RCC Golf Gears up for Championship Play

• The 'College Sports Notebook' is published each Friday. Please send items of interest—including local athletes competing at out-of-town colleges—to marcmaturo@aol.com. Beginning next week, the column will transition to the 'Recreational Sports Notebook' until college sports start up again.
  

--

The Manhattan College baseball team, already assured of a highly successful season, is into the winners’ bracket of the MAAC Tournament after another masterful effort by sophomore right-hander John Soldinger.

Soldinger, of Bay Shore, went the distance, and pitched the Jaspers past Canisius 3-2 Thursday at Waterfront Park in Trenton, NJ.

Tonight at 7 p.m., top-seeded Manhattan (32-17) will face third-seeded Siena.

Freshman right-hander Scott McClennan of Suffern, who is 2-2 with a 3.49 ERA, will be in the bullpen for Coach Kevin Leighton.

Siena is 27-28 after a rough 0-9 start, and was swept by Manhattan in a  three-game home series in late March.

Soldinger, the MAAC pitcher of the year, outlasted Canisius starter Shane Davis in picking up his conference-leading 10th victory. He struck out six, and permitted only six hits in racking up his sixth complete game of the season.

"I knew it would be a tough game; I figured it would be tough, tight, and I was anxious to get going,” Soldinger said after his 123-pitch effort.

Veteran coach Kevin Leighton of Brewster, who was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in 1997, said it was an obvious advantage to be the home team, with the last at-bat.

“It was a huge win for us, just a good win,” said Leighton, whose Jaspers have advanced to the tournament’s winners’ bracket for the fourth time in his six-year tenure.

“John kept us in the game, as he always does. That allows us to apply some pressure, and get the big hit,” the coach added. In this case, it was the big walk.

Canisius (25-31) broke through for a run in the first inning, and Davis nursed the lead into the sixth before Mark Onorati of Williston Park had a leadoff double, and eventually scored on a single by senior first baseman Austin Sheffield of Augusta, GA.

The Golden Griffs regained the lead in the seventh, but the Jaspers again drew even in the eighth on an RBI single from sophomore catcher Ramon Ortega of Miami, FL.

Soldinger set down Canisius in order in the ninth, and the Jaspers immediate took advantage in the bottom half, loading the bases, and then winning on a four-pitch walk to junior reserve Matt Troisi of Brooklyn.

Hawks packed, ready to fly

All systems are “go” for the Rockland Community College golf team. The Region XV champions, led by Coach Tom “T-bone” Craffey of Garnerville, will compete on the national stage June 6-10 at upstate Chautauqua Golf Course.

The championship course plays to a par-72 over 6,557 yards.

Highly rated Colby Lewis, a Monroe-Woodbury alum that “T-bone” has said might one day be playing in the Masters, has sparked the Hawks throughout the season, and is expected again to not only lead the team, but vie for the individual national championship.

Lewis has received solid team support from team captain Greg Zamalkany of Pomona, Dan Gizzi of Stony Point, Clarkstown South graduate John Borean of West Nyack, and Albertus Magnus graduate Terrance Michalak.

RCC advanced to the national tournament by unseating defending champion and perennial powerhouse Nassau.

Mortarboard musings

• Westchester Community College has put together a summer bowling league at AMF White Plains. The USBC-sanctioned league, consisting of four-person mixed teams, will place individuals on short-handed teams, or combined to form other teams. Three-game series are scheduled on Wednesday nights. For further information access walter.hauck@sunywcc.edu.
• Four-year varsity pitchers Sean Darsee of West Nyack and Brian Callahan of Congers completed their collegiate careers on the Iona College baseball team. The Gaels were up and down this season, going 18-34. Darsee, a right-hander out of Clarkstown South HS, made 42 career appearances, going 1-8 with a 8.96 ERA. Callahan, a left-hander who was graduated from Don Bosco Prep, went 7-13 in 45 career appearances, with a 7.38 ERA.
• Dominican College baseball players David Bartuska and Dan Robinson were named to the American Baseball Coaches Association East all-Region team. Bartuska, a junior right-hander from Duryea, PA, led the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference in wins, going 9-2 as the Chargers finished 28-17. Robinson, a senior outfielder from Massapequa, led the team in hitting (.318 BA) and home runs (four).
• The Manhattan College women’s basketball team will open its 2011-12 season in the 16-team Preseason Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT).  First-round games are tentatively scheduled for Nov. 11 on campus sites. Manhattan set a school record for victories last season, going 24-10.
• Freshman right-hander John Tricario of New City, and a graduate of
  Clarkstown South, was a workhorse on the Mercy College baseball team.
  Tricario pitched 59 innings, second on the Mavericks behind only Tyler
  Savin’s 61. Tricario went 2-6, with a respectable 4.85 ERA in his rookie
  campaign.
• Ali Steinberg of Suffern was named to the all-Mid-Atlantic second team by the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association. The Rutgers University junior is now eligible for inclusion on the IWLCA all-American
  team, to be announced on Monday.