PANTHER BASEBALL MAKES POST SEASON RETURN AFTER FOUR YEAR ABSENCE
APRIL 29, 2008
OLD WESTBURY, N.Y.-The SUNY College at Old Westbury Baseball team is headed to the Skyline Conference Tournament after a four year absence of the postseason. The Green and Ivory notched the fourth seed in the upcoming Skyline Conference Tournament and will face fifth seeded Mount Saint Mary College on Wednesday, April 30th. First pitch is slated for 6:00 p.m. in the friendly confines of the Jackie Robinson Athletic Complex.
Old Westbury (13-26, 10-6) posted a season's record of 8-9 at the Jackie Robinson Athletic Complex and will look to take advantage of the home field as Mount Saint Mary (12-23, 8-8) is 3-9 on the road. Old Westbury heads into the playoffs with a weekend sweep over sixth seeded, Polytechnic University, which included a no-hitter by Robert Whitenack in game one with 14 strikeouts followed by a one hitter thrown by David Collado with 14 strikeouts.
Old Westbury battled with Mount Saint Mary on April 12th at home and split the series, winning game one, 2-0 and then were shutdown in the series finale, 9-0. Over the last 10 games, neither team has been consistent as Old Westbury is 4-6 while Mount Saint Mary went 2-8.
Old Westbury presents speed and timely hitting as a major component for their success. Old Westbury is ranked fourth in the nation with 3.21 stolen bases per game and is second in the nation with a total of 125 stolen bases. The Panthers feature the top four players in the conference in the stolen base department, led by Joe Mazzarese (19), Emmanuel Mateo (18), Ben Farmer (15) and Ryan Blanco (15). Mateo is hitting .305 and is second in the conference with 12 doubles.
Mount Saint Mary features Chris Schacca and Anthony Forgione at the plate. Schacca leads the Skyline Conference, bating .475 (19th in nation) while Forgione is 10th with an average of .360. Brian Visconti and Schacca are ranked foruth and fifth in the conference with 35 and 34 runs scored, respectively while Schacca leads the Skyline with 81 total bases for an on base percentage of .556 (18th in nation).
Old Westbury's pitching staff ranks 27th in the nation with 7.8 strikeouts per nine innings. Robert Whitenack (4-4) and David Collado (1-6) anchor the Old Westbury rotation. Whitenack has a 2.23 earned run average (56th in nation) with a conference leading 67 strikeouts (37th in nation) in 68.2 innings while holding batters to a .192 batting average. Collado is ranks second in the conference with 59 strikeouts (70th in nation) in 42.2 innings and opponents are batting .262. George Pagan (3-3) is the lone senior in the rotation and allowed 45 hits with 39 strikeouts in 44.2 innings as opponents are hitting .259.
Matthew Paci (2-3) is the top starter for Mount Saint Mary and enters Wednesday's first round affair with a 3.00 earned run average. Paci has pitched 30 innings with 25 strikeouts while opponents are hitting .265 at the plate. Mike Lehmann (1-0) is the relief ace for Mount Saint Mary with a 2.89 earned run average in 11 appearances over 18.2 innings. Lehmann is holding the opposition to a .246 batting average and has struck out nine batters while walking 10.
The stage is set for an exciting first round match-up of the four vs. five seed. The youthful Panthers will look to transform their experience gained from their brutal non-conference schedule to calculate into deep advancement in the 2008 Skyline Conference Tournament.
