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Fall Ball Series Powered by East Coast S & P: Stony Brook University

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The pitching staff of the Seawolves was off to an outstanding start to the 2020 season. They compiled a 3.66 ERA – including holding the high-powered Clemson lineup to just six runs over three games – before the season was cut short due to COVID-19._x000D_
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That series in particular against Clemson was enough reason for optimism regarding the team. Northeast teams have no business competing with the ACC teams in February and the Seawolves lost the middle game 1-0 in 10 innings. In that game, Sam Turcotte struck out seven over six shutout innings, yielding just two hits. The previous night, they lost 2-0 with LHP Jared Milch allowing just two ER over six innings._x000D_
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They turned the momentum into wins with victories over CCSU, Iona and Merrimack before the season was cut short. In fact, the last game I attended before the lockdown was March 11 at Stony Brook in which the Seawolves won 9-4, with Evan Giordano going 2-for-4 with an RBI._x000D_
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If you are an optimistic person, you could find a silver lining for Stony Brook in the shutdown of the 2020 season. All of their starting pitchers are back for the 2021 season. The aforementioned Jared Milch and Sam Turcotte will be anchoring the rotation, along with Brian Herrmann. The latter is a fifth year senior that had Tommy John surgery in April 2019 and already has notched 13 career wins and over 200 innings. With the extra time to recover, he is now 100 percent recovered and ready to go. He looked outstanding today, sitting 89-90 MPH with great command. You can add Nick DiGennaro to the list as well, who also started and pitched well against Clemson._x000D_
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Coach Senk noted that they will be relying heavily on those arms._x000D_
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Max Effort Training_x000D_
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“We always emphasize pitching,” said the skipper. “We are returning some pretty good arms. When Covid hit, that was kind of the bright spot of the team,” he went on to add that they were “in position to win all three games at Clemson.”_x000D_
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They had returned home after their three road weekends to begin the season and were in the midst of a five-game home stand before starting conference play against Hartford, which was slated to be played on Saturday March 14. That never occurred as the NCAA pulled the plug on the season._x000D_
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There’s no need to rehash history, but once the season was over players went home and attempted to get some games in on summer teams. Most of the players were able to, except for Canada-native Sam Turcotte, who wasn’t able to re-enter the country with Canada’s extremely strict lockdown. They have been easing him back into action due to the time off between games._x000D_
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Even after the weekend starters, the team is well positioned in the bullpen. Today we saw some hard-throwing such as freshman Brendan Patterman, who was sitting 91-92 for most of his outing. Sophomore Josh O’Neill started three games last year and pitched 13.1 IP. He looked good today, sitting 87-89 MPH. Another impressive arm was freshman Shane Helmstadt from Schoharie, NY who is the first Division-I athlete from his high school since 1975. Ben Fero threw yesterday and was reportedly throwing 91-93 MPH. He is now a junior, and has the type of stuff to throw high-leverage innings. Brian Morrisey, a senior out of Commack, should contribute out of the pen as well. Junior Kyle Johnson from Newfield had a great summer and is looking to provide some stability out of the pen._x000D_
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They also have a trifecta of southpaws in the bullpen. Sophomore Eric Foster helped lead Sayville to their first Long Island Championship in program history in 2019. There’s Mark Alday, a 6’4 freshman that was up 88 MPH and appears to have a very high ceiling. There’s also transfer Anthony Jacabacci from Bridgeport, who is a hard-thrower that could have an impact. Our audience may remember him from his days at Bellport HS leading the Clippers staff._x000D_
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Offensively, their biggest impact bat is 1B Chris Hamilton. Had there been a normal draft in 2020 there’s a very good chance he would’ve been selected. He’s a career .288 hitter and batted a career best .325 in 2019 with 8 HR and 42 RBI. He has a .382 career OBP and is reliable defensively at first base._x000D_
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The team will be hoping that Evan Giordano, Brett Paulsen and Stanton Leuthner continue to progress offensively. Of that group, Giordano performed the best in the shortened season (.328), but they are all critical to the team’s success both offensively and defensively._x000D_
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Should they falter in any way, freshman Brady Short and Evan Fox are waiting in the wings. Both are from upstate New York and provide steady defense. Short’s older brother, Zack, is a minor leaguer that was drafted out of Sacred Heart in 2016, and is currently in the Detroit Tigers system._x000D_
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Some notable newcomers include Matt Brown-Eiring, Ryan Micheli, Idris Carter, Jack Carr and Andrew Ledbetter._x000D_
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Of that bunch, Senk singled out Brown-Eiring. Our audience is very familiar with him as he helped Connetquot capture the Suffolk County Class AA Title in 2019 and won the “Playoff MVP” for his outstanding contributions at the plate and on the mound. At this level, he is exclusively a third baseman._x000D_
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“We’ll see what happens in the weight room and the rest of the fall but he could potentially be a power guy,” said Senk._x000D_
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Ledbetter has been working with the outfielders and as a reliever. He has a low 90s fastball and he could certainly be a weapon as well._x000D_
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Micheli, who was known for his defensive prowess and leadership ability at Sachem East is slated to back up Johnny Tuccillo and Shane Paradine. Tuccillo was extremely impressive today and Coach Kavanaugh said that he has recorded sub 1.9 pop times in game._x000D_
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As far as the Covid protocols go, the team is now in Phase 4 of Stony Brook’s plan of re-opening. They began with small groups doing only four hours per week. That progressed into positional groups doing eight hours per week. Phase 3 was full team workouts of 10 hours per week and this is a full progression with 12 hours per week. Coach Senk commended the job of the athletic department putting this plan in place and executing it well._x000D_
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“Knock on wood but we haven’t had any positive tests from our players or coaching staff,” he said. “We’ve had to adhere to the protocols.” And that’s not simply lip service as the team was socially distanced through out practice and even in their post-practice meeting._x000D_
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When asked whether he was concerned about the players disobeying the protocols when they’re on their own, he said, “‘I’m confident in these kids. We have some very strict protocols in place. All the freshman live on campus – except one. The university has strict protocols. We’ve gotten through some issues. But baseball is a passion and a priority for them. The guys understand, but I know this is not easy for 18-22 year olds. Hopefully we get through the fall – we end November 13 – and get them through the end of the semester on Thanksgiving. If we can do that, it will be a very productive and positive fall,” he concluded._x000D_
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There is one thing that’s out of their control and that’s the NCAA dead period. For whatever reason, they have continued to push back the date of when schools can contact players and host them on official visits. In the meantime, they have to get creative and that includes live streaming Perfect Game and PBR events as well as “relying on our connections in the AAU, travel and school level,” said Senk._x000D_
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In terms of the 2021 season, the schedule is still not set. Senk said they are still waiting. Apparently the NCAA will be making an announcement sometime in early November about how many games can be played at which time the America East conference teams can set their schedules. Until then, they are simply working on getting better and looking to get back to Omaha.