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League Coaches Pick Wagner To Win It All

Somerset, NJ – Wagner won a plurality of first-place votes to finish atop the 2010 Northeast Conference Baseball Preseason Coaches Poll.  The league office released the results of the annual survey as a prelude to its 24th season on the diamond.

Flying high following the program’s first ever regular season conference crown last spring, the Seahawks received four top nods to finish one spot in front of defending NEC Tournament champion Monmouth and its two first-place votes.

“It is a great honor to be picked first by the NEC coaches.  Our conference has gotten better each and every year and I feel that there are several teams that deserve the top ranking,” said Wagner’s Joe Litterio, the reigning NEC Coach of the Year.

2010 Northeast Conference Baseball Preseason Coaches Poll 1.  Wagner (4) 2.  Monmouth (2) 3.  Central Conn. St. (2) 4.  Sacred Heart (1) 5.  Bryant 6.  Mount St. Mary’s 7.  Quinnipiac 8.  Fairleigh Dickinson 9.  Long Island First place votes in parentheses ( ).

Finishing in the same position it held at the conclusion of the 2009 regular season schedule, Central Connecticut State, which earned a pair of top nods, took third. Sacred Heart received the lone first-place vote and finished fourth.   Set for its first season as a Northeast Conference member, Bryant finished fifth, one place ahead of 2008 NEC champion Mount St. Mary’s.  Quinnipiac took seventh with Fairleigh Dickinson and Long Island rounding out the survey results in eighth and ninth, respectively.

The top four finishers in the preseason poll were the same four teams that comprised the 2009 NEC Tournament field.  The 32-game conference schedule that lies ahead will determine who will be on hand when the 2010 Northeast Conference Championship unfolds from May 27-30 at TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater, New Jersey.

It’s been a banner 12 months for Wagner (31-21, 17-9 NEC).  The Seahawks topped the single-season school record for wins for a second consecutive year last May, captured their first-ever NEC title of any kind, and saw recent graduate Andrew Bailey, now a closer for the Oakland A’s, win the American League Rookie of the Year award.  Hoping to keep the good times rolling, the Seahawks lost only four letter winners from last year’s 31-win team.    They return their top eight hitters, all of whom batted over .300. Junior outfielder Jared Gruccio (Landisville, NJ/Buena Regional) was the NEC’s second-leading hitter (.394) last season.  Junior shortstop Brian Martutartus (Carlsbad, CA/La Costa Canyon) batted .366 and slugged .529.  Senior Damian Csakai (Freehold, NJ/Freehold) will look for his third consecutive all-NEC selection after totaling a team-high 66 hits and a league-leading 37 stolen bases.  Back for his senior season, first baseman Vin Avella (Matawan, NJ/CBA) hits for both average (.307) and power (16 HR, 48 RBI).

Some uncertainty surrounds the pitching staff, except for the return of NEC Pitcher of the Year Matt Watson (Howell, NJ/Howell).  Set for his senior season, the 6-foot-3 right-hander led the NEC in earned-run average (3.64) and win-loss record (9-2) last year.  Watson couldn’t have been much better in conference play, posting a perfect 7-0 record and league-low 3.02 ERA against NEC opponents.

Monmouth (32-25, 15-11 NEC) did not finish atop the regular season standings like last year’s coaches poll predicted, but validated its preseason No. 1 ranking by capturing a second NEC Tournament title in three years.   Head coach Dean Ehehalt’s Hawks tallied league highs in runs (445) runs and hits (636) last season, but loses the right side of an infield that featured second team all-NEC first baseman Paul Bottigliero (17 HR, 58 RBI) and NEC Tournament MVP Chris Collazo (.376, 46 RBI, 57 R).  Junior Nick Pulsonetti (Old Tappan, NJ/Northern Valley Regional), the Hawks second-leading hitter last season (.355, 11 HR, 53 RBI) returns as do a pair of .320 hitters in junior Ryan Terry (Levittown, PA/Truman) and sophomore outfielder David Jacob (Sussex, NJ/Vernon).  Jacob was one of three freshmen to make key contributions during the Hawks’ title quest.  Sophomore Jamie Rosenkranz (Oakhurst, NJ/Ocean) took over the starting shortstop job midway through the season while outfielder Josh Boyd (Port Murray, NJ/West Morris Central) made the most starts (52) amongst MU rookies, batting .289 with 31 RBI and 41 runs scored.

