The season for the St. John Fisher Cardinals is scheduled to get underway on Friday, March 5th as Fisher will play Elmira in a non-conference matchup inside Falcon Park in Auburn. St John Fisher athletics photo

by John McGraw
for D3baseball.com

The 2020 season was a lost one for not only those in New York but also across the country due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Most New York programs were able to complete a handful of games with some teams learning about the season coming to an end while in Florida on Spring Break trips. Due to the lack of overall games played, no region teams finished in the D3baseball.com Top 25.  

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Even as the snow begins to melt in the Empire State this spring, uncertainty for some programs continues while others are already waiting for 2022. For teams competing this spring, the season will feature condensed schedules, no Spring break trips to warmer climates and for some, no out-of-conference games. As of this writing, the CUNYAC and UAA, which includes NYU, have announced that spring sports will not be played in 2021. While some UAA institutions are looking at playing independent slates, NYU will be inactive. 

Empire 8, Skyline Conference and SUNYAC teams will compete this spring. The Empire 8 made a formal announcement on February 16 that it would move ahead with spring competition as fall and winter sports play condensed springtime schedules. The SUNYAC followed suit one week later giving the go-ahead to spring sports. No official release has been put out by the Skyline however several league schools have posted schedules that include league-only games with 24 conference contests.

New Faces

Peter Hoy (L) and Kenny Collins during the Saints double- header at Rowan in March 2020. Hoy, the Saints coach since 2010 stepped down in September as is replaced by his assistant Collins. St. Lawrence athletics photo

Nick Pontari, Sage: Sage College will begin play in 2022 in New York’s Capital District. Brockport alum Nick Pontari was tabbed to build the Gators baseball program from the ground up. He returns home to Troy after assistant coaching stops at Division I Cornell (N.Y.) and SUNY Brockport. The former Golden Eagle reliever pitched for Brockport all-time wins leader Justin Beach and then was on his coaching staff for four years. Pontari’s assistant coaching group includes longtime RPI skipper Karl Steffen.

Kenny Collins, Saint Lawrence: Collins was named the interim head coach of the Saints after two seasons as an assistant coach under Pete Hoy. Hoy stepped down in the fall after guiding the Saints for 10 years following the retirement of longtime head coach Tom Fay. This will be Collins’ first job as a head coach. He previously worked as an assistant at Ursinus and in the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League. The Weston, Conn., native was a four-year starter at Hamilton.

Conference Preview

City University of New York Athletic Conference:  The CUNYAC has pulled the plug on the 2021 season with this announcement.

We have made the difficult decision to cancel all formal spring intercollegiate athletic competition for the 2020-2021 season. Our decision was informed by ongoing deliberations among the CUNY Athletic Conference, the Presidents Council, and Athletic Directors about the risks of a spring season. We considered and weighed options and strategies for a safe return to play but due to the uncertainty of the pandemic and our obligation to follow all City, State, NCAA and NJCAA guidelines, as well as the University’s reopening guidelines, it remained clear that unresolved logistical issues continue to affect the ability to hold CUNYAC competition.

Empire 8: The line-up for the Empire 8 continues to be in flux with the addition of Keuka, formerly of the NEAC, for the 2021 season. Just over the horizon, another league addition looms as Sage will begin play in the spring of 2022 as the Empire 8’s sixth team.

Five Empire 8 teams will compete in 2021 with the conference moving full steam ahead with spring sports per a February 16 release. Weather permitting, game action could start as early as March 5.

