The Northeast Conference begins play today as we are set to embark on a 32-game conference schedule that will test our strengths and weaknesses as a ball club. “The conference schedule is what it’s all about” said Coach Maines in a non-magniloquent manner. “This is why we have 6:00 a.m. weight lifting sessions, 6:00 a.m. bullpens, late-night fall practice and spring trips – all to prepare for conference play.”

Our first 14 games have taught our young club a few things and we believe the Blackbirds are ready for the Northeast Conference. We have shown the ability to put some runs on the board against some very good pitchers and we have shown we can get good hitters out as well. Now’s the time to have the two mesh together. Going into the weekend we are confident that we have what it takes to be competitive in the Northeast Conference. Will it be easy? Absolutely not, but we wouldn’t want it any other way. Our guys battle, they scrap, they play hard. It’s the only way they know. This group has shown some great characteristics of a playoff team and we expect that to continue to fester over the coming weeks.

The weekend rotation for our series with Wagner College will feature RHP Chris Franzese getting the start on Friday. Saturday we will go with LHP Adam Sauter and RHP Justin Topa in the doubleheader. Sunday’s anchor will be LHP Matt McCormick. All of these guys compete. They are aggressive, throw strikes and do a good job controlling the running game. LHP Kenny Cedel, LHP Paul Lopez, RHP Evan Zerff, RHP Emerson Morillo and RHP Gerard Tingos form an extremely capable bullpen going into the weekend.

Offensively, we are beginning to come out of our shell. This past week we hit three home runs against Manhattan including freshman Tito Marrero’s first collegiate home run. Junior centerfielder Sam Sciamarelli hit his first career home run as well and had hits from both sides of the plate in the game. Senior Gregory Blaise DeSantis saw his season begin to turn around with a 3-for-5 performance including a pair of doubles (hence the new nickname “3-for-5”). Gregory is an important part of our offense and it was great to see him having fun again this past week and get back to keeping the game simple.

Conference… this is what it’s all about. Let the games begin. Go Blackbirds!

If you want to follow the Blackbirds this upcoming season please visit our Web site at: www.liuathletics.com/baseball or you can also follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/liubaseball.