up the No. 1 seed thanks to a 15-1 conference record. That meant hosting the tournament and getting a first round bye in a double-elimination tournament which is huge.
We won Game 1 against SUNY Old Westbury Phelan started, but didn’t have his best stuff. He wound up going 4.1 innings, allowing 4 ER on 7 hits. Fortunately, we had an army of experienced arms available. J.R. Lott was huge. He was typically our high-leverage reliever but he came on in the 5th and went 2.2 shutout innings. He earned the win. The offense showed up, Even though we briefly trailed in the fifth, we scored two in the fifth and three in the sixth to break it open. We won 9-4. Advance to the next day.
That’s when the fun began. We started Ian Soloman. He did not have it from the jump. This was the most anxiety-inducing game ever. We used four pitchers in the top of the first inning, including Lott, who was probably pretty surprised to get the call in the top of the first.
This was not a pretty baseball game but everyone was emotionally fired up. It was probably THE most fired up I’ve ever been in the dugout. The two teams combined for 29 runs, 28 hits and 9 errors. We came away with an 18-11 victory over Mount St. Mary’s. The score was 8-7 in the bottom of the second! The game took 3 hours 35 minutes.
Unfortunately for me, I experienced a first.
All throughout my life I was eager to embrace competition. The bigger the moment, the more I wanted to shine. I didn’t always succeed, but it was never from nerves. Until that day.
In the top of the 9th, with us leading 18-11, Coach Osik came towards the bullpen and said ‘Get Messana loose, I’m not messing around anymore.’ I jumped up and grabbed a ball. For the first time in my life, it felt like I was holding a foreign object. I bounced every throw and I had no idea why. My catcher said ‘dude, are you alright?’
The reality was I didn’t know but that was the first time I experienced ‘the monster’ or ‘the thing’ as it’s referred to. A sudden and inexplicable loss of the ability to throw the ball where you want to.
Needless to say I was in no shape to get on a mound. Luckily for me and the team, Ryan Rusoff escaped unscathed and nobody besides the catcher knew what kind of bullet we dodged. I was shook, but we won another game and now we were heading to the finals on Sunday.
I have no idea how it would’ve gone if I tried to pitch on Sunday because I never got the call. I was scheduled to throw the “if necessary” championship game if we lost the first one. That game never came, although it’s a miracle that it didn’t.
After taking an early 2-0 lead, the walls caved in. Old Westbury took a 7-2 lead after four innings. Coach came over to me and told me to mentally prepare for the next game. My nerves went through the roof, not knowing how I’d be able to remember how to pitch. Almost simultaneously, our offense erupted again. We put up three in the top of the fifth, one in the 7th and five in the 8th. Phelan came in relief on one-day rest and showed what he was made of. He gutted it through 5.2 innings, allowing 10 hits, but limiting Old Westbury to two runs. At one point they came dangerously close to taking the lead. With runners on second and third, the Skyline Player of the Year, Josef Schaetzle, smoked one back to the box but Phelan somehow caught it to end the threat. At that point, everyone knew their luck had run out. He went back out for the ninth and fired a 1-2-3 inning to deliver Farmingdale their third consecutive championship.
There is no way to explain how physically draining those playoff games are and we only needed to win 3 games! I have no idea how managers make it through a College World Series where you need to win four or five games. Then again, those games probably don’t feature 9 pitchers on one side or 29 runs between the two teams.
Nevertheless, we were champs and we celebrated like it. Next stop, the Regionals!
Tune-Ups
The NCAA Regionals were set for May 19 and we finished our conference championship on May 2. We had 17 days to get ready.
First, I signed a lease to live with 3 other teammates to live at an off-campus house. Now I lived in the “baseball house”. It was a far cry from living at home.
We played a few tune up games, including a weekday doubleheader against Kean, a national powerhouse that had won the World Series three years ago. The night before was our first night in the house. We threw a party, which was a bad idea in retrospect. It was irresponsible, especially knowing we had a big game and I was pitching.
