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Photo Credit: Adelphi Athletics The Adelphi Panthers (21-21) will travel to New Haven today to take on No.1 ranked Southern Connecticut State (24-14-1) in the first-round of the Northeast-10 conference playoffs at 3:30. The two teams met three times this season, with the Owls taking two of three games, the Panthers won 4-3 with John Bivas recording the victory. It will be very important for the Panthers to get depth from their starting pitcher, John Mulford. He has been their most consistent pitcher this season, compiling a 2.84 ERA in 57 innings while holding the opposition to a .222 AVG. Ideally, he will pitch into the seventh inning, so the Panthers can stick to their most reliable relievers; Mike Cranston, Matt Abramowitz and John Donnelly. Those three have the ability to throw strikes...

It was only a matter of time for Marcus Stroman to make his Major League debut. Those who have followed his journey to the big leagues–and those who have competed against him in the past like myself–knew he was destined to make it with the way he has dominated each level. After getting called up, it didn’t take long to get thrown into the fire. He was summoned to pitch in the eighth inning for the Blue Jays against the Pirates with a 7-1 lead. He retired Travis Snyder but allowed a triple to Josh Harrison. The run came in to score on a sacrifice fly. Stroman deserved the promotion, he dominated Triple-A Buffalo to the tune of a 1.69 ERA in 26.2 innings with a 37:7 strikeout to walk ratio. He just turned 23-years-old on May 1, and he appears to have an illustrious career a...

Photo Credit: Molloy Athletics Dowling split with St. Thomas Aquinas and they are now 31-13 on the season. They have the No. 1 seed in the ECC with a 19-5 conference record. They won the second game 17-4, with Tom Bammann improving his record to 9-1 on the season. He threw seven innings, allowed two runs while striking out seven. The offense smacked 21 hits; JC Brandmeier went 4-for-5 with five RBI and three runs scored, Andrew Abreu went 3-for-6 with three runs scored, Vinny Orlando went 3-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored and RJ going went 2-for-4 with four RBI and two runs scored. They salvaged a split with a 7-6 win in the final game in 12 innings. Nick Persad recorded the win with 2.2 shutout innings in relief. Together, they used seven pitchers to navigate to the win. Perhaps th...

Photo Credit: Stony Brook Athletics Stony Brook beat Maine two out of three this weekend to improve to 27-15 on the season. They won the middle game 11-3. Brandon McNitt recorded his fifth win of the season by throwing six innings, allowing three runs and striking out seven. The offense scored five in the first, three in the second and one in the third to put the game on ice. Casey Baker went 3-for-3 with three RBI and two runs scored, and Cole Peragine added two hits, three RBI and one run scored. They won the decisive game 4-1 thanks to a three-run rally in the bottom of the eighth inning, thanks to back-to-back run-scoring triples by Peragine and Baker. Bryan Tatleman improved to 4-0 on the season with the win by throwing 2.1 shutout innings in relief. They will take on NYIT on Wednesda...

Photo Credit: Farmingdale Athletics Different venue, same story. The Farmingdale Rams defeated rival Old Westbury 5-2 on Sunday to capture their seventh consecutive conference title. It was held at SUNY Old Westbury, as opposed to Farmingdale as had been the case since 2009, but the Rams still had no difficulty in coming out on top. In the clinching game, the Panthers committed four errors in the first three innings, leading to five runs (three unearned) and effectively ending the game. The starter for the Panthers, Braylin Perez, did a commendable job in hanging in the game and throwing nine innings, but his offense did not do enough to keep their season alive. He fell to 1-6 on the season. Freshman Matt Seelinger of Farmingdale came up huge, firing six innings with a depleted bullpen beh...

For the fifth consecutive season, the Old Westbury Panthers and Farmingdale State Rams will meet to determine the winner of the Skyline Conference. Just like the previous four, the Panthers will have to beat the Rams twice because Farmingdale enters the championship game unbeaten in the tournament. To get to this point, the Panthers beat St. Joseph’s 4-1 behind Arismendy Nunez’s complete game gem. He allowed only three hits, walked none and struck out 11. For St. Joseph’s, Steven Szobesky fired a tremendous game, allowing one earned run in eight innings, but took the tough-luck loss. Kevin Licul went 3-for-3 with two RBI for the Panthers. They lost a tough one 10-9 to Farmingdale, but responded with a 4-3 win against Purchase. They nearly allowed a 4-0 lead in the eighth ...

