Nice start for baseball teams

The league season got under way today for local baseball teams and three came away with victories. Rocky Point earned a 9-1 win against East Hampton, Miller Place beat Shoreham-Wading River, 7-1, and Longwood blanked Patchogue-Medford, 8-0.

The Eagles have gotten off to a strong start with three wins and no losses. They beat Comsewogue and Mount Sinai in non-league. Pitcher Tim Popko is already 2-0 on the year and won the league opener Monday with a complete game and six K's. Phil Rado has been red hot at the plate. Against Comsewogue he had three hits, against Mount Sinai he hit a 2-run homer for the team's only runs and against East Hampton he went 4-4 with two doubles and four RBIs. Now that's how you start a baseball season!

The Panthers won on the back of their ace, Thor Miller. That was a tough way for the Wildcats to have to start the season on a chilly, windy afternoon against a hard-throwing lefty. The next two games should be pretty competitive. Shoreham needs to make sure its gets at least one of the next two. In a league this competitive, starting 0-3 is far from ideal.

For the Lions they picked up a real nice win against the Raiders. As expected, the Raiders did not go with ace Marcus Stroman for the opener. With the win, behind a shutout by Jimmy Knudsen, the Lions are in good shape to get two of three in the series. That would be a perfect way for the Lions to open in League I, where plenty of tough games lie ahead.

Miller Place grad preseason All-MAAC

Press Release from Canisius Athletics:

The Canisius College baseball team was picked to finish first by the league’s coaches in the annual preseason poll released by the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference today. It’s the highest preseason projection for the baseball program since joining the MAAC for the 1990 season.

Three Golden Griffins earned preseason All-MAAC honors, the most of any school in the league. Junior Kevin Mahoney (Miller Place, N.Y.) and Kevin Reimer (Steinbach, Manitoba) along with sophomore Ian Choy (Mississauga, Ont.) were chosen by the league’s coaches to the 12-man squad.

Mahoney earned second-team All-MAAC honors after his sophomore season when he led the Griffs with six home runs, four triples, 13 doubles and 42 runs scored. The team’s third baseman had 34 RBIs, a .482 slugging percentage and .388 on-base percentage while posting 14 multiple-hit games and 10 multiple-RBI games. Mahoney played in 53 games at third base, making 12 errors.

Choy, a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American and second-team All-Freshman selection by Ping! Baseball, was the first Rookie of the Year in program history and earned first-team All-MAAC honors. The team’s left fielder tied for the team lead and ranked fifth with a .358 batting average while also totaling 12 doubles and 26 RBIs. Choy had 18 multiple-hit games, which included eight games with three-plus hits, while striking out just 17 times in 173 at-bats and posting a .437 on-base percentage.

Reimer tied with Choy for the team lead in batting average at .358. The team’s catcher had 11 doubles, four home runs, 10 multiple-RBI games, 17 multiple-hit games, which included five games of three hits or more, while leading the team with a .503 slugging percentage and .460 on-base percentage. Reimer stole five bases and scored 40 runs while committing two errors behind the plate.

In the coaches’ poll, Canisius received 71 points from the league’s nine coaches while Manhattan was second with 67 points and Marist third with 66. Fairfield and Siena tied for fourth with 50 points. Rider (36), Saint Peter’s (34), Iona (19) and Niagara (12) rounded out the poll.

The Griffs qualified for their second MAAC Tournament in program history last season, compiling a 13-12 conference record. Canisius closed out the MAAC schedule with 11 wins in the final 15 games, including nine straight wins at the Demske Sports Complex.

Canisius opens the 2008 schedule Friday, Feb. 22, when the Griffs play Long Island in Gastonia, N.C.

Before Canisius:
Lettered three seasons at Miller Place High School… Named all-state, All-Long Island, all-county and league MVP in 2005 after hitting .479 with 11 homers, 11 doubles and two triples… Team was the Section XI Class A Champs… Went 4-for-4 in Vitra’s Long Island inaugural all-star game… Garnered all-county honors as a junior and competed on the Long Island team at the Empire State Games; hit .580 with eight homers… Hit .430 as a sophomore and was selected first-team all-league… Three-sport athlete, lettering in football, basketball and baseball… Also played for the Smithtown Cardinals and Long Island Titans… Team was the 2003 National Pony Invitational Eastern Region Finalists… Named an FABL Long Island All-Star.