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Monday, Dec. 26, 2005
WARRIORS RANKED NO. 27 IN 2006 DIII PRE-SEASON POLL
After three straight regional titles, 30-13 team missed 2005 tournament
WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – The Warriors have been ranked No. 27 nationally in the NCAA Division III/Collegiate Baseball Pre-Season Poll, released Friday.
The College of Wooster (OH) was ranked first, followed by Cortland State (NY) and Wartburg College (IA). Wooster split four games in last year’s national tournament while Cortland was 4-2, finishing second to first-time titlist University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, which won all four of its games. The defending champions lost seven seniors from their 45-7 team and were ranked 18th in the pre-season poll. Dwight Wildman's walk-off home run had given Eastern a 2-1 win over Whitewater in the 2004 national tourney semifinals.
Wooster gained the top ranking despite losing three of its four All-America selections from a year ago, including National Player-of-the-Year Luke Ulman, a shortstop.
Fourteenth-ranked Trinity College (CT) was the top-ranked institution from New England, followed by the No. 16 University of Southern Maine, No. 23 Suffolk University (MA), No. 25 Wheaton College (MA) and Eastern. The Warriors won four of six games last year against the other New England institutions listed in the poll, winning two of three against Southern Maine, defeating Suffolk and Wheaton and losing to Trinity, which won its first New England regional title, then lost its first two games in national tournament play.
Despite winning 30 games for the seventh time in nine years last season, Eastern (30-13) did not qualify for post-season play for only the fourth time in 37 years under head coach Bill Holowaty. Eastern was ranked fourth in New England and 13th nationally after being eliminated in the semifinals of the 2005 Little East Conference tournament, won for the first time by Rhode Island College. The Anchormen gained the automatic bid awarded the conference tournament champion by beating Western Connecticut State University, 6-3, in the tourney title game, and was later eliminated as the sixth seed in the NCAA Division III New York Regional.
Without receiving an NCAA tournament bid last year, Eastern was unable to defend the New England regional tournament title which it had won an unprecedented three straight years (2002-04). The Warriors had finished first, third and second, respectively, in national tournament competition after capturing those regional titles.
Eastern returns 14 letterwinners – seven pitchers and seven position players – from a year ago. Among the returning position players are senior infielder Zach Mehrbach (LYME, NH), senior infielder-outfielder Marc Garofalo (SOUTH KINGSTOWN, RI), senior first baseman Chris DeSantis (SHREWSBURY, MA), junior centerfielder Randy Re (DANBURY), senior rightfielder Greg Sullivan (NEEDHAM, MA) and junior catcher Matt Cooney (ARLINGTON, MA). Top returning pitchers are sophomore righties Trey Bongiovanni (MERIDEN) and Joe Esposito (EAST HAVEN) and senior righty Brian Wendell (SOUTH KINGSTOWN, MA).
Last year, Mehrbach was named conference Player-of-the-Year and Esposito conference Rookie-of-the-Year. Mehrbach went on to first-team all-region honors.
Key losses are two-time All-America lefty pitcher Ryan DiPietro, as well as 2005 senior starters Tom Koch (shortstop), Leon Galemba (designated hitter) and Jason Pekrul (leftfield) and right-handed senior relief specialist Ben O’Brien. DiPietro, Koch and O’Brien were all named to the all-region team last year. DiPietro repeated as New England Pitcher-of-the-Year last spring after concluding his career with a record of 29-3 and a 1.50 ERA and 336 strikeouts. He signed a professional contract as the sixth-round draft pick of the Kansas City Royals last June.
Eastern is scheduled to open the 2006 season March 1 at Stevens Institute of Technology at 3 p.m. and is scheduled to make its home debut March 28 against Westfield State College at 4 p.m.
