By Dylan Butler
Starting at designated hitter for the Red Storm was freshman Paul Karmas, while the Owls catcher was junior Mike Xifaras. It's rare that two former high-school teammates meet in a baseball game, even rarer that it happens on the Division I level.So it was certainly interesting when Karmas strolled into the batter's box with Xifaras behind the plate in the first inning. If Xifaras told Temple pitcher Steve Nikorak the scouting report on Karmas, it didn't resonate with the freshman right-hander from East Stroudsburg, Pa., as Karmas ripped a single to center to give the Johnnies a 2-0 lead en route to a 3-2 victory.Xifaras didn't have as much luck when he first faced Red Storm senior Matt Tosoni, striking out in the third inning. But in his second at-bat, the junior from Astoria singled to right in the fifth inning. Xifaras hit seven home runs in his senior year at St. Francis Prep and went to Briarcliff Community College before attending Temple. After red-shirting last season, Xifaras has played sparingly for the Owls, who are off to their best start in the Atlantic-10 conference in six years. He's seen action in six games, starting one, while hitting .500 in six at-bats. Karmas has started from the day he walked onto the St. John's campus and is batting in the heart of the Red Storm lineup. The Douglaston native is batting .359 and has a team-high 11 doubles in 31 games. On Sunday, he saw his 15-game hitting streak snapped in a 1-0 victory against conference rival Connecticut at Jack Kaiser Stadium. Neither will get the chance to meet Danny Forman, another former teammate who is enjoying a great freshman season at