St. John Fisher (7-4) enters 2021 as the clear-cut favorite in the Empire 8 despite several key losses to graduation including D3baseball.com All-Americans Allen Murphy and Anthony Mantova. The Cards’ seven wins in 2020, including a sweep of nationally ranked Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, were among the most in the region in last spring’s shortened season. A solid nucleus of talent is back from a team that should have contended for a spot in Cedar Rapids. Three-hundred game winner Brandon Potter gets back 2019 all-conference swingers Justin Graham (.364, 8 RBI) and Ryan Simmons (.2019 Stats: .338, 41 RBI) as well as 2021 leading batsman Brian Norsen (.455, 5 HR, 17 RBI). Graham and Simmons return as graduate students as does 2017 D3baseball.com Rookie of the Year Anthony Brophy (1-1, 3.00 ERA, 13 K). Brophy, a long and tall lefty, and strikeout artist RJ Kuruts (2-0, 1.00 ERA, 24 K) top the pitching staff. 2019 E8 Rookie of the Year Kenneth Westbrook (2019 Stats: 6-0, 3.86 ERA, 37 K) and Matthew Raudelunas (0-0, 2.45 ERA, 6 K) project to fill out the rest of the rotation. Tim Geissel (2019 Stats: 2-0, 5 SV, 2.39 ERA), a starter earlier in his career, should continue to lead the Cardinal bullpen. St. John Fisher has all the tools to capture its first league championship since 2011. In addition, the Cardinals went 8-1 against the current E8 line-up in 2019.

Who will challenge St. John Fisher at the top of the Empire 8 mountain?

Griffin Baur is one of the Utica Pioneers that will return for a fifth season following the cancellation of the 2020 season. Utica athletics photo

Utica (1-3) placed fourth in 2019 and notched a .500 league record with nine triumphs. Key contributors return as graduate students for UC including Matthew Fitzgerald (2019 Stats: .250, 15 RBI), Matthew Leviton (2019 Stats: .286, 14 RBI) and Griffin Baur (2019 Stats: 4-6, 3.96 ERA, 47 K). Baur was UC’s ace in 2019, pacing the Pioneers in wins, innings pitched and strikeouts. Both Fitzgerald and Leviton are multi-year starters; Fitzgerald was an all-conference selection in 2018 after hitting a career-high .370 with 18 RBI. The Blue and Orange bring back nearly everyone from last year’s shortened season.  

Outside of St. John Fisher, Houghton (5-5) could have one of the most potent offenses. Most starting swingers are back for the Highlanders including 2019 all-conference selections David Wessels (.306, 6 RBI) and Wayne Rode (.400, 4 RBI). Graduate student Wessels, a four-year starter is one of five batters returning with a .290 average or better over 10 games last spring. Houghton’s offense rang up nearly six runs per game in that span. The big question mark for the Highlanders comes on the bump. No pitcher comes back with more than 10.0 innings thrown in a season.

League newcomer Keuka (0-3) should be an interesting addition to the mix. The Storm battered opponents for a school record 25 victories in 2019 and finished first in the NEAC. Head coach Rick Ferchen is a veteran manager and previously led Oneonta to top tier finishes in the highly competitive SUNYAC. Keuka projects to bring back seven starting position players and five pitchers. Nick Brown (.571, 3 RBI) and Tyler Broderick (.400, 3 RBI) both impressed in limited at bats last spring. Then frosh Brown batted a team-high .437 in 2019 while Broderick hit .340; the pair combined to drive in 33 runs. Adam Rutkowski (2.16 ERA, 7 K) projects as the top pitcher. He fanned seven over 8 1/3 innings against Nichols last March in his collegiate debut. Veterans Daniel Steve (2019 Stats: 5-1, 2.75 ERA, 52 K) and Kenneth Howe (2019 Stats: 4-1, 3.23 ERA, 53 K) finish out the Keuka rotation. The Storm played single games against Houghton and Elmira in 2019; Keuka split a pair of one-run decisions.

Elmira (2-12) completed the most games of any region school in 2021. The Twin Tiers team pushes forward having graduated the bulk of its starting position players from 2020. That said, 13 members of the Purple and Gold started at least 5 games in the line-up last year. Top holdovers include pitching staff workhorse Taber Carter (1-3, 5.04 ERA, 25.0 IP) and Mason Ryan (.278, 4 RBI). Carter projects as the pitching staff ace after twirling eight scoreless frames and striking out eight in a win over Castleton in Florida. Even with graduation losses, the Soaring Eagles return 23 players.

