DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Mar. 21, 2024) – The Mercy University baseball team plays at ECC foe The College of Staten Island for a doubleheader on Friday, March 22nd starting at 1 p.m. The two teams will then play a doubleheader on Sunday, March 24th starting at 12 p.m. at Mercy Field.
Who, When and Where
Date/Time: Friday, March 22nd 1 & 4 p.m.
Records: Mercy (9-11, 0-0 ECC), Staten Island (5-10, 0-0 ECC)
Location: Staten Island, N.Y.
Date/Time: Sunday, March 24th 12 & 3 p.m.
Records: Mercy (9-11, 0-0 ECC), Staten Island (5-10, 0-0 ECC)
Location: Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.
Last Meeting vs. Staten Island
Mercy earned a 16-8 win over Staten Island on April 16, 2023.
Scouting the Mavericks
Mercy is coming off a 16-3 win over Dominican on Tuesday. The Mavericks were led by graduate student Nolan Giblin and sophomore Liam Padden who each had a game-high three RBI. Mercy enters the 2024 season picked fifth in the ECC Preseason Poll after going 16-33 overall and 10-14 in ECC play last season, qualifying for the ECC Tournament for the third straight season. The Mavericks won their first ECC Tournament game since 2010 last season and look to qualify for the ECC Tournament for the fourth straight season under Head Coach Chris Schoen.
Leading the returners for the Maverick is graduate student Nolan Giblin who was named First Team All-ECC last season after hitting .326 with 33 RBI, 62 hits, 32 runs and nine stolen bases in 190 at bats. Junior Jaden Caballero was tabbed Second Team All-ECC last season and returns after hitting .322 with 23 RBI, 64 hits, 44 runs, 10 doubles and 23 stolen bases. Sophomore Zach Ashline comes back after a strong freshman campaign in which he was named Second Team All-ECC after hitting a team-high .385 with 24 RBI, 35 hits and 23 runs in 91 at bats.
Also returning is sophomore Sean McAdams who hit .324 with 44 hits, 31 runs, three home runs and 23 RBI in his rookie campaign last season. Senior Gabe Sanders returns after hitting .283 a year ago with 47 hits, 23 runs, three home runs and 27 RBI. Junior Joseph Gonzalez hit .266 in 2023 and returns after recording 28 RBI, 47 hits and 33 runs. Graduate student Justin Glennerster returns behind the dish after hitting .312 with 21 RBI, 39 hits and 16 runs scored a year ago.
Senior Janiel Ramirez recorded 16 RBI in 2023 and juniors Connor Ruland, Frankie Asaro and Alfred Hoti and sophomores John Nisco, Liam Padden and Kolongi Goins will also look to contribute for the Mavericks.
Leading the returners on the mound is junior Scott Scheppy who led the team with 74.1 innings pitched last season with a team-high-tying three wins. Scheppy made 12 starts in 2023 with 34 strikeouts and one save. Graduate student Ryan Dieguez is back after going 2-1 in 2023 with 14 strikeouts and a 4.37 ERA in 22.2 innings out of the bullpen. Sophomore Diego Wirz had a team-high-tying three wins in his freshman season and recorded 22 strikeouts in 29.0 innings.
Senior Ryan Rozinski was named Second Team All-ECC in 2021 and was named to the ECC Honor Roll twice last season after pitching 32.1 innings with 23 strikeouts. Senior Joshua Alvarado pitched 11.1 innings in 2023 with four strikeouts in eight appearances and graduate student John Gillespie is back for a final season after tossing 11.2 innings with seven strikeouts in 11.2 innings pitched.
Sophomores Riley Williams, Brian Zbytniewski and Ryan Ehret, juniors Matthew Manzoeillo and Denis Garcia and seniors Gabriel Soto, Gaetano Pennisi and Nelson Perez Jr. also return and will look to contribute in 2024.
Schoen will also lean on freshmen Peyton Jemison, Nevin Scaperotti, Jack Esposito, Joey Bodin and Kyle Engmann to help get the Mavericks back to the ECC Tournament. The Mavericks will also rely upon transfers Brandon Nolasco, Jack Sullivan, Amaury Soto, Lucas Prokosch, Will Sullo, Vonzell Rivera, and Camren Patterson.
Scaperotti pitched 57 innings with a 1.80 ERA during his senior year at Carmel High School, Esposito was named All-League and All-Section Honorable Mention at Yorktown High School and Engmann was tabbed All-County and All-League at Shoreham-Wading River High School.
Nolasco is a transfer from Division III Mount Saint Mary College and hit .300 with two home runs during the 2021 season. Sullivan is a transfer from Allegany College of Maryland, Soto is a transfer from Phoenix College and Prokosch is a transfer from Division I Fairleigh Dickinson University where he appeared in four games and pitched seven innings last season. Sullo is a transfer from Rockland Community College where he pitched 9.2 innings in seven appearances in 2023. Rivera is a transfer from Salem Community College where he pitched 81.2 innings in two seasons with 40 strikeouts and six wins. Patterson is a transfer from Bryant & Stratton College in Virginia.
The Mavericks have been led at the plate by graduate student Justin Glennerster who has been named to the ECC Honor Roll twice and is hitting .419 with 10 RBI to go with eight runs scored. Freshman Peyton Jemison was named ECC Rookie of the Week on February 20th and was named to the Honor Roll on March 4th and is hitting .377 with six RBI, a home run, four stolen bases and nine runs scored. Junior Joseph Gonzalez was named to the ECC Honor Roll this week and is hitting .304 with 12 RBI and a team-high 21 runs and sophomore Sean McAdams is hitting .417 with eight runs, three RBI and two doubles. Junior Jaden Caballero has nine RBI and nine runs and sophomore Zach Ashline has been named to the ECC Honor Roll twice and is batting .300 with a team-high 22 RBI and seven home runs. Ashline is tied for the ECC lead in home runs and is second in RBI.
The pitching staff is led by freshman Nevin Scaperotti who was named ECC Pitcher of the Week last week and named to the ECC Honor Roll this week. The freshman is 2-0 with a team-best 2.49 ERA in 25.1 innings with 18 strikeouts. Graduate student John Gillespie was named to the ECC Honor Roll on February 20th and has a 5.17 ERA with a 1-1 record in 15.2 innings pitched with nine strikeouts and one save. Junior Jack Sullivan was named to the ECC Honor Roll two weeks ago and is 3-1 with a 1.50 ERA in 12.0 innings pitched to begin his career at Mercy with seven strikeouts. Sophomore Riley Williams was named to the ECC Honor Roll on March 4th after pitching 3.2 scoreless innings of relief to earn the game one win over Southern Connecticut State.
Mercy is 11-3 in their last 14 meetings against Staten Island and are looking to win their ECC opener for the first time since 2022.
Scouting the Dolphins
Staten Island is coming off 12-5 and 12-2 losses to Chestnut Hill on Saturday. The Dolphins were picked sixth in the ECC Preseason Poll after going 17-26 last season. Staten Island has been led by Michael Palermo who is hitting a team-high .353 with a team-high 10 RBI to go along with eight runs. Chris Polemeni is hitting .333 with nine RBI, a home run and a team-high 10 stolen bases and AJ Vigliotti has nine RBI and is hitting .279. The pitching staff is led by Gerard Santos who is 2-0 with a 0.45 ERA in 20.0 innings with 14 strikeouts. Ryan Kehoe is 1-0 with a 5.73 ERA in 22.0 innings with 29 strikeouts.
Next Game
Mercy hosts Queens on Thursday, March 28th at 3 p.m.
