St. John's University Athletics
Special Guests Highlight Ninth Annual Baseball Bullpen Winter Banquet
1/29/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
- VIDEO: Bullpen Winter Banquet Interviews
- Photo Gallery
QUEENS, N.Y. - More than 200 alumni, family and friends of the St. John's baseball program were in attendance at the ninth annual Baseball Bullpen Winter Banquet last Thursday at The Edison Ballroom in Manhattan. The event, which was sponsored by Rawlings, featured guest speaker Jacob deGrom, special guest Joe Panik and emcee CJ Nitkowski.
University President Conrado "Bobby" Gempesaw, former St. John's standout and Mets Hall of Famer John Franco, Mets COO Jeff Wilpon and Mets PR Director Jay Horwitz were among the notable guests in attendance. The 2014 World Series trophy was also on display at the event.
"This evening is always a special night for our program and I think that the ninth annual Baseball Bullpen Winter Banquet was the best yet," said head coach Ed Blankmeyer. "CJ [Nitkowski] did an outstanding job as our emcee and it was nice to have Joe Panik and Jacob deGrom, two fine young ballplayers, as our guests."
deGrom joins a list of former guest speakers that includes Matt Harvey (2014), Bernie Williams (2013), Terry Francona (2012), Bobby Valentine (2011), Ron Darling (2010), John Franco (2009), David Wright (2008) and Roger Clemens (2007).
After a welcome from Nitkowski and brief remarks from both Director of Athletics Chris Monasch and Blankmeyer, the Peter P. Smith and Howie Gershberg Awards were presented for the 2014 season. Michael Donadio, who earned Freshman All-America, BIG EAST Rookie of the Year and first team All-BIG EAST accolades, won the Peter P. Smith Award as Team MVP. James Lomangino and Joe Kuzia, who both earned first team All-BIG EAST honors, shared the Howie Gershberg Award as the most outstanding pitchers.
A brief Panik highlight video was then shown before the World Series champion was given a standing ovation as he was invited to the stage to accept a framed St. John's jersey and speak to the audience.
Following the dinner portion of the evening, Nitkowksi welcomed deGrom to the stage to take part in a Q&A session in which the NL Rookie of the Year spoke about his rookie season as well as the position switch he made during his collegiate career.
The evening closed with a special video presentation to recognize Blankmeyer, who is in his 20th season at the helm of the Red Storm. Former student-athletes, current and former assistant coaches and Hall of Famer Jack Kaiser were featured in the 10-minute video. The skipper received a standing ovation when he came up to receive a collage of career-spanning photos and address the crowd.
St. John's opens the 2015 season in Atlanta on Feb. 13 with an Opening Day matchup against Georgia Tech.