Favorite: St. John Fisher

Liberty League: The Liberty League, like the SUNYAC cancelled fall and winter sports conference play outright. An announcement regarding the spring has yet to be made. Several schools have been competing in non-Division III sports with Clarkson, St. Lawrence and RIT all fielding both men’s and women’s NCAA Division I ice hockey teams.

The Liberty League’s new 10 team, two-division format never got off the ground last year with the COVID cancellation hitting prior to the start of league action. Clarkson, Ithaca, RIT, Rochester and St. Lawrence still will comprise the Liberty League West. Bard, Rensselaer, Skidmore, Union and Vassar will make up the Liberty League East. The league had planned last year on playing an unbalanced schedule with series against all divisional opponents and two series against non-divisional foes.

Right now, all league schools are hoping that they can play but the decision will be up to the school presidents and the conference.

Rochester and Union dominated the last decade of Liberty League baseball with both the Yellow Jackets and Dutchmen claiming three conference first-place finishes. Union won three Liberty postseason titles in a five-year stretch (2014-2018) Rochester’s decade ended on a high note with U of R winning both the league’s regular season and tournament tiles. The new decade however brings the new format and a 10th team, Ithaca, a 17-time champion in the Empire 8.

Jon Turk is 8-4 in his three seasons with Rochester, posting a 2.31 ERA with 64 strikeouts. Rochester athletics photo

Defending champion Rochester (1-4) should start at the front of the pack in the west. Head coach Joe Reina, closing in on 400 career victories, returns five position player starters and a handful of starting pitchers. Second team all-conference hurler Jon Turk (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 6 K) will be counted upon as the staff ace. He weaved a four-hit shutout over 6.1 innings in a six-strikeout performance last spring at Pomona-Pitzer to follow up an all-league campaign in 2019. The Ramsey, N.J., native will have big shoes to fill with the loss of two D3baseball.com All-American pitchers. Joseph Rende (.471, 1 HR, 8 H), John Moses (.368, 1 HR, 2 RBI), Aaron Craig (.364, 2 RBI) and Brian McKinsey (.313, 2 RBI) all excelled at the plate in Rochester’s California swing last spring. All project as returning starters along with 2019 all-conference infielder Jacob Matzat (2019 Stats: .351, 18 RBI, 21 R). Reina feels his club has the talent and depth all around the diamond to compete for another league title.

The post George Valesente era at Ithaca (1-6) got off to a rocky start. A young and somewhat inexperienced team that had to replace a strong 12-man senior class stumbled out of the gate and had its season end before league play began. The Bombers return 22 players from  last year’s squad, now and year older and wiser. The IC returnees include two-way threat Buzz Shirley (.433, 6 RBI / 1.42 ERA, 15 K) and offensive sparkplugs Garrett Callaghan (.448, 11 R, 6 RBI), Matt Smith (.300, 7 R, 4 RBI) and Jack Lynch (2019 Stats: .238, 26 R, 14 RBI). Shirley should also be the top starting pitcher. He returns as the only hurler to accumulate 10 or more frames last spring. The Bombers returned to campus in January and have been working out in small groups ever since. Will last year’s seven-game season be enough experience for a now older team to improve in 2021?

Clarkson (3-6) slugged its way to a second-place finish in 2019 and notched the second-most wins of any conference club. The Golden Knights lose key utilityman Nate Burns but have back seven everyday players from 2020. Jim Kane’s Tech offense did not miss a beat last spring in having to replace All-American Brad Pearson. Clarkson batted .307 as a quad and reached double digit runs three times in nine games. 2019 All-Liberty League infielder Michael Tito (.368, 7 H, 5 R) and top 2020 hitter Mike Nee (.429, 8 RBI, 12 H) lead the returning group in Potsdam. Clarkson’s offense will again be stout and though the pitching department will be inexperienced without a returning ace.

