DOGPILE SZN: COMMENCE 💪
🌊🐺 x @evangiordano12 pic.twitter.com/XZ21Ry4wgb
— Stony Brook Baseball (@StonyBrookBASE) May 21, 2022
You can’t blame them for feeling like there’s some unfinished business.
The seniors for the Stony Brook Seawolves have dealt with circumstances beyond their control for each of their previous three seasons of collegiate ball – COVID in 2020, the infamous “rainout” in the championship in 2021 and then the America East ruling that Stony Brook was ineligible to compete for the conference tournament in 2022. Each situation was different but frustrating in their own way. Last year seemed like the most avoidable, as the commissioner simply could’ve allowed the Seawolves to participate in the tournament, but ruled against it since they were leaving the conference for the CAA.
In any event, the Seawolves did have a thrilling finish to their season and it came on a walk-off hit by the Player of the Year, Evan Giordano, to cap a 5-run comeback against NJIT to capture the America East regular season championship for the 7th time since 2011. Giordano enjoyed an outstanding season in which he batted .333, crushed 13 HRS and drove in 49 runs (8 in the final weekend of the season). There was a strong case for him to get drafted, but now he is back leading the charge for the Stony Brook offense.
Senior 3B Evan Giordano batted .333 with 1.070 OPS last season. Has been the model of consistency for the Sea Wolves in his career pic.twitter.com/PBzHPMxfSo
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 25, 2022
I was down at their Scout Day on Tuesday to get a good look at the 2023 ballclub which returns virtually all of their impact players from last season. They did lose a couple players who graduated – such as SS Stanton Leuthner – but they have two strong candidates to replace him in Matt Miceli and Anthony Gentile (East Meadow).
Evan Fox rips a double to left center. He batted .322 with a .976 OPS and 31 stolen bases pic.twitter.com/lm2kxTo3AE
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 25, 2022
They also return two first-team All-Conference players in catcher Shane Paradine (.308 AVG, 4 HRs, 33 RBIs) and LF Matt Brown-Eiring (.920 OPS, 10 HRs, 50 RBIs) and one second-team All-Conference player in RHP Ben Fero. Additionally, it’s fair to say CF Evan Fox was a snub as he batted .322 with a .976 OPS and 31 stolen bases in 33 attempts.
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The starting pitching should be a strength as they return Nick DeGennaro from injury (9.2 IP, 1 ER, 13 Ks) and Ben Fero which should form a formidable 1-2 rotation. They also have a weapon in Josh O’Neill. He was the savior in the America East finale against NJIT when he fired 6.2 shutout innings in relief to earn his 7th win of the season. As a reliever he was lights-out, so the Seawolves can opt to use him in any number of roles. They also got a pretty good transfer from Rutgers in Jared Bellissimo. The southpaw was 86-88 MPH and he has experience in big games and 35 collegiate appearances already. He joins a backend of the bullpen that was already a strength with closer Kyle Johnson and LHP Colton Book. A few pitchers from last year did transfer – JC Kiss, Jack Carr and Andrew Ledbetter, but they brought in a number of new faces as well such a hard-throwing LHP Sadier Vicioso (Holy Trinity) and don’t forget JT Raab (MacArthur) who missed all of last year after 2021 Tommy John surgery.
The Seawolves will kick off the 2023 season in Cal State Northridge. Their new era in the CAA will begin in the third week of March.
With their veteran starting pitching and a lineup anchored by the reigning Conference Player of the Year, it’s hard to envision Stony Brook not competing for a spot in the CAA conference tournament.