Monmouth suffered significant losses in the pitching department when Ryan Buch and Brett Brach, two of the NEC’s top-five ERA leaders, were drafted. Senior southpaws Kyle Breese (Monmouth Jct., NJ/South Brunswick) and Nick Vallillo (Old Tappan, NJ/Northern Valley Regional), who combined for an 8-5 record last season, are the team’s two most-experienced starters while sophomore righty Matt Goitz (Hawthorne, NJ/Hawthorne) looks to build on the masterful 4.1 innings he tossed when his team needed it most during last year’s NEC Championship Game.

Central Connecticut State (26-22, 16-11 NEC) welcomes back four of its five all-NEC honorees from last season, including both Blue Devils selected to the First Team.  Senior shortstop Anthony Scialdone (West Hartford, CT/Hall) batted .351 over 41 games and was responsible for the league’s longest hitting streak in 2009.  Junior designated hitter Pat Epps (Waterford, CT/Waterford) drove in a team-high 51 runs in 48 games.  The Blue Devils return plenty of offensive firepower from a team that led the NEC in batting average (.323), but head coach Charlie Hickey, whose team has qualified for the NEC Tournament in each of the past four seasons, lost three key elements to his starting staff.   Senior righty Dan Markoya (Carbondale, CO/Otero JC), who surrendered only one long ball in 52.1 innings, is the lone returnee.

Sacred Heart (29-27-1, 16-10 NEC) came within two wins of the NEC title last season, but now head coach Nick Giaquinto must find a way to compensate for the graduation of his three most-productive hitters (in terms of average).  Senior catcher Jeff Heppner (Aqubogue, NY/Riverhead), a first team all-NEC backstop, provided the Pioneers’ lineup with a power surge in 2009 when he hit 13 round-trippers and drove in a league-best 63 runs.  He will serve as a team captain in 2010 along with senior lefty Jared Balbach (Pine Bush, NY/Pine Bush) who went 8-2 with a 4.32 ERA as the ace of the staff.

Bryant (32-22, Independent) performed rather remarkably in its first season playing a full Division I schedule.  The Bulldogs won nine of their first 12 games, which included a single mid-week win over Virginia Tech and weekend series victories over Richmond and James Madison.  Fifth-year head coach Jamie Pinzino’s team played a pair of four-game series against NEC members Monmouth and Long Island, splitting with the former and sweeping the latter.  Bryant returns both pitching ace Eric Polvani (Wallingford, CT/Sheehan), who went 8-2 with a 2.04 ERA as a junior, and leading hitter Jeff Vigurs (South Windsor, CT/South Windsor), a veteran backstop who batted .389 with 23 doubles, nine homers, and 70 RBI.

One year after winning it all, Mount St. Mary’s (23-25, 15-11 NEC) missed out of the NEC Tournament by virtue of a tiebreaker.  Looking to mount a comeback, Scott Thomson’s club has a core of dynamic players returning in 2010.  Junior outfielder Shane Eyler (Taneytown, MD/Francis Scott Key) headlines the list.  The only underclassman to win the NEC Player of the Year award last decade, Eyler batted a team-best .380.  In 26 games against NEC pitching, he belted 12 home runs and slugged .889.  Junior catcher Kyle Kane (Boonsboro, MD/Boonsboro) showed his ability to handle a pitching staff while also contributing offensively (.321 avg., .401 OBP).  Sophomores Brady Feigl (Severn, MD/Old Mill), a lefty hurler, and Buddy Fields (Manassas, VA/Stonewall Jackson), an outfielder/pitcher, both contributed significantly as rookies.  The former struck out 69 batter in 62.1 innings while the latter batted .303 over 37 appearances.

Quinnipiac (18-34, 11-17 NEC) will look to end its two-year absence from the NEC Tournament with veteran skipper Dan Gooley set for his ninth season at the helm.   The Bobcats will feature a brand new starting staff with the exception of senior Michael Oskandy (Bethel, CT/Bethel). Despite losing his top arms, Gooley welcomes back the team’s two leading hitters from a year ago.  Sophomore Gabe Guerino (Milford, CT/West Haven) led all NEC rookies with a .349 batting average while veteran centerfielder Brian Monack (Branford, CT/Branford) complimented his sensational defense with a .315 average and nine homers.

Fairleigh Dickinson (16-34, 11-17 NEC) looks to turn the corner in Jerry De Fabbia’s sixth season in Teaneck.  The Knights have improved both their overall and NEC win totals in each of the past two seasons and welcome back an exciting sophomore.  Second baseman Matt Holsman (Coral Springs, FL/Stoneman Douglas) stepped right into a starting role and batted .323 over 50 games, 49 of which were starts.  Senior infielder Zachary Sand (San Diego, CA/Mission Bay) is also back after posting team highs in batting average (.379) and RBI (38).