Graduation loses hit hardest in the Liberty League West at RIT (2-5). Rob Grow graduated seven seniors that were multi-year contributors. Big boppers Patrick Blackall (.654, 2 HR, 6 RBI) and Luke McNamara (.364, 7 RBI) should continue to power the offense in the Brick City. In the North Country, St. Lawrence (0-2) should return the most players of any team in the division. The Saints opened last spring with two seniors and 22 combined freshmen and sophomores.

The Liberty League East is comprised of teams from New York’s Capital District and Hudson Valley. Union (5-3) won five of its first six games last spring with a roster that included 20 first-year players. The Dutchmen project to return a majority of their offense with seven players coming back that carved out a .300 batting average or better in 2020. 2018 all-region slugger Jack Koch (2019 Stats: .338, 27 R, 16 RBI) and 2019 All-Liberty League choice Elias Kuhns (2019 Stats: .330, 6 HR, 21 RBI) are at the top of Union’s anticipated returning class along with 2020 leading hitter Chris Symington (.471, 8 R, 4 SB). The Dutchmen may need to out-slug the opposition while the pitching staff rebuilds.

Union’s 2019 season came to an end at the hands of Route 7 rival RPI (2-3). Head coach Keith Glasser, a first-year skipper in 2019, guided the Cherry and White to 20 wins in his maiden voyage only to have his second season cut short. The good news in Troy, the entire starting line-up from 2020 is back and eight of the nine were starters on the 2019 playoff team. A pair of 2019 All-Liberty League picks lead the returning group for the Engineers, Liberty League Rookie of the Year Cole Paquin (2019 Stats: .331, 26 R, 18 RBI), and Jake Defayette (.300, 6 RBI). RPI also gets back sluggers Joe Curci (20019 Stats: .324, 33 RBI, 12 DBL) and Jack Vaccari (.529, 1 HR, 5 RBI). The two were RPI’s top two RBI men in 2019 Another all-conference selection, Ryan Yerby (0-1, 1.42 ERA, 6 K) projects to be RPI’s ace. He paced Rensselaer in wins and strikeouts in 2019. The Engineers will need to find two other arms to slot in behind Yerby in the conference rotation after graduating two senior starters.

Spring teams at Skidmore are scheduled to start practice on March 1. Skidmore athletics photo by Perry Laskaris

Skidmore (6-4) followed up a 19-victory campaign in 2019 with an impressive 6-4 showing last spring. Even with the loss of All-American Pat Geiger, the Thoroughbreds batted .333, averaged over eight runs per game and racked up 41 runs in a single doubleheader with SUNY Canton. Six starters should be back for Skidmore though the pitching cupboard will need to be replenished. Last year’s ace, Jay Gamboa, will suit up for ACC member Duke this spring as a graduate transfer.

Hudson Valley rivals Vassar (5-3) and Bard (0-4) complete the Liberty League East. Vassar was in the midst of a Friday day/night doubleheader in Florida last March when all school and conference spring competition was cancelled. The balance of the Brewers lineup card remains for 2021 though the graduation of multi-year starters Evan Trausch and Matt Martino will leave some big shoes to fill. The Burgundy and Grey will have youthful experience, 12 of the team’s 25 returning players are sophomores. Up north of Poughkeepsie, Bard looks to take the next step as a program and fly into a conference playoff spot. The Raptors played just four games in March 2020 but scored 30 runs in those games with a high of 14 against Castleon in a seven-inning contest. Eight starters and 18 players overall are back in Annandale-on-Hudson. Among the returning standouts are Jordan Meyers (2019 Stats: .299, 18 RBI, 11 SB), Spencer Checkoway (2019 Stats: .345, 7 RBI) and lead-off man Joe Barcia (.429, 4 RBI). Evan Matthews (2019 Stats: 2-3, 4.83 ERA, 35 K) should lead a young pitching staff that will look to several key freshmen from the West Coast to fill out the ranks.

