Special thanks to East Coast S & P for sponsoring this year’s Fall Ball Series once again! Make sure to check out their website by clicking here!
Nice piece of hitting by Carlos Hidalgo after getting brushed back on the previous pitch pic.twitter.com/4r9eZJfeoI
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 21, 2020
No baseball program in the northeast can match the success of St. John’s University. Ed Blankmeyer – now the manager of the Brooklyn Cyclones – built up the program over the course of 24 years into national prominence and five Big East titles.
Many of the players that contributed to that success were brought in by recruiting coordinator Mike Hampton in his 18 seasons on Blankmeyer’s staff. After Blankmeyer’s departure to professional baseball, St. John’s stayed in-house with his replacement. Nobody is more familiar with the players on the roster and the winning tradition of St. John’s as Hampton. He was named head coach on January 9, 2020 and began the season six weeks later. After starting the season 5-9, they had their season cut short by the pandemic. Hampton felt like the team was just about to hit their stride.
“If you think of the seasons in 1/3s – road trips, home games against local teams and conference schedule – we were just about into that second part of the season,” said Hampton, who was an All-American at Clemson in 1994. “We had a rough weekend in Charlotte, they had a rough go of it with a lot of our guys sick – they had a really good team, but we were starting to see some good things when we got back.”
They wound up getting swept against UNLV before coming home and turning things around with a 21-1 victory over St. Peter’s and 9-3 over Iona. The Red Storm also had an impressive win over No. 19 Georgia Tech early in the season.
“The team was very young,” said Hampton. “We had some freshman that started to play and play well,” he added.
Those freshmen were Sonny Fauci, David Glancy and Jake Lazzaro (Oceanside). They were all named Freshman All-American – a tremendous accomplishment. Fauci went 1-0 over 3 starts spanning 12.2 IP and he allowed 0 runs. He struck out nine batters and walked just three. His victory came against St. Peter’s.
David Glancy led the team in all the critical offensive categories with a .423 AVG, 3 HR and 12 RBI. Additionally, he slugged .885 with a .448 OBP. He recorded 8 RBI in a game against St. Peter’s which was the most in a game for St. John’s since 2010.
Many people in our audience after familiar with Jake Lazzaro – a former stand-out player at Oceanside in football and baseball. Lazzaro started 13 games for the Red Storm and had three hits in four of those game. He was named Big East Rookie of the Week on February 24. Lazzaro is a shortstop and will likely bat leadoff as he did today during team workouts.
Overall, the team struggled offensively, compiling an AVG of .253 with a .365 SLG and that’s with a 21-run outburst in there. Historically, they have thrived under Hampton’s tutelage. They batted .323 as a team in 2017 and he has recruited 9 Major Leaguers including Joe Panik.
Lazzaro is far from the only Long Island native on the squad. This year they will have six players, with Carlos Hidalgo (St. Dominic) as the newcomer to the group. They also have Brian Morrell (Shoreham-Wading River), Tim McHugh (Commack), Nick Schwartz (Massapequa), Paul Orbon (Chaminade). They also had Chris Stefl (Floral Park) since 2018 but he decided to walk away from the game.
Morrell had the most prolific high school career in recent years out of any Long Island player. He threw six no-hitters, was a two-time winner of the Carl Yastrzemski Award, four-time All-State player, Axcess Man of the Year and helped Shoreham-Wading River to 20 consecutive wins and a Suffolk Class A Title in 2017 before getting drafted in the 35th round by the Philadelphia Phillies. He chose to attend Notre Dame where he attended in 2018 and 2019 before transferring to St. John’s last year. He got four at bats last season but Hampton said he envisions his impact coming on the mound for the Red Storm. “He’s starting to come back now and we’re hoping he’s back for the season,” he said in regards to his recovery from TJ.
Hidalgo, who had his senior season at St. Dominic wiped away due to the pandemic, is coming to St. John’s as an outfielder and not a pitcher. Hampton said he’s doing well so far. That proved to be an understatement as he went out and homered today as well as just missing a second one later in the game and then lining a single to right field. Hidalgo certainly has a chance to be an impact guy.
McHugh, who transferred from Tennessee, looked good in right field today and hit a sharp ground out to shortstop. He stands 6’3 and appears thinner than his listed 220 lbs, but is certainly in outstanding shape. Hampton said he had to make some adjustments when he got there, and he said “it’s made a difference from when he got here,” he added that “he’s improving, he’s got a chance.”
Schwartz, who hit the game-winning home run in the Long Island Championship game against Connetquot in 2019 is one of three catchers on the team. “He’s got to work on his throwing but he’s been swinging the hell outta the bat,” said Hampton.
Orbon, a walk-on from Chaminade, has taken the opportunity and ran with it. Coach noted that he has been swinging very well – with an AVG over .400 during team workouts. He also made an outstanding play in left field today.
It’s certainly good to see all the local players at St. John’s. Only three years ago, they had just two Long Islanders.
When asked about the strength of the team, Hampton did not hesitate to say the pitching staff.
“We are returning all of our starters,” said Hampton. This includes LHP Nick Mondak, RHP Sonny Fauci, RHP Joe Joe Rodriguez and RHP Ian Murphy.
They are a very young team, with INF Carson Bartels, catchers Mitchell Henshaw and Ryan Hogan as the lone seniors of the group.
Regarding the pandemic, Hampton noted that the players are randomly tested on Wednesdays and they’ve done a great job of abiding by the protocols. He added that while they aren’t in a true bubble situation like the NBA, it’s the next closest thing as the players are “not really like typical college students right now – they need to have a lot of discipline.”
“They’ve been really good at taking care of business,” he said.
They will open up the season at Long Beach State, who they last played in 2006.