Coach was not happy when he found out and we had to run as a punishment.
Additionally, I was starting the second game. Over a week had passed since “the thing” emerged so I wasn’t sure if I was passed it. When I warmed up, it was clear that it hadn’t. It wasn’t awful but I do remember feeling hesitant going out to the mound. The funny thing is that I had outstanding stuff. I came out of the gate throwing hard and I fired three shutout innings. After the third inning, coach came over and said they are thinking of me starting either the second or third game of the regional. I really wish I would’ve came out of the game after that because I think that gave me a false sense of stability and I took my foot off the gas.
I had an absolutely awful fourth inning, giving up a three-run HR and four runs overall. I got only one out and we limped to a 12-0 loss. I was feeling pretty dejected but we had to get ready for the regionals.
NCAA Regionals
The ride up to to Auburn, NY was long and tense as we knew we had to defeat Cortland if we were to make the College World Series.
But before that, we had another obstacle and that was facing future MLB draft pick Dave Filak and No.3 SUNY Oneonta (28-11). He was coming into the season with a record of 8-0, but we knew our offense could put the bat on the ball. With the reigning Skyline Conference Player of the Year in Kevin Curtis, one of the best leadoff hitters in the region, Frank Yera and depth at every position, I wasn’t worried about us scoring.
That was not the issue in the game. We also knew Phelan would be dominant. The problem was the defense.
After getting out to an early 4-0 lead and later 8-3 lead, they would come back and make it a game. These games rarely are ever out of reach. Oneonta put up two in the sixth, but Phelan was dominant despite seven (!) errors behind him. He proved his mettle that day. He went 7.1 innings, allowing just two ER, struck out 8 and walked one. J.R. Lott threw a shutout inning of relief and Steve King came in and got the final two outs of the ballgame. Somehow we scored 9 runs on five hits and three walks. Zak Narsesian (MVP of Skyline Tournament) had two hits and scored three runs. Honestly it was kind of tough to see because the pitchers all sat in the bullpen behind the right field fence so it wasn’t the same as sitting in the dugout but a win is a win and we advanced to face St. John Fisher the next night at 10 pm.
Coach Osik had a decision to make because the two options to start that game were my and Ian Soloman. A freshman and a senior. Conventional wisdom would be to go with the senior but Soloman was coming off back-to-back outings in which he struggled with command.
Ultimately, he chose to go with Soloman and it was the right decision as he was outstanding. He went six innings, allowed just one ER with five strikeouts and one walk. We put up five runs in the bottom of the third thanks to an RBI single by freshman David Zilnicki, RBI double by Ryan Rubenstein, sac fly by Frank Yera, RBI single by Labrozzi and RBI single by Kevin Curtis. Up 5-0 in the third made us feel very confident. Vinny Block‘s RBI single in the fifth made it 6-0.
St. John Fisher got two on the board in the sixth but we got one back so it was 7-2 after six innings.
Things took a nasty turn after that. Soloman was taken out of the game in favor of Patrick Gilbride and then J.R. Lott, who were victimized by the team’s defense. St. John Fisher made it a game and it was 7-6 entering the 9th inning.
We brought in Steve King who was amped up for the moment. I remember being in the dugout and the energy was hard to describe. It was more manic than anything, as we knew three outs would put us in the driver seat.
The first batter struck out. Two more outs.
Then the inexplicable. Single followed by an error put runners on the corner with one out. Squeeze play ties the game and moves the tying run into scoring position. Next batter hits an RBI single but gets thrown out attempting to stretch.
Just like that, from up 7-2 to trailing 8-7. We had seven errors for a consecutive game.
Bottom of the ninth. Ryan Rubenstein flies out by Frank Yera singles with one out. Wild pitch moves him to second by Mike Labrozzi strikes out for the second out. Another wild pitch moves him 90 feet away. I remember being in the dugout on the third base side and Curtis (lefty-hitter) is up against a right pitcher so we have a great view. The screaming in the dugout is not so much motivational or inspirational but maniacal. Curtis had been so clutch and so comfortable in big spots. Surely he was going to stroke a single to tie it up. Unfortunately, as the clock struck 1 am on the stadium scoreboard, he struck out looking on an outside fastball to end the game.