Favorite: Rochester

Skyline Conference: Schools in the Skyline Conference will  return to downstate New York baseball diamonds this spring with a condensed regular season and playoff format. The unbalanced league schedule will consist of 24 games with four contests apiece against six different opponents. The four games will be played as part of back-to-back doubleheaders beginning in mid-March. Four teams will advance to the postseason tournament which will be a double elimination format at the site of the highest seed.

Out of the starting gate, it appears to be a three-team race for the top between defending champion Farmingdale State, perennial contender SUNY Old Westbury and new but familiar foe Manhattanville.

Manhattanville (5-5) graduated 13 seniors from one of last spring’s preseason favorites. Still, the Valiants have back many major ingredients in what should be one of the league’s best offenses. Four of Manhattanville’s top five hitters and at least seven position players with starting experience are back on campus. The offensive catalysts include Jack Matero (.514, 4 HR, 10 RBI),  Luke Tebolt (.361, 10 RBI) and Matt Lynch (.268, 11 R, 7 RBI). Matero, a career .393 hitter and 2019 D3baseball.com Mid Atlantic All-Region selection, should be among the favorites of Skyline Player of the Year. The Manhattanville offense averaged 7.5 runs per game over 10 contests in 2020. Now 17th year head coach Jeff Caulfield used 13 total arms last spring, five as starters. Four of those five starting pitchers, all of whom who started games in 2019, will be back on the bump. Luke Shaffer (1-0, 4.26 ERA, 16 K), Abby Ciuffetelli (2019 Stats: 2-3, 4.70 ERA, 21 K) and Tyler Viscusi (2019 Stats: 3-2, 6.07 ERA, 25 K) are the top three returning starting pitchers. The Valiants, weather permitting, are scheduled to play their first Skyline game since 2007 on March 13 against Anderson Hill Road rival Purchase. Manhattanville went 14-4 in its final Skyline season and won the league’s postseason tournament. The school was a part of the MAC Freedom from 2008 through 2019.

Old Westbury outfielder Sean Paprocki batted .417 in four games in 2020. Old Westbury athletics photo

An experienced Old Westbury (2-2) team should again fight for the top of the Skyline. The Panthers slotted third in 2019 behind Farmingale and Merchant Marine and then prowled to the conference tournament championship round. All nine position player starters and the better part of the pitching staff are back this spring. Brandon Wilson (.529, 4 RBI), Sean Paprocki (.417, 6 R) and Michael Borsch (.417, 1 RBI) all swatted over .400 last spring. Peter Capel (2019 Stats: .311, 41 RBI, 41 H) and Mike Manetta (2019 Stats: .341, 17 RBI, 43 H) were two of OW’s top three swingers in 2019; Capel paced the Panthers with 41 RBI. St. Joseph’s (L.I.) transfer Tim Woodford (1-0, 1.50 ERA, 9 K) and fellow fireballer Patrick Quinn (2.25 ERA, 6 K) should form a formidable 1-2 punch atop of the starting rotation. Woodford struck out 49 in 51.1 innings during an all-region campaign in 2019. Another 2019 all-region arm, Joe Sarni (2019 Stats: 4-2, 3 SV, 1.85 ERA) should headline the Panther pen. A strong and balanced attack of pitching and hitting make Old Westbury one of the league’s favorites.

Defending league champion Farmingdale State (3-2) has won eight Skyline championships. Keith Osik’s Rams closed the 2019 league schedule with 17 Skyline victories in a row and then swept through the league tournament. The Rams return a solid core of veteran players from the 2019 squad including Michael Amandola (.313, 2 RBI) and Ryan DePalma (.444, 3 RBI). Transfer Bobby Pollock (.345, 7 RBI) should provide some additional offensive pop. He joins the Rams from Division-II Bridgeport. Joe Wolf (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 2 K) and Thomas Messina (2019 Stats: 1-0, 0.33 ERA, 27.0 IP) are the top returning arms. Messina’s 27 innings in 2019 are the most of any returning FSC hurler.