Long Island (10-40, 6-21 NEC) lost the dynamic James Jones to the Seattle Mariners in the fourth round round of the MLB Draft.  It won’t be easy for head coach Don Maines to find a replacement for the all-NEC utility plaReyer who did just about everything.  The Blackbirds appear to be rebuilding around pitching as Maines has signed eight freshmen arms for the upcoming season.  They’ll be throwing to one of the NEC’s top backstops in senior Chris Kievit (Wayne, NJ/Don Bosco Prep), a .303 hitter who led the team in RBI (41).

(Release)

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BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Head coach Don Maines and the Long Island University baseball team announced the schedule for the 2010 season on Tuesday. The Blackbirds are slated to play 56 games during the 2010 campaign, highlighted by an early-season trip to Florida and a four-game series at Atlantic Coast Conference member Virginia Tech.

LIU head coach Don Maines

four games with Virginia Tech starting on March 5.

Complete 2010 Long Island Schedule

From there, Long Island will head to the sunny climes of Winter Haven, Fla., on March 12 for a nine-day, six-game road trip. There, the Blackbirds will take on Central Michigan, Army, Maryland-Baltimore County, North Dakota State, Dartmouth and NJIT. Long Island will return to Brooklyn for its first contest at LIU Field on March 23 when local rival Manhattan visits.

Northeast Conference play opens on March 26 when the Blackbirds visit their Staten Island neighbor Wagner for four games. Following a midweek, non-conference tilt at St. John’s on March 30, Long Island will host its first NEC series beginning on April 1 against Fairleigh Dickinson.

The Blackbirds will also host midweek games at LIU Field against Saint Peter’s (April 7) and Hofstra (May 4). Long Island will visit non-conference foes NYIT (April 13), Rider (April 21 and May 16) and Lafayette (April 28).

This season, Long Island will host NEC series against Sacred Heart, Monmouth and conference newcomer Bryant. The Blackbirds will be on the road against Quinnipiac, Mount St. Mary’s and Central Connecticut State, wrapping up the season in New Britain, Conn., with four games against the Blue Devils beginning on May 21.

The home series against Bryant, beginning on May 7, will be played at KeySpan Park, the Coney Island home of the Class A Brooklyn Cyclones. The Blackbirds will also take on Le Moyne at KeySpan in a doubleheader on May 14.

(Release)

FAIRFIELD, Conn. - Fairfield University Baseball Head Coach John Slosar announced the Stags’ 2010 slate this afternoon. The schedule includes opponents from the Big East, the CAA, the Atlantic-10, the Horizon League, and the Ivy League.

Fairfield head coach John Slosar

13-14, for a three-game series with the Hornets.

Complete 2010 Fairfield Schedule

Fairfield returns to the Northeast on March 16 for a single game against Big East foe St. John’s. The Stags open play at Alumni Diamond on March 18 when they host Quinnipiac. It’s the first of three games against the Bobcats that the Stags will play this season. The two teams will also meet in Hamden, Conn. on April 10 and will be back at Alumni Diamond on April 11.

The Stags will head to Hofstra, March 20-21, for a four-game tilt with the CAA foes. Fairfield will also travel to Sacred Heart and Hartford before opening MAAC play at Saint Peter’s on March 27. After non-league home games against Fordham and Bryant, the Stags will host Rider during Easter weekend for their first MAAC home series. The two teams will play a doubleheader on April 3 followed by a single game on April 5. The Stags will host three additional MAAC series which includes Manhattan, Canisius, and the regular season finale against Marist, May 20-21.

Fairfield will have several weekday non-conference games throughout the month of April. The Stags travel to Yale for a doubleheader on April 14, host UConn on April 20 and Sacred Heart on April 27, head to Stony Brook on April 28, and will have home and home series with Central Connecticut.

Fairfield went 20-27 overall and 10-14 in the MAAC last season. The Stags return eight starting position players and six starting pitchers, including senior captains David Dudish, Bill Rafferty, and Rob Gariano, a First Team All-MAAC selection.

(Release)

WORCESTER, Mass. – The Holy Cross baseball team has released its 2010 schedule, announced by athletic director Richard M. Regan, Jr. and head coach Greg DiCenzo. The squad will play in 51 total games beginning in late February, starting on the road for 10 contests before hosting Quinnipiac at Fitton Field on March 20.

Holy Cross head coach Greg DiCenzo

play at Siena on March 17.

