Skyline Preview

The seven-year reign of Farmingdale State at the top of the Skyline came to an end last spring. St. Joseph’s (L.I.) went 13-1 to capture the conference regular season championship and Old Westbury prevailed in the Skyline tournament finals, over Farmingdale, to earn the league’s bid to the NCAA tournament, the school’s first since 2001. A new era in the Skyline also begins in 2016 with the addition of St. Joseph’s (Brooklyn) to the conference. That brings the number of league teams to nine.

The Panthers should again be on the prowl in the Skyline looking to bounce off of last year’s success. Even with the loss of D3baseball.com All-American Tim Ingram, Old Westbury’s pitching staff should be the best in the league. The staff will be buoyed by Division I transfers Jeremy Charles (Hartford) and Vinny Caputo (Binghamton) and JUCO transfer Danny Donofrio (Suffolk CC). They’ll be joined by returning strikeout artists Nick Dorcean (3-1, 2.60 ERA, 45.0 IP, 50 K), Tyler Kapela (2-2, 4.25 ERA, 53.0 IP, 35 K), the Skyline Tournament MVP and Nick Schoen (4-2, 2.63 ERA, 1 SV, 37.2 IP, 35 K). The biggest holes come in the outfield where Old Westbury graduated three senior starters. The returning strength on offense will be in the infield with returnees Tommy Ziegen (.328, 2 HR, 29 RBI, 44 H, 31 R, 4 TRP, 22 SB) Dean Sheridan (.433, 22 RBI, 39 H, 16 R, 12 BB) and Joey Walsh (.362, 11 RBI, 12 SB). With the loss of three big bats, the Panthers may be even more aggressive on the bases to generate offense. Old Westbury stole 109 bases last season, an average of 2.8 per game.

If Old Westbury falters, St. Joseph’s (L.I.) is the next in line at the top of the tower. After leading the Eagles to nine league wins in 2014, second-year skipper Richard Garrett took St. Joseph’s all the way to first place, losing only once in regular season conference play. However, the Eagles were tripped up in the conference tournament and succumbed to Farmingdale State in the semifinals. Nearly everyone is back for St. Joseph’s, a team that compiled 51 HBP and a .404 on-base percentage. Eight of nine .300-hitting regulars return for St. Joseph’s, six of which are part of SJC’s 12-man senior class. Included in the returnees are 2015 Skyline Player of the Year Nick Girardi (.383, 23 RBI, 44 H, 25 R; 2-1, 2 SV, 16.2 IP, 27 K, 20 BB) and all-league selections Joseph Lynn (.402, 39 H, 26 R, 15 RBI, 21 SB, 13 BB), Brendan Sullivan (.384, 25 RBI, 43 H, 19 R, 25 RBI), Joseph Calabrese (.368, 39 H, 20 R, 2 HR, 26 RBI) and Josh Outsen (5-2, 1.32 ERA, 54.2 IP, 4 CG, 1 SV, 44 K). Outsen and fellow returning starting pitcher Ryan Aloise (5-1, 3.73 ERA, 502 IP, 38 K, 12 BB) combined to throw over 100 innings last spring.

While Farmingdale State failed to claim an eighth straight league title last season, the Rams should still very much be one of the top contenders in the Skyline. Head coach Keith Osik helmed the Rams to seven league crowns between 2008 and 2014, that includes a World Series appearance in 2009. Farmingdale will be very young, unlike challengers St. Joseph’s (L.I.) and Old Westbury. Twenty-four freshman and sophomores dot the Farmingdale roster and there just three seniors. For the Rams to compete, they’ll need to match the pitching displayed by the Golden Eagles and Panthers. Farmingdale’s veteran returning arms are Ryan O’Connor (6-1, 3.99 ERA, 38.1 IP, 21 K), Kevin Cashman (2-3, 2.37 ERA, 38.0 IP, 30 K) and Matt Seelinger (2-1, 466 ERA, 43 K, 29.0 IP). O’Connor and Cashman were the only Rams to pitch more than 30 innings last spring and Seelinger averaged over 13 strikeouts per nine innings. The Rams will have a new closer as well, David Otero, Jr. (1-2, 2 SV, 14 APP, 5.20 ERA, 27.2 IP) and Kevin Martinez (3-1, 2.77 ERA, 26.0 IP, 21 K) will both be in the mix. Nick Osburn (.320, 2 HR, 27 RBI) and Dalton McCarthy (.292, 2 HR, 21 RBI) are two of the few position players back for Farmingdale. 

