St. John's University Athletics
Baseball Preseason Notebook: Part Two
1/27/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Jan. 27, 2006
THE 2006 SCHEDULE
St. John's hits the road for trips through the states of Texas, Tennessee and South Carolina to kick off the 2006 season. A three-game set at Texas Tech (Feb. 17-19) will be the first of back-to-back challenging weekends spent in Texas. After the series with in Lubbock, Tex., the Red Storm will head to Houston for the Rice/Crowne Plaza Invitational. A challenging field awaits in host Rice (Feb. 24), Texas State (Feb. 25) and Nebraska (Feb. 26).
The Red Storm then travels to Johnson City, Tenn. for three games against East Tennessee State (March 3-5) to begin the month of March. A Tuesday game at Charleston Southern (March 7) and a three-game weekend series at the College of Charleston (March 10-12) concludes a group of 13 road games, and the team welcomes Albany (March 14) for its home opener. Non-conference games against Quinnipiac (March 18-19), at Fairfield (March 21) and at Temple (March 22) are to follow, before opening the 2006 BIG EAST schedule at Villanova (March 24-26).
St. John's returns to New York for weekday games against Columbia (March 28) and at Wagner (March 29) and hosts its first conference series against Georgetown (March 31-April 2) to open April. The Red Storm's next two conference series come on the road against the predicted top two teams in the league. Trips to Pittsburgh (April 7-9) and Notre Dame (April 14-15) will be early league tests for the young Red Storm, with the two series surrounded by non-conference games at St. Francis (April 4), against Fairleigh Dickinson (April 5), St. Peter's (April 11), Long Island (April 18) and Hofstra (April 19).
Three of the Red Storm's next four conference series come at home against Connecticut (April 21-23), Seton Hall (May 6-7) and newcomer South Florida (May 12-14). The two remaining road trips come at Rutgers (April 28-30) and Cincinnati (May 18-20), with the series against the Bearcats closing the regular season schedule.
The 2006 BIG EAST Tournament will feature the top eight teams in the 12-team league and will take place at Bright House Networks Field in Clearwater, Fla. from May 23-28. NCAA Regional play will take place at campus sites from June 2-5, followed by Super Regionals (June 9-11 or June 10-12) and the 60th annual College World Series (June 16-25) in Omaha, Neb.
BLANKMEYER HONORED BY HOT STOVE LEAGUE
- One week after head coach Ed Blankmeyer received numerous accolades from the American Baseball Coaches Association, the 11th-year head coach earned New York State College Coach of the Year by the New York Professional Baseball Hot Stove League.
- The award, titled the Ralph Dilullo Award, was presented at the 41st Annual Hot Stove League Dinner on Jan. 20, 2006. Sportscaster Ed Randall emceed the event, and special guest Buck Martinez - Team USA's manager in the upcoming World Baseball Classic - spoke, before the presentation of awards.
- At the annual ABCA Convention in Chicago, Ill, Blankmeyer was officially recognized after being named the Northeast Region Coach of the Year at the end of a record-setting 2005 season. Blankmeyer was also honored for 25 years of coaching service, became a member of the ABCA College Baseball Players Rules Committee and was named President of the BIG EAST Coaches Committee.
GALANTE AND FRANCO UNITE IN WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC
- St. John's alumni Matt Galante and John Franco will team up to manage Team Italy in the upcoming World Baseball Classic. Galante (1965-66), currently a special assistant to Houston Astros general manager Tim Purpura, will be the team's manager, and Franco (1979-81) will work as Galante's pitching coach.
- "It's kind of exciting because it's a new thing," Galante said in the World Baseball Classic Blog. "Major League Baseball is 100 percent behind it, so that's a good thing."
- Team Italy, which will feature major leaguers Frank Catalanotto, Mike Piazza, David Dellucci, Matt Mantei and Doug Mirabelli, among others, will train in Lakeland, Fla. from March 3-6. Italy will begin play against Australia on March 7, followed by games against Venezuela (March 8) and the Dominican Republic (March 9) at the Disney Sports Complex.
RED STORM NEWCOMERS GET BASEBALL AMERICA'S ATTENTION
- A trio of newcomers to the St. John's program was recognized in Baseball America's annual College Preview edition. The publication predicts the league's order of finish, all-conference teams, Players of the Year, top newcomers and top prospects.
- For St. John's, freshman left-hander Scott Barnes, and junior transfers Ryan Mahoney and Luis Monell, were second, third and fourth on BA's list of top newcomers. The Red Storm was predicted to finish fifth in the new 12-team conference, the same predicted finish for St. John's as the BIG EAST preseason coaches poll.
