By Dylan Butler
St. Francis College junior hurler Jason Fardella capped a tremendous season on the mound by being named Northeast Conference Pitcher of the Year, the league announced last Thursday.
The Ozone Park native set school records with eight victories and 77 strikeouts and entered the NEC Tournament with a 2.20 earned run average. Fardella, who played first base his senior year at Archbishop Molloy, is likely to be selected in next month’s Major League Draft.
Fardella’s battery mate Kasey Koslowski, a fellow Ozone Park resident, also earned All-NEC honors as the senior catcher was among four Terriers to be named to the league’s second team. The St. Francis Prep grad batted .278 and was tied for the team lead with 34 runs scored to go along with 22 RBIs. He also led all Terriers batters by drawing 23 walks and was successful on all eight stolen base attempts. Defensively, Koslowski threw out 15 of 41 attempted base-stealers.
The Terriers, however, didn’t fare well at the NEC Tournament, losing 7-6 to Monmouth in the opener as Fardella gave up six earned runs on 11 hits and 6-2 to Central Connecticut State Saturday.
Adeleke reconsiders
Robeson senior Kenny Adeleke, a 6-foot-7 forward who originally signed a letter of intent to attend DePaul University, received his release and will attend Hofstra University in the fall. The Rochdale Village native, who signed with the Pride, reportedly made the decision to be closer to home.
The addition of Adeleke is a coup for Queens Village native Tom Pecora, who took over for Jay Wright, who left to become the head coach at Villanova University. Adeleke, who had 19 points and 13 rebounds, will join Molloy big man Wendell Gibson, St. Ray’s standout Chris McRae and Grady guard Woody Souffrant to play for the Pride next season.
SJU Golf in the Big Dance
The St. John’s golf team received the call it was looking forward to last week when it was named one of 81 teams to receive a bid to participate in the NCAA Regionals, the NCAA Golf Committee announced.
It is the Red Storm’s first postseason appearance in Frank Darby’s six years as head coach.
St. John’s will join 26 other schools, including Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champs Iona and Big East foe Seton Hall, as well as national powerhouses North Carolina State and Clemson, at the NCAA East Regional, hosted by Virginia Commonwealth University at the Golden Horseshoe Golf Club in Williamsburg, Va. from Thursday through Sunday.
“This is a great honor for the kids,” Darby said. “We’ve worked really hard this year and I think we’re playing very well right now. It’s going to be a great field down there, but I’m really confident we finish among those top 10 teams and reach the ultimate goal.”
The top 10 finishers from each of the four regions advances to the NCAA championships, held at the Duke Golf Club in Durham, N.C. May 30 through June 2.
St. John’s enjoyed one of its best years in school history, winning three team championships and posting nine top-five finishes, including a second-place finish at the Big East championship. The Red Storm is ranked second in District 2 in the MasterCard Collegiate rankings.
Battaglia named QC baseball coach
Queens College announced this week that Frank Battaglia, 25, is the new men’s baseball coach at the school, replacing Yuki Yamada, who stepped down after the conclusion of the 2001 season, said Queens spokesman Neil Kaufer.
“I’ve been waiting for this basically my whole life,” Battaglia said. “It was either playing pro ball or coaching. I stuck with it and now I’m here.”
Battaglia, an assistant with the Knights during Yamada’s three-year run and for one year under previous coach Ed Tatarian, is a graduate of Archbishop Molloy and played baseball for both Queensborough Community College and Queens before joining the staff.
Ray Metski will stay on as the pitching coach as will assistant Greg Jeffries. Battaglia was raised in Ozone Park and now lives in Flushing.
The Knights were 15-19 this season.
Queensborough men back on track
After 11 years without a men’s track team, Chris Omeltchenko brought back the program at Queensborough and the Tigers met with instant success as eight QCC athletes qualified for the Junior College National Championships at the University of Buffalo.
Leading the charge were the 4×400 relay team of Jemille Isaac, Richard Fortunate, Orlando Griffith and Juan Mena, who took third place in 3:38.02.
Queensborough also did well in the long jump as Fortunate placed fifth while teammate Kori Charles took sixth.
Halloran ends successful swim season at Misericordia
Former St. Francis Prep standout Ed Halloran recently completed a strong sophomore campaign in the pool at College Misericordia in Dallas, Pa. Halloran competed in all 12 meets for the Cougars, finishing second on the team in scoring.
Halloran set school records in the 100-meter backstroke (56.59), 200-meter backstroke (2:07.37) and the 200 medley relay (1:45.74).
— Anthony Bosco contributed to this story
Reach Associate Sports Editor Dylan Butler by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 143.
