Baseball 2004: Panthers, Aristy Reach Post Season
Old Westbury Baseball returned to a familiar spot in 2004: Post Season Competition. Under first year head coach Hector Aristy, the Panthers won 21 of 36, including 13 of 20 Skyline Conference match ups, on the way to earning a spot in the ECAC Division III Metro Region Baseball Championship.
Team highlights en route to post season included a training trip to the Cocoa (FL) Baseball Expo and a 1-0 win over highly regarded Waynesburg (PA) College (03/13/04). Returning north, Panther regular season highlights included an 8-6, 3-1 doubleheader sweep of Mt St Mary College 03/28/04), and a 3-2, 5-4 sweep of Centenary College (04/03/04).
However, the Panthers did not fare as well against Centenary in the post season, dropping a 7-6 decision to the Cyclones in the first round of ECAC Metro Region Championship play.
Old Westbury (21-15, 13-7 Skyline) enjoyed many outstanding individual performances in 2004 as first year OF John Decrescenzo led the team in hitting (.390), and RBI (32).). He was named ProHealth MVP, Baseball 2004 at Old Westbury Athletic Awards Night.
Senior SS Angel Melendez again stole enough bases to be worthy of national attention (32), and was ranked 11th in NCAA Division III. The Brooklyn (NY) senior was named a Skyline conference first team All Star.
First Year P Argelis Rosario logged the most innings (53.0) and strikeouts (60) of any Old Westbury starting pitcher. The right hander from Corona (NY) logged a 5 win, 2 loss record.
Senior 2B Chris Waye also earned Skyline Player of the Week honors once, on the way to being named a Skyline All Star (second team), having hit .330 in 2004. Waye was named ProHealth Most Improved Player, Baseball 2004, at Awards night.
Old Westbury Baseball was again well represented on the New York Region NCAA Division III ABCA/Rawlings All Star Team, as Melendez, Decrescenzo were named to the second team and RHP Nick Perez was named to the third team. Perez saved four victories for Old Westbury in 2004. The junior right hander also struck out 26 in 21.0 innings, winning three games and losing only once. His 1.29 earned run average was the lowest among the four pitchers named to the third team.
--- Matt Farrand, SUNY Old Westbury Sports Information Director