Today is an extremely busy and important Friday as the Division-III teams have their seasons on the line while the Division-I and II teams are jockeying for playoff positioning. Division-I: Maine @ Stony Brook 12 p.m. Northeastern @ Hofstra 3 p.m. NYIT @ Hawaii 12:35 a.m. Division-II: Dowling @ St. Thomas Aquinas 3:30 p.m. Molloy @ Mercy 2 p.m. CW Post @ Queens 3 p.m New Haven @ Adelphi 3:30 p.m. Division-III: St. Joseph’s vs. Maritime 12 p.m. Old Westbury vs. Winner of Maritime/St. Joseph’s 4 p.m. Farmingdale vs Purchase @ SUNY Old Westbury 7 p.m.

Photo Credit: Farmingdale Athletics After a one day rain/reign delay, the Farmingdale Rams began their attempt at a seventh consecutive conference title. They made quick work of Mount St. Vincent, with a 14-0 shutout as they improve to 22-10 overall and three wins away advancing to the New York State regional. Alex Weingarten continued his terrific season by throwing seven shutout innings, allowing only two hits, walked none and struck out five. He is now 5-1 on the season with a dazzling 1.60 ERA in 50 innings. His offense put the game in little doubt; they scored one in the first and four in the fourth to provide their ace with more than enough breathing room. They made it into a laugher with an eight-run seventh inning. They compiled 15 hits; two each from Ed Bergmann, Anthony Alvino, M...

Yesterday was a busy day for Long Island teams, here’s a recap: Hofstra was defeated 14-4 by Monmouth in a game that was 5-4 in the eighth inning. Chris Harkey and Kieran Ryan allowed nine runs in their combined 1.2 innings. Graham Tebbit suffered his third loss of the season. The bright spot was Kenny Jackson’s three hit, three RBI day one day after I mentioned his disappointing season. The Pride did compile 14 hits, but left 11 men on base. They are now 17-18, and will begin a three-game set with Northeastern on Friday. NYIT had their game against Army cancelled due to inclement weather, no makeup date has been announced. They will travel to Hawaii this weekend for a four-game series with the hopes of improving their 4-36 record. Molloy lost 9-7 to Dominican College to fall t...

Photo Credit: Farmingdale Athletics Every coach preaches that it takes all 25 guys to win, that it’s a team effort and not a single player will receive special treatment. But what is usually forgotten is that sometimes there is one player that can carry a team and that the team needs him to step up when it matters the most. Although he is less than two years removed from being an All-County high school player, Alex Weingarten has proven to be that type of player for the Farmingdale Rams. The Lynbook native has been their most reliable arm for the past two seasons and he will play a huge role in whether they win their seventh consecutive conference championship. He is used so frequently for one reason; the bigger the situation is, the better he pitches. “I really noticed that I ...

We’re inching to the finish line for the Division-III programs. Tomorrow begins the first round of the Skyline Conference playoffs for St. Joseph’s and Farmingdale, while Old Westbury will have a first-round bye. The latter two will have tune-up games today as they prepare for the postseason. As for the Divison-I and II teams, there are still some crucial regular season games remaining. Here’s what’s going on today. Divison-I: Monmouth @ Hofstra Army @ NYIT Division-II: Felician @ CW Post Molloy @ Dominican Adelphi @ Pace Divison-III: United States Merchant Marine Academy @ Old Westbury Briarcliffe @ St. Joseph’s

A lot has happened since March 1. One thing that is not on that list is an earned run being scored on Dowling’s Tyler Badamo. It is a streak that has spanned 69 innings and deflated his ERA from 2.35 to 0.43, tops in the nation among Divison-II pitchers. “To be honest I try not to sit and think about it,” said the senior. “If someone had told me in the beginning of the year that I was going to throw this many innings without giving up an earned run I would have laughed at them and probably told them they were crazy,” he added. In reality, he is now laughing at the competition that has compiled a feeble three extra-base hits during his 84 inning season. Additionally, he has now accumulated a program-record 108 strikeouts against a mere 17 walks. He is 7-2 on th...