Mt. St. Vincent (2-2) has been a team on the rise under John Mueller. The Dolphins swam their way to a 9-9 league record in 2019 behind a group that included 24 combined freshmen and sophomores. For the second-straight year, CMSV welcomes back every major contributor on offense. The lethal line-up is led by 2019 Skyline Rookie of the Year Michael Grisanti (.417, 3 RBI) and all-conference selection Jake Blinstrub (2019 Stats: .344, 32 RBI, 54 H). Jordan Perykasz (.615, 5 RBI) and Isidoros Bartziokas (.444, 4 RBI, 4 R) are two of the Dolphins six 2020 returning hitters that batted .286 or higher. Mt. St. VIncent should be able to score runs, but the team will need improved pitching to finish near the top of the table. Peter Sanderson (1-0, 5.40 ERA, 4 K) and Amir Nitowski (2019 Stats: 4-4, 3.91 ERA, 26 K) are Mt. St. Vincent’s top two starting pitchers. Sanderson averaged nearly a strikeout per inning as a freshman with 50 strikeouts in 52.1 frames pitched.

St. Joseph’s (L.I.) (1-2) is only three years removed from its fourth Skyline Conference championship and third NCAA tournament appearance. More than 30 players fly back this spring for the Golden Eagles paced by big swingers Tyler Sanderson (.462, 5 R, 2 RBI) and Anthony Raucci (.429 BA). The duo drove in 51 runs in 2019 and compile a tough to get out 1-2 punch at the top of the line-up. SJC’s offense accounted for 16 runs in three games last spring against NJAC sides Ramapo and William Paterson. With the transfer loss of all-region starting pitcher Tim Woodford, Ryan Foran (2019 Stats: 2-2, 4.97 ERA, 21 K) and Kevin Czeczotka (2019 Stats: 2-2, 4.13 ERA, 25 K) will be counted upon as the top two starting pitchers. Both Foran and Czeczotka were freshmen in 2019.

Merchant Marine (4-4) should be in the mix for one of the league’s playoff spots. The Mariners project to return all but five seniors from 2020. All-conference selections Vincenzo Alteri (2019 Stats: .424, 30 RBI, 61 H) and Joe Raab (2019 Stats: 4-1, 3.13 ERA, 59 K) are the top players. Each should be in the running for Skyline major individual awards. Merchant Marine will also begin play at the newly constructed and fully turfed Raymond J. Bartoszek ’86 Field at the Dean White ’45 WWII Merchant Marine Athletic Complex. The project was completed last summer.

All-conference selection Dylan Flynn (.324, 12 H, 6 R, 4 SB) is one of 10 seniors returning for Purchase (3-8). The Panthers will have a mix of young and old this spring with 10 seniors and 10 freshmen. Castleton transfer Josh Ferro (.370, 10 H, 7 RBI) recorded a seven-game hit streak last spring and batting .340 for the Spartans in 2019. Maritime (3-4), St. Joseph’s (Brooklyn) (0-3), and Yeshiva (0-1) round out the Skyline 2021 line-up.

Favorite: Manhattanville

2020 was the first year that Cortland did not appear in the final D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25. Cortland athletics photo by Darl Zehr

State University of New York Athletic Conference: On Tuesday, February 23, the SUNYAC became the third conference in the region to announce the return of spring sports for 2021. However, the spring will be a unique one for conference competitors with a reoccurance, at least for this season, of a two-division format. Cortland, New Paltz, Oneonta and Plattsburgh will comprise the SUNYAC East while Brockport, Oswego and Fredonia will make up the SUNYAC West.  

Per the conference’s February 23 press release, each division winner will advance to the conference playoffs and then the two remaining postseason berths will go to the two non-division winners with the best record. The league will emphasize divisional play albeit due to the odd number of teams for baseball, there will be some crossover action. No official schedule has been announced however the league block schedule shows only league contests with first pitch slated around the end of March.  

