Coming off of their first New England Collegiate Baseball League championship in six years, the Vermont Mountaineers once again figure to be a force to be reckoned with. Under the watchful eye of fourth-year manager Joe Brown, Vermont seeks a fourth straight appearance in the Northern Division finals behind a deep, talented roster. The first game is Wednesday.
“This team is very deep on pitching and speed and we have some guys with a lot of pop in their bats,” said Mountaineers General Manager Brian Gallagher. “We have a target on our backs after last year, but we’ll give our best effort to win it all again.”
Retaining Brown as manager was the pivotal first piece in reaching for the second back-to-back championship in team history, after Vermont won in 2006-07. One of the all-time most successful coaches in college baseball, Brown guided his top-ranked SUNY-Cortland baseball team to the Division III College World Series, coming up short of a national title. One of the league’s top managers, Brown is a savvy strategist who has two NECBL titles under his belt already, one with divisional rival Sanford in 2008.
“He’s an amazing coach and players really enjoy playing for him,” said Gallagher. “He always looks out for the best interest of the players and doesn’t overuse pitchers, which allows us to recruit from good programs that trust we’ll take care of their players. He’s also focused on having the players work hard and always give their best for the fans. And with that, winning comes.”
Last season the Mountaineers barged to 26 wins, negotiated the Northern bracket in exciting fashion and then topped the Mystic Schooners in the NECBL finals in three games. This season, along with Brown, they brought back a pair of pitchers while bringing in plenty of talent for a well-stocked roster. The prevailing objective? Repeat as champions.
The lineup
Last season, Vermont ranked third in runs scored and first in stolen bases. The aggressive style of Brown worked, culminating in the championship-clinching run coming off a squeeze bunt in the 10th inning of Game Three. Expect more of the same this year, especially with a strong-looking lineup.
It starts behind the plate, with the duo of Indiana University’s Ryan Fineman and University of Louisville’s Zeke Pinkham. Fineman enjoyed a stellar freshman campaign in Bloomington, boasting a slash line of .268/.342/.358, good enough for Big Ten All-Freshman honors. Pinkham, meanwhile, is a solid left-handed bat who was a key recruit for the fifth-ranked team in the country.
In the infield, a pair of rising seniors anchor the group in Seton Hall’s Mikael Mogues and Stony Brook’s Jeremy Giles. Mogues is a talented defensive first basemen, and has some pop to his bat. Standing 6 foot, 3 inches, and 260 pounds, Mogues had a .788 OPS this spring for the Pirates and showed patience at the plate with 40 walks in 56 games. Giles, meanwhile, was a leader for the Seawolves. He hit a walkoff RBI single in the America East semifinals, capping off a year where he hit a career-best .258 while manning the shortstop position.
Vermont also brought in a pair of switch-hitting freshman from top Division I programs in Arizona State third basemen Jeremy McCuin and Louisville’s David Little. McCuin hit just .154 in 91 at-bats for the Sun Devils this spring, but slugged a solo home run during a NCAA regional elimination game against Gonzaga on Sunday. Little didn’t see time for the Cardinals, but was recruited as a talented middle infielder. A scouting report in high school describes the 5-10 Little as an infielder “who shows soft hands, a quick exchange, and the ability to throw accurately on the move.”
Sophomore David Lett rounds out the infield, an Eastern Michigan shortstop with a long, lanky build who’s had early struggles offensively. Lett has hit just .201 over two full seasons with the Eagles, but is a talented bunter and swiped 17 bases.
Division II Le Moyne College sends its entire outfield to Vermont, with the trio of Donato DiNorcia, Gabe Levanti and JT Pittman all set to roam the spacious Recreation Field. Levanti, a Northeastern transfer, is arguably the best of the bunch. Also a catcher, Levanti hit .225 in two years with the Huskies, then surged to his best year yet, hitting .302/.368/.367 with five stolen bases and 25 RBIs. DiNorcia hit .259 with a team-high 18 stolen bases, while Pittman hit .262 and slugged 14 extra base hits.
They’re joined in the outfield by Arkansas, Little Rock’s Keegan Meyn, a top recruit out of Oklahoma. Meyn hit just .145 over 55 at bats with the Trojans. Fairfield’s Troy Sccocca hit .283 for the MAAC champion Stags, swiping five bases and driving in 35 runs.
The pitching staff
Vermont had one of the top pitching staffs in the NECBL last season, finishing first in the Northern Division in ERA (3.28), saves (15), and batting average against (.222). Look for more of that this season, with a deep group of pitchers that will be in good hands with Brown.
The southpaws of the group include Old Dominion’s Joey Benitez, who beat thyroid cancer to return to the mound. Villanova’s Woody Bryson, a dependable guy out of the bullpen, held opponents to a .220 batting average while piling up 48 strikeouts in 40 1/3 innings of work. Manhattan’s Joe Jacques split time between the Jaspers rotation and bullpen, recording a 1.8 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 75 innings. Finally, Stony Brook’s Kevin Kernan had a stellar freshman season cut short by an elbow injury, but returned in 2016 to strike out four times as many batters as he walked with a save over 13 appearances.
The Mountaineers bring back a pair of right handers in Colchester High School graduate Sean Callahan, now at UMass Dartmouth, and Manhattan’s Joe Roccchietti, who threw five scoreless innings in the playoffs for Vermont, finishing with a 4.05 ERA over 13 1/3 innings. Callahan, meanwhile, threw 15 innings for the Mountaineers, posting a 4.20 ERA with eight strikeouts in 15 innings, primarily out of the bullpen.
A pair of towering right handers come from perennial Division I contenders: 6-foot, 9-inch player Fitz Stadler from Arizona State and 6-foot, 6-inch Sam Bordner from Louisville. Both threw out of the bullpen as freshman this spring. Stadler’s teammate Chris Isbell had a bigger role for the Sun Devils, posting a 2.84 ERA over 15 appearances.
Indiana right handers Chandler Sedat and Jonathan Stiever both join the lineup. Sedat only appeared in one game, but Stiever piled up 40 innings for the Hoosiers, striking out five times as many batters as he walked while finishing with a 2.47 ERA.
Rounding out the pitching staff is a group of right handers: Eastern Michigan’s Davis Feldman, Old Dominion’s Culver Lamb, Adelphi’s JT Santiago, and St. Louis’ Nick Vichio. Feldman held opponents to a .219 mark over 57 innings with the Eagles, while Lamb fanned 30 in 38 2/3 innings. Santiago was the ace for Adelphi this spring, striking out 78 in 74 innings while walking just nine. He made 10 starts, going 6-2 with a 2.54 ERA, and will be called upon for the Mountaineers rotation. Vichio was hampered by injury his first two years, but made 25 appearances out of the bullpen for the Billikens this spring.
Other notes
The Mountaineers open the season against the Upper Valley Nighthawks, an expansion team located in Hartford. The Nighthawks are run by former Laconia General Manager Noah Crane, a man with whom Gallagher and the Mountaineers are familiar.
“I’ve known him for five years and have a lot of respect for what he’s done with Laconia,” Gallagher said. “He’s now running a team from his hometown and is very involved. We work well together and it’ll be a great rivalry.”
Gallagher and Crane came up with the “Governor’s Cup,” which is an old milk can that will be engraved each year with the organization that wins the most games head to head. They face off on June 8 in the NECBL opener at Recreation Field, with first pitch at 6:30 p.m.
Crane’s former team, the Laconia Muskrats, changed its name to the Winnipesaukee Muskrats.
Not every player has arrived in Vermont yet, however, as the Mountaineers have multiple players who are playing in regionals during the NCAA tournament.
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