So I usually do Power Rankings each week during the college baseball season, but it’s not really a smart idea to do that (yet) in my opinion until all the teams start up. Even out of the Division-I programs, Fordham and LIU have not played a game yet. Fordham was scheduled to start last week but due to COVID cases in the school, athletics paused for 2 weeks. They are now scheduled to open up this Friday against NJIT at 12.
LIU is scheduled to open up a week from Wednesday against Farleigh-Dickinson, a game I will be monitoring considering FDU has three LI natives (Tommy Verga , Mike Veit and TJ Werner).
This weekend, we will get our first taste of a Division-II program (Molloy) and Division-III (St. Joseph’s). The frustrating part for me is that since most teams are only playing on the weekends, it makes it very difficult to decide which games to attend. It used to be much easier when there were Tuesday and Wednesday games, because chances are only one of the teams would be home so it was a no-brainer where to go. Granted, I’ll take any baseball we can get but I don’t really understand why there can’t be more mid-week games.
As for this past weekend, it was very successful for the local teams. I’m sure they would’ve rather played in sunny Florida or Texas, but they also probably wouldn’t have opened up 3-0. So would you rather go 0-3 but get the experience of playing Michigan in Port St. Lucie or 3-0 against a local team?
In any event, here’s some of my takeaways from the local teams.
Stony Brook went 2-1 this weekend against Sacred Heart. I was at the double header on Friday. There were some scouts on hand to watch LHP Jared Milch for Stony Brook. He performed well, struggled a little bit with his command but that’s to be expected in the first start of the season in the northeast – especially for a Cali kid. It’s hard not to like what you see from him. He’s a 6’4 lefty with great mechanics and he sits mainly 89-90 with a couple 2s sprinkled in. He gets plenty of swings & misses. I definitely think he’s a pro pitcher. With the draft being 20 rounds, he may get squeezed but since he’s a senior maybe a team uses the approach of signing a senior like him for a few thousand bucks to get a high-profile pick early in the draft to save money. Regardless, he should latch on with a pro team after the season.
The other player of interest for pro teams is Chris Hamilton. There was a good chance he would’ve gotten drafted last year if the draft was longer. He’s a power-hitting 1st baseman. In 2019, he started 52 games and hit .325 with a .535 SLG. So as long as he continues to hit, he’s a pro player as well. He ripped a double in the first inning of the second game against Luke Hansen which shows he’s undeterred by lefties.
John LaRocca had the game-winning hit in the first game on a 3-2 count. He was batting cleanup in his debut with the Seawolves. Now you would have to look back through a lot of lineups but I wonder how many players Matt Senk has trusted to hit cleanup in their debut with Stony Brook over the past 30 years? Not many I would guess. But LaRocca is a ready-made product that they got in January from New York Tech. He has experience at the Division-I level from his time at Monmouth and he thrived under Frank Catalanotto. He is a premium defensive center fielder.
In Game 2, Sam Turcotte was dominant and flirted with a perfecto into the eighth inning. The Toronto-native was at his best and his offense gave him plenty of support early on. If Stony Brook is going to have Milch and Turcotte pitch like that all season, they are in great shape. Additionally, they didn’t even need to push him. He only threw 85 pitches so Senk didn’t have to make the tough decision to keep him in at the expense of potentially hurting him. They brought in Brian Morrisey, who struggled a bit with his command but only gave up 1 run in his two innings.
Behind the dish, they are in great shape with John Tuccillo who has a pro-caliber arm.
They lost yesterday, with North Shore-grad David Aufiero getting the win in relief. The offense was not good, as they only scraped five singles and struck out 12 times. They probably wish to have that one back but they won the series and will face them in another double header on Saturday. I’m curious how they manage the pitching with a DH against St. John’s on Sunday. That will be must-see, as the teams rarely play each other. It never really made sense for St. John’s to face SBU because they have nothing to gain from a win and a lot to lose from a loss.
Hofstra has another double header today against La Salle. They are 3-1 and coming off a DH sweep on Friday. The biggest story line was definitely Mark Faello throwing five shutout innings in relief and capturing his first W since beating leukemia. It’s a feel-good story of perseverance, and you can’t help but be happy for a kid like that. He never even missed a summer start when getting chemo! Just elite level mental toughness from him. Makes you want to work harder just knowing what he went through.
They also got a big game-winning hit from Brian Goulard. He’s a grad student and they really need that from him this season if they are to return to the playoffs. He already put together a great career at Fordham now he’s looking to translate that to the CAA. He’s leading the team with 5 RBI already and they could benefit from his leadership as well.
They really are fortunate to have Austin Gauthier atop their lineup. He has walked a ridiculous 10 times already and has gotten on base at an .700 clip. Just a preposterous number. That won’t continue obviously but he is a catalyst.
On the mound, Jack Jett has proven to be an ace. He has not yielded a run in 13.1 IP. They will lean on him the way they leaned on John Rooney in 2018. I really like the closer John Mikolaicyk, who sits 91-92 with a 12-6 hammer curve at 80 MPH.
St. John’s swept UMASS-Lowell, who hung tough with them for 2 of the 3 games but Saturday was a blow out. Yesterday I was there and it’s pretty clear that David Glancy is one of the best hitters in the BIG EAST. He hit a rocket for a 2-R HR that proved to be the difference. He is dangerous and it will be important that whoever is batting behind him provides enough production where opposing coaches don’t just intentionally walk him in every big spot.
I am really glad that Jake Lazzaro has solidified himself as the starting shortstop and leadoff hitter. I was high on him from the first time I saw him and there’s no doubt he will be a pro player. You can see the intensity that he had as a football player comes out on the diamond now.
Paul Orbon, who was uncommitted deep into his senior season is now starting in center field on a powerhouse team. That takes some guts to bet on yourself like that. Rarely do you see players uncommitted into their senior season wind up as a starter as a freshman at the Division-I level. He also had a single yesterday and the day before.
Brian Hendry, who you may remember from my IG video last month throwing 98 MPH at Prospect Sports is now a weekend starter. I’m curious how hard he would throw as a closer considering his delivery but they clearly like what they see from him. He worked 4.2 innings and was sitting 89-90 MPH mainly. He is a pro arm, just needs to refine his fastball command.
What an inning for Joe Joe Rodriguez!
He fans two in a 1-2-3 frame and #SJUBase leads 3-1 heading into the bottom of the eighth. pic.twitter.com/2uDFqJpI1m
— St. John’s Baseball (@StJohnsBaseball) February 28, 2021
Joe Joe Rodriguez is electric out of the bullpen, he was big yesterday and showed his charisma coming off the mound. They will face Sacred Heart this Friday and Stony Brook on Sunday.