Just like that the momentum we had built up completely was stopped.
We went down the left field line to get reamed out and run sprints well after 1 am in the morning. Now we’d be facing elimination against an unknown Castleton team and there was no doubt who’d be on the mound.
We got back to the hotel around 2 am and I found out I’d be starting the game.
And what the fuck is wrong with you?
I told my dad I’d be starting and he debated making the six hour drive from Lake Ronkonkoma. He decided he would just follow along on the computer (I knew he didn’t know how to turn on a computer so he would probably just make my brother read the play-by-play out loud).
Warming up, I knew my nerves were not settled. I had a lot of bad throws during my long toss. I had a lot of issues commanding my fastball during my bullpen but I had a feeling the adrenaline would kick in once the umpire said play ball.
The emotions during a regional outing are weird. I really wish I was one of those pitchers that have one heart beat, but once I got to college I always seemed to be more excitable for some reason. Some of that had to do with the competition, but mostly it was because I wasn’t calling my own pitches and I wasn’t pitching for Michael Herrschaft anymore.
As for the game, it was 6-6 after two innings. We led 6-2 entering the bottom of the second and I gave up a four-spot. After the inning coach Osik was walking down the dugout and that usually means he’s not happy. He comes over to me and say, “and what the fuck is wrong with you?”
Somehow I was able to hold the fort for a few innings. I was proud that I didn’t need to get taken out in the second inning. Billy Manley, who looked exactly like you would imagine – was their power hitter. He got me for a double in each of his first two at bats, but in his third at bat I was able to sneak a fastball on the outside corner for strike three. He was probably expecting a curveball because why would I challenge Billy Manley with a fastball?
In the top of the seventh, it was us who was on the right side of a defensive miscue. A dropped popup by the center fielder got the go-ahead run to second base. A ground out, hit by pitch and stolen base put two runners in scoring position. Gibran Bracamonte with a CLUTCH two-run single and suddenly we led 8-6 in the seventh.
I went back out for the 7th, probably around 100-110 pitches. I was able to retire the first two batters but I walked the next guy and Osik brought in senior Mike Biasi. Two singles loaded up the bases. But the next batter hit a grounder to third that ended the inning.
In the eighth, we actually added an insurance run on an RBI single by Kevin Curtis. We loaded up the bases and threatened to break it open but Ryan McAllister struck out the end the inning.
That wound up being crucial, as we headed to the bottom of the ninth – especially since the leadoff batter reached on an error by our shortstop. The next two batters singled, so now it’s 9-7 with two runners on and still nobody out. Manley followed with a sac fly to score another run but at least we had an out. The next batter popped one up in foul territory and Frank Scarlato made a nice sliding play near the dugout.
So now it’s two outs in a 9-8 ballgame with runners on the corners. Defensive indifference moved that runner up to second. Biasi makes a perfect pitch on the inner half and the batter hits a jam shot to SS who fields it and fires…10 feet over Labrozzi’s head. There was no reason to even chase the ball into foul territory as the winning run had already crossed the plate and resulted in a 10-9 victory for Castleton.
The silver linings for me during this season was a) my only losses were against two nationally-ranked team (Cortland and Kean) and b) I never was called out during a postgame team meeting. I felt that despite my rollercoaster results, I had proved that I was a capable starting pitcher. I wanted to work on the command of my slider as well as controlling the running game.
As far as the team results go, we were a 25-win team which is nothing to scoff at. We were a prolific offense, hitting .333 as a team, but we had a 5.17 ERA and a poor .938 fielding percentage.
We went home on the team bus feeling bittersweet about our season. But in my heart of hearts, I knew we would be back in the Regional in 2011, I just didn’t know that it would be my last college outing.