Complete 2010 Holy Cross Schedule (PDF)

Holy Cross will host its first competitor, Quinnipiac, at Fitton Field on March 20 at 2:00 p.m. Three road games and seven home contests, including two back-to-back doubleheaders against NJIT on March 27-28, makeup the March lineup. The team will play against annual non-conference foes Boston College (March 24), Massachusetts (March 30) and Harvard (March 31) to round out the month.

The Patriot League season will get under way with a doubleheader on April 3 at home versus Army, the defending Patriot League champions. The team will host two other non-conference opponents (Hartford and Marist) before traveling to play Bucknell the weekend of April 10-11. Holy Cross will host Lafayette from April 17-18 before playing away against its last two league opponents- Navy (April 24-25) and Lehigh (May 1-2).

After the season wraps up at Lehigh, the top four Patriot League teams will play for the Patriot League Championship, starting with the semifinal round on May 15-16 and continuing through May 23.

Holy Cross is coming off a 22-27 2009 campaign, with this year’s team boasting 18 returning letterwinners and 13 newcomers. The team will be led by senior tri-captains Ryan George (Seekonk, Mass.), 2009 Patriot League Player of the Year Matt Perry (Sudbury, Mass.) and two-time captain John Sills (Milton, Mass.).

(Release)

Blue Devils Release Challenging Slate

Duke Head Coach Sean McNally

North Carolina and Virginia, NCAA Super Regional qualifiers Clemson and Florida State and NCAA Regional teams Baylor, Georgia, Boston College, Miami and Georgia Tech.

Complete 2010 Duke Schedule (PDF)

Five of those series will take place at home in Durham, N.C., with four being played at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, home to the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. The home sets against North Carolina, Miami, Clemson and Virginia will all be played at the DBAP, while the three-game showdown against Florida State will be at Jack Coombs Field on the West Campus of Duke University.

The Blue Devil baseball program recently announced an agreement with the Durham Bulls to play 18 home games in 2010 at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, which is one of the top minor league facilities in the country and will now serve as one of the top-tier venues in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Along with the aforementioned conference series at the DBAP, Duke will also host Fordham and Temple for a pair of three-game sets at the park.

Duke’s schedule boasts 11 teams that won at least 30 games in 2009 and four that finished with at least 40 wins. Duke’s 2010 opponents combined for a 654-575 (.531) record last year. Of Duke’s 56 games scheduled for 2010, 25 will be played against 2009 NCAA Tournament participants.

Rounding out Duke’s ACC schedule will be road trips to Boston College, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech and NC State. Exempt from the Blue Devils’ ACC slate this year is Maryland, which will be replaced on the 2010 slate by Florida State, who Duke has not played since 2006.

Duke will still use Jack Coombs Field, its home stadium since 1931 on the West Campus of Duke University, as a practice facility and home field. Along with the home series against Florida State, Duke will host non-conference foes Quinnipiac, High Point, William and Mary, Davidson, UNC Greensboro, North Carolina A&T and North Carolina Central at Jack Coombs Field. The Blue Devils will also make road trips to non-conference opponents Wofford and Liberty.

Duke’s 2010 season opens on Feb. 19, 2010, in Waco, Texas, as part of the QTI Apparel Opening Weekend Classic, hosted by Baylor where Duke will face both Baylor and Georgia. The season finale takes place on May 22 at NC State, just before the start of the ACC Tournament on May 26-30 in Greensboro, N.C.

(Release)

