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Hoftra Athletic Communications Like Stony Brook, Hofstra had their first series cancelled last weekend. They will begin their 2014 campaign in Arizona this weekend against Grand Canyon University. The Pride finished the 2013 season with an overall record of 26-27, 11-16 within the Colonial Athletic Associate (CAA). The team will be playing for Head Coach John Russo in his sixth season. The offense will be led by Kenny Jackson, who hit over .300 last season. Jackson is an elite power hitter, who knocked nine home runs last season. He will need to replace the production of Matt Reistetter, a star catcher who was of the best on the island and now plays in the Washington Nationals system. I picked him to represent the All-Long Island team last season. Fortunately, the team will benefit from th...

Photo Credit: Mets Blog Way back in 2009, Steve Matz made a name for himself when he was selected with the 72nd overall pick by the New York Mets out of Ward Melville HS. After waiting until the very last minute of the negotiation window (August 15th midnight), Matz came to terms on an $800,000 contract which convinced him not to attend Coastal Carolina. At the time, I was pretty surprised the Mets took Matz that early. Even though he dominated the best competition in Suffolk County (two earned runs in 55 innings) and hit 94 mph at the Area Code games, it was known that he had elbow issues. Also, I hadn’t heard much buzz about him and I was very in tune with the chatter at the time. Everyone knew Marcus Stroman was a lock to go, possibly Kyle Hansen, Anthony Italiano, Adam Brown and ...

Photo is credited to GoSeawolves.Org The Seawolves of Stony Brook had their first series of the season cancelled due to inclement weather. They will take on Florida International this Friday in Miami, Fl. Last season the Seawolves were defeated in the America East conference tournament by Maine, after they had beaten Albany to stay alive. The team will be led by staff ace Frankie Vanderka, who compiled an 8-4 record with a 2.80 ERA over 99.2 innings. Vanderka will be joined by Brandon McNitt atop the rotation. Keep an eye on Stony Brook this season, as they attempt to rebound from last season’s disappointing year (by their standards) and make some noise in the America East.

Photo is credited to Wikipedia If you are anything like me and love the game of baseball, you appreciate the intricacies of the game that make it so unique than any other game. For purposes of brevity, I will focus on one aspect; the stadiums. No other sport–aside from maybe golf–offers such a diverse experience for the fans on a stadium to stadium basis. No two fields are created equal, and some are simply outrageous. It really enhances the experience when you can watch a baseball game in a cathedral. I have been to several, and here are my top top that offer the best combination of fan experience and opportunities to enjoy your time in the city. 10. Progressive Field– To say the city of Cleveland has been tortured by its sports teams would be an understatement. The LeBr...

               For baseball fans on Long Island who are not interested in sitting in NYC traffic to get to a Major League game, there may be some good news on the horizon. According to Dan Malley, vice president of the Independent Professional Baseball League (IBL), the non-affiliated league is looking to add a team in Garden City.                 “Market research over the past year has led us to the Garden City/Central Nassau County area,” said Malley. “The Atlantic League also liked the area and at one point wanted to put a team here in one of the Coliseum projects back in about 2010”, he added.                 The IBL was founded in 2012, and the Midwestern Division will begin play this summer. The other teams are located in Cleveland, Bowling Green, Galion, Muncie and Tiffin. They have...

I’ve always said there’s two seasons in the year; football and baseball. Once the Super Bowl is over, I shift gears to focusing on prospect lists, season previews and looking forward to Opening Day. This year is a little different. Long Island, never known to be a popular winter vacation spot, is looking more like Sochi, Russia. Unless you are training to fight Ivan Drago, there’s not really a reason to be in three feet of snow. If this was January, it would be one thing. We are two week away, however, from most Long Island teams opening up there season. With no tropical storms on the horizon, the snow will likely force most seasons to be pushed back a few days. It will be difficult for pitchers to acclimate themselves to an outdoor mound immediately. Most teams have not ...

Photo Credit: Recruiting Cycle I have been posting thoughts on this site about various topics in Major League Baseball. As you can see, I am a huge Mets fan. But now that the college season is right around the corner you will not be seeing any talk about the Mets or the Hall of Fame voting.  The season will be starting at the end of the month. There are plenty of significant players ready to make some noise and put their teams on the national grid.  If you are just reading this for the first time, you can come here to read about St. Joseph’s, Farmingdale, Old Westbury, NYIT, Molloy, Dowling, Hofstra and Stony Brook.  Best of luck to the players. Have a productive and healthy season. 

There are very few things in this world that can withstand the inevitable dilution upon aging. Everything has an expiration date and–aside from the Great Pyramids of Giza–nothing remains unscathed over time. With that being  the case, it is no wonder that Baseball’s Hall of Fame is not the mystical place it was when it was founded in 1936 and continued to be for many decades. It was inevitable, the way I see it. Baseball’s fans are too diverse and opinionated to agree upon a ‘one size fits all method’. For that reason, the voting process has received a great deal of flak in recent years. If you ask me, it’s a matter of human nature. Here’s an example of why, and it was the first example that popped into my head. Player One: .260/.299/.367 car...

Last time I checked in, I criticized the Mets for consistently finding reasons to not sign free agents. At the time it was warranted; GM Sandy Alderson would set a figure that he was comfortable with signing a player for, and he would not budge from that figure. From the outside, it was unclear whether he was given orders to not overpay for any player. They finally showed that they were willing to upgrade the team. While no team was willing to commit a fourth year to Curtis Granderson, the Mets knew he could certainly be signed if the team would just extend an extra year. It was a no-brainer, considering the quality of in-house candidates and the dearth of free agents willing to come to Queens. Granderson is coming off an injury-shortened seasoned, but it was no fault of his own. Basically...

Even the captain is getting impatientPhoto is credited to Corey Sipkin/Daily News “Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson. Mets fans have been forced to remain patient over the past five seasons in which they have faded as the second half has begun. The one silver lining was always the company line of, “once we have money coming off the books we will spend.” Well, the time has come for the team to put their money where their mouth is. The problem is: with what money? Is there really a light at the end of the tunnel? In regards to the team’s finances, it remains a mystery. GM Sandy Alderson announced that the payroll will remain in the $85-87 million vicinity, or roughly $100 million less than the crosstown New York Yankees. Eve...

Photo credit: Kelly O Connor Keith Couch, a 24-yard old pitching prospect for the Boston Red Sox is putting himself on the national scene  for his increasingly dominant performances on the mound. He is coming off a tremendous season in which he compiled a record of 11-3 with a 3.47 ERA. He threw 129 innings, walked only 3.0/9 IP and struck out 6.4/9 IP. Despite the Red Sox being loaded with pitching at the upper levels, and especially coming off a World Series title, there is always a need for big league ready pitching. One injury by a member of the rotation could cause an immediate need. Look for Couch to be on the radar for a promotion at some point in 2014. 1) What do you feel like you did well in 2013?I feel like I was able to establish my 2 seam fast ball for strikes more and was able...

Photo credit: BronxBaseballDaily.com The transition from college to pro ball is not always an easy one. Plenty of players have seen their production drop considerably against elite talent, and in many cases it was due to a drastic life change such as being located across the country from their home. For Dillon McNamara, the transition was made much easier by the incredibly short distance he had to travel. Staten Island to Staten Island, to be exact. “I got crazy lucky,” said McNamara. “I got to have home-cooked meal and my mother did my laundry.” He grew up in Staten Island, played at Adelphi University in Garden City and was drafted by the New York Yankees and assigned to the Staten Island Yankees. Not much changed on the field either, from college to pro ball. Aft...