SUNY Cortland (4-7) and Oswego State (6-3) should be considered as the league’s co-preseason favorites. Cortland has won 34 overall SUNYAC titles. Most recently the Red Dragons have captured nine of the last 10 SUNYAC regular season titles and recorded six league playoff championships in a row between 2011 and 2016. Skipper Joe Brown was tapped D3baseball.com Coach of the Decade (2010-19) after guiding Cortland 386 victories, a .799 winning percentage and five World Series appearances in the 2010’s. Oswego State has proven to be a worthy challenger to Cortland’s stranglehold on the conference and region. The Lakers have won back-to-back conference tournament titles and made three straight NCAA tournament appearances under skipper Scott Landers. Oswego also made back-to-back World Series appearances in 2017 and 2018. 

Past the top two, the field gets considerably tighter. The NCAA granted an extra year of eligibility to all spring sports athletes due to the abrupt cancellation of the 2020 spring sports season. SUNY Brockport’s entire 2020 senior class is back in 2021 competing as graduate students. The Golden Eagles open the year with 11 graduate students, 12 seniors, nine juniors and just two sophomores. Returning position players Ryan Voight (.500, 14 RBI), James Houlahan (.435, 10 H), and Tom Kretzler (.400, 12 H, 9 R) should comprise the top of head coach Justin Beach’s line-up card. Fifth-year senior Kretzler, a utilityman, has 27 strikeouts as a Brockport pitcher in two seasons. He and Andrew Huffman (1-0, 4.22 ERA, 15 K) project to be two of the Golden Eagles starting pitchers.

Fredonia State (3-3) finished third in 2019 and extended Cortland to 10 innings in the SUNYAC tournament elimination bracket. Last year’s team erupted with a .333 team batting average and 25 extra-base hits in six games. Ten seniors graduated from that team. Tyler Phillips (.500, 5 RBI) Tylor Murphy (.429, 2 HR, 8 RBI),  Pat Bingham (.400, 7 RBI) and Sam Celestra (2019 Stats: 3-5, 3.72 ERA, 26 K) are among 19 returning players for the Blue Devils.

On the other end of the state, manager Thomas Seay brings in 13 fresh faces to SUNY New Paltz (2-2) this spring that join last year’s nine-man freshmen class. The Hawks from the Hudson Valley will again be young having played just four games as a group last spring. The newcomers will have a chance to get into the line-up right away.

Opposite of Brockport, SUNY Oneonta (4-7) opens camp with one graduate student on the roster. Seven seniors from head coach Ben Grimm’s 2020 Red Dragon squad graduated and are not coming back. Four starters from last year’s Oneonta nine return led by Sean McGlynn (.409, 10 R, 8 SB) and James Zupo (.317, 13 H, 9 RBI). Fifth-year senior James Ceparano (.267, 9 R, 6 SB) should also be an impact player. The 2018 All-SUNYAC infielder was limited by injuries in 2019 and lost most of last year due to the pandemic. A drastically different starting pitching staff will toe the rubber at the recently refurbished Red Dragon Field. Zachary Vavasour (1.74 ERA, 4 K, 10.1) and Michael Dunne (2019 Stats: 2-2, 6.46 ERA, 14 K) are the only experienced SUCO starting pitchers.

Up north, Plattsburgh State (1-4) is looking to build a squad that can return the program to the league’s top four. Head coach Kris Doorey’s side features a mix of veterans and newcomers that should be, he says, one of his most athletic teams. Stephen Bryant (2019 Stats: .327, 21 H, 14 RBI) will front an offensive nucleus that also includes Erik Matz (.313, 7 RBI), Steve Messerschmitt (.294, 5 RBI) and Division-I transfer Andrew Veit (Saint Peters). Veit scored seven times last spring to lead the MAAC’s Peacocks in runs scored.

Favorite: SUNY Cortland

Independents: New York University (4-1) has no plans to start their season since the UAA cancelled their conference play. Without the CUNYAC teams playing and being able to put together a local independent schedule, it is unlikely for the Violets to take the field this season.