HANOVER, N.H. — Dartmouth College head baseball coach Bob Whalen today announced the 2010 schedule for his defending Ivy League champion squad this spring, including eight games against teams that participated in the 2009 NCAA Regionals. The Big Green will open the season with excellent challenges on March 6 in Charlottesville, Va., where they will square off against Wright State and host Virginia, both of which played in the postseason with the Cavaliers advancing to the College World Series. The three-game trip will conclude the following day with another contest versus Virginia. Dartmouth's Bob Whalen In mid-March, Dartmouth will embark on an 11-game spring trip with the first stop in Winter Haven, Fla., where they will play three Big Ten schools — Illinois twice, Northwestern and Ohio State (a 2009 NCAA participant) — before wrapping up the trip with a three-game series at another 2009 NCAA team, Bethune-Cookman. Complete 2010 Dartmouth Schedule The Ivy season will get under way with a doubleheader on April 3 at Cornell, the team the Big Green defeated in the Ivy Championship series this past May. The first of 10 home dates will take place on April 6 against Williams to begin a 12-game homestand. Columbia, Penn and Yale will all make the trek to Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park, as will New England rivals Quinnipiac, Holy Cross and Boston College of the ACC, the final NCAA team Dartmouth will play in the regular season. After the season wraps up on May 1-2 with doubleheaders against Harvard, the victors of the Rolfe and Gehrig Division will play in the Ivy Championship on May 8-9. Dartmouth is coming off a 27-18 campaign in 2009 when it won the Ivy Championship series by defeating Cornell, two games to one. The Big Green went 16-4 in league play, winning their first 11 games against conference foes. The 2009 Ivy League Player of the Year, Nick Santomauro, signed with the New York Mets this summer as a 10th-round draft choice, but Coach Whalen has his entire pitching staff back as well as four positional starters to defend their title. Senior left-hander Robert Young (5-4, 4.63 ERA) is the Big Green captain and anchors the staff with a pair of right-handers in All-Ivy second-teamer sophomore Kyle Hendricks (6-3, 4.84 ERA) and senior Ben Murray (6-1, 5.27 ERA) in the rotation as well. The Ivy leader in saves, junior right-hander Ryan Smith (2-3, 11 saves), returns already owning the single-season and career marks for saves at Dartmouth. Offensively, sophomore shortstop Joe Sclafani (.339 BA/.417 OBA/.477 SLG) is the Big Green’s leading returning hitter and provides excellent defense up the middle. He combines with junior second baseman Jeff Onstott (.308/.427/.497) to make up the league’s foremost double-play combination. A pair of senior outfielders in Jim Wren (.325/.374/.506) and Brett Gardner (.314/.419/.500) return to help give Dartmouth a strong nucleus in its offensive attack. (Release)

We have found several more 2010 college baseball schedules that do not appear to have come with an “official” release/write-up.  Here’s the list along with where the teams open their 2010 slates.  Visit our SCHEDULE page to see the complete list of 2010 schedules that have been released.

Brown:  Opens in Baton Rouge, LA March 5, 6 & 7 vs. Pepperdine & LSU

Buffalo:  Opens with 3 games @ Charlotte

Cleveland State: Opens with 3 games @ UNC Greensboro

Dallas Baptist: Hosts UT Arlington, then plays two games @ Arlington

Delaware State: Opens in Durham, NC vs. Navy, NC Central & Iona

Houston Baptist: Opens with two games @ Texas San Antonio

Mount St. Mary’s: Opens in Charlotte, NC vs. Davidson & Presbyterian

Niagara: Opens with 3 games @ Vanderbilt

Norfolk State: Hosts 3 games vs. Villanova

Ohio: Opens@ the Elon Tournament

Penn: Opens vs. Georgetown, Maine & Rollins in Winter Haven, FL  Mar 6 through 14

Quinnipiac: Opens with 3 games @ NC State March 5,6 & 7

Rider: Opens with 4 games @ Maryland Eastern Shore

Sacred Heart: Opens with 4 games @ Florida Gulf Coast

Saint Peter’s: Opens with 4 games @ Arkansas Pine Bluff

San Francisco: Opens with two games @ Pacific in Stockton, CA

Wagner: Opens with 3 games vs. Winthrop in Rock Hill, SC

Rams looking to build on their record-setting 2009 campaign

URI Head Coach Jim Foster

home runs and fielding percentage – the 2010 squad will look to pick up where it left off, returning all but three starters (two pitchers, one infielder) from a year ago.

Rhody opens the new season with a three-game series at Mississippi State (Feb. 19-21) before heading to Charlottesville, Va. for three games against the Virginia Cavaliers.

Complete 2010 Rhode Island Schedule

The Rams will spend March 6-11 in Winter Haven, Fla., facing various opponents who have yet to be determined. URI then travels to UNC Wilmington for a three-game series beginning on Friday, March 19. From there, Rhody will travel to William and Mary for a pair of games on the 23rd and 24th.

The Atlantic 10 portion of the schedule will feature home series against Charlotte (April 9-11), Massachusetts (April 16-18), Xavier (April 23-25), Richmond (May 14-16), and George Washington (May 20-22).

The Rams will travel to play three-game conference series at Temple (March 26-28), Fordham (April 1-3), Duquesne (April 30-May 2), and St. Bonaventure (May 7-9).

The Ram’s non-conference home schedule features games against Central Connecticut (March 30), Boston College (March 31), Quinnipiac (April 13), Bryant (April 14), Brown (April 27), Siena (April 28) and Northeastern (May 19).

Rhode Island will also face Northeastern (April 7), Sacred Heart (April 20) and Connecticut (April 21) on the road.

Atlantic 10 action will wrap up at the league’s 2010 Championship at Campbell’s Field in Camden, N.J., from May 26-29.