2008 Woodie Awards
Baseball Team Improving Season
Joseph Aprigliano
Issue date: 4/6/05 Section: Sports
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The baseball team is still dealing with a tough schedule. Early on in the season, Manhattan College had some tough losses to very good schools like Davison and Texas Christian University which is ranked 24th in the country. Also, the team came close to schools like Lafayette and Maryland. The Jaspers show that they can compete with any team in the NCAA.
After observing the Jaspers at practice one can notice the team's potential, determination and hard work. The team is very serious about the rest of their season. At practice, the hitters hit line drives up to middle and the pitchers have pinpoint location. The infielders hustle after every ground ball, the batters show their athleticism with great hits and the catchers react rapidly when someone is trying to steal a base.
Manhattan College has an overall record of 7-8 and record of 2-0 in the MAAC division. The Jaspers swept St. Peter's in a double header over in Jersey City. In those games, Nick Derba had six hits, including his second homerun of the season, and two doubles. In the first game, Manhattan demoralized St. Peter's in a 25-3 win. In the night cap, the Jaspers embarrassed the Jersey City Jesuit School in a10-2 win. In the first game, the Jaspers had a ten run lead cushion through seven innings. Then they really opened up the game in the 8th and 9th innings adding on 15 more runs. Chris Cody who is the ace on the pitching staff raised his record to 3-0. He allowed only two walks and five hits.
Along with Derba's hitting performance in the day game, Franzese, Lombardi, and Rizzotti had multi-hit games. Senior Gary Diaz, who leads the MAAC in stolen bases, had a double. Manhattan College has some conference leaders. Rizzotti leads the conference in batting average and slugging percentage. The Jasper's Designated Hitter, John Fitzpatrick, leads the league in runs batted in. Diaz leads the conference in stolen bases. Manhattan has a strong starting nine, and a young but talented bench. John Fitzpatrick stated, "The pitchers have good location, and we have a strong closer C. Wirtz." Many can agree with him after observing the Jasper practice.
With his offensive performance, Nick Derba was named the MAAC player of the week. Cody was named the MAAC pitcher of the week. Also, freshman first-baseman Rizzotti was named the MAAC rookie of the week. The Jaspers swept the weekly honors.
The Jaspers were expected to finish fourth in the conference partly because they lost some seniors last year. Everyone on the team holds their own weight; no one is really a superstar. Now the Jaspers are on a roll. If they keep performing the way they are then they will finish farther than fourth in the MAAC. Manhattan College did get off to a slow start but they will catch some of these high ranked teams off guard.
After observing the Jaspers at practice one can notice the team's potential, determination and hard work. The team is very serious about the rest of their season. At practice, the hitters hit line drives up to middle and the pitchers have pinpoint location. The infielders hustle after every ground ball, the batters show their athleticism with great hits and the catchers react rapidly when someone is trying to steal a base.
Manhattan College has an overall record of 7-8 and record of 2-0 in the MAAC division. The Jaspers swept St. Peter's in a double header over in Jersey City. In those games, Nick Derba had six hits, including his second homerun of the season, and two doubles. In the first game, Manhattan demoralized St. Peter's in a 25-3 win. In the night cap, the Jaspers embarrassed the Jersey City Jesuit School in a10-2 win. In the first game, the Jaspers had a ten run lead cushion through seven innings. Then they really opened up the game in the 8th and 9th innings adding on 15 more runs. Chris Cody who is the ace on the pitching staff raised his record to 3-0. He allowed only two walks and five hits.
Along with Derba's hitting performance in the day game, Franzese, Lombardi, and Rizzotti had multi-hit games. Senior Gary Diaz, who leads the MAAC in stolen bases, had a double. Manhattan College has some conference leaders. Rizzotti leads the conference in batting average and slugging percentage. The Jasper's Designated Hitter, John Fitzpatrick, leads the league in runs batted in. Diaz leads the conference in stolen bases. Manhattan has a strong starting nine, and a young but talented bench. John Fitzpatrick stated, "The pitchers have good location, and we have a strong closer C. Wirtz." Many can agree with him after observing the Jasper practice.
With his offensive performance, Nick Derba was named the MAAC player of the week. Cody was named the MAAC pitcher of the week. Also, freshman first-baseman Rizzotti was named the MAAC rookie of the week. The Jaspers swept the weekly honors.
The Jaspers were expected to finish fourth in the conference partly because they lost some seniors last year. Everyone on the team holds their own weight; no one is really a superstar. Now the Jaspers are on a roll. If they keep performing the way they are then they will finish farther than fourth in the MAAC. Manhattan College did get off to a slow start but they will catch some of these high ranked teams off guard.