St. Joseph’s (Brooklyn) enjoyed success as an independent, winning 20 games each of the last three seasons. The Bears won 24 games last season playing as a Division III independent. Last year’s schedule included splits against future league opponents Old Westbury and St. Joseph’s (L.I.). Will St.  Joseph’s (Brooklyn) be able to carry over independent success into the Skyline? The Bears belted 10 home runs last year, nine of those home runs graduated as the team does not return two of its top three hitters. A quartet of .300 hitters in Brian Luebcke .370, 1 HR, 21 RBI, 40 H, 9 DBL 24 R, Nicolas Loprinzi .331, 21 RBI, 44 H, 17 R, Francis Rapp .325, 39 H, 27 R, 24 RBI, Michael Camerada .318, 41 H, 24 R, 7 DBL, 18 RBI, 11 SB should make up the heart of the batting order. On the mound, Mitch Brigando (8-1, 2.44 ERA, 51.2 IP, 39 K) projects to be the ace of the St. Joseph’s (Brooklyn) staff. Brigando, along with fellow regular starting pitchers Brian Luebcke (4-2, 3.69 ERA, 32 K, 3 BB, 39.0 IP) and Rosario DiLorenzo (2-4, 4.53 ERA, 3 CG, 26 K) combined to twirl 11 complete games in 2015; overall the Bears had 15 complete games.

First year skipper Charlie Barbieri captained SUNY Maritime to a fourth place conference finish in 2015, the best showing in school history. The Privateers now want to make the next step and that’s to challenge for the league championship. Returning all-conference selections Chris Deddo (.388, 17 RBI, 33 H, 11 DBL) and Brian McLaughlin .302, 2 HR, 16 RBI, 22 R) form a solid offensive nucleus on a team that returns six position player starters. Joe DiLeo (.292, 10 RBI) and Kevin Monahan (.281, 14 RBI, 11 SB) also return. As a freshman infielder last spring, DiLeo did not commit a single error in 17 games. For Maritime to navigate the high seas atop the conference, the Privateers must improve on the mound. Fourteen players made at least one pitching appearance last season on a team that cobbled together a 6.57 earned run average. All-conference arm Tyler Stuart (3-1, 4.41 ERA, 34.2 IP, 35 K) and Anthony D’Ancona (4-4, 6.08 ERA, 41 K, 40.0 IP) should top the Maritime starting rotation.

Maritime and Mount St. Vincent both went 7-7 in league last season and both have six starters returning. It was Maritime that claimed the fourth and final conference playoff spot due to having a tiebreaker advantage over CMSV. The advantage was record against the top three in conference. The Dolphins returning cast includes Keith Brodesser (.302, 13 RBI), Craig Weber (.289, 20 RBI, 9 SB), Keith Schroeder (.254, 17 RBI, 29 R, 15 SB) and Steven Giustino (.245, 23 RBI) as well as pitchers Tyler Krolikowski (4-1, 3.14 ERA, 38 K, 28.2 IP) and Robert Negron (4-2, 5.47 ERA, 3 CG, 41 K, 49.0 IP). 

One of the most valuable returning players in the Skyline is Matt Cahill of Mount St. Mary. The Blue Knights were the only team in the league to down St. Joseph’s (L.I.) during the conference regular season in 2015. Cahill paced Mount in nearly every offensive category including batting average (.356), runs scored (29), hits (37), doubles (10), walks (16), slugging percentage (.427) and stolen bases (15). Cahill’s 29 runs accounted for almost one-fourth of Mount’s runs scored for the season. He should be among the candidates this season for conference Player of the Year laurels.

Last season’s horrible early spring weather impacted everyone. One of the hardest hit Skyline teams was Purchase. The Panthers were limited to just one over the first month of the season and Purchase completed 26 contests overall. Purchase has big shoes to fill with the loss of two all-conference offensive standouts, one of those being overall 2015 Division III batting champion and Rookie of the Year Chris Triano, a transfer to Keystone. The Panthers will rely on the trio of Teofilo Ramirez (.380, 17 RBI), Matthew Chavez (.317, 17 RBI) and Patrick Rucci (.294, 2 HR, 19 RBI) to replace the lost offense. Miguel Reyes (3-3, 4.50 ERA, 2 CG, 48.0 IP, 36 K, 9 BB) projects to be the Purchase pitching ace. He racked up over one-third of Purchase’s 106 strikeouts last spring.

Closing out the Skyline, manager Frankie Delgado returns for his second season at Yeshiva. Consistency should help Yeshiva as Delgado is the first since Phillip Kahn (2009-2011) to coach the team multiple years. Delgado mentored the Maccabees to a doubleheader sweep of Canadian school Vaughn (Ont.) College last spring to give the program its first victories since the 2013 season. Shmuli Goldis (.323, 8 RBI, 20 H) was YU’s top hitter last spring and his .323 batting average is third highest in the 10-year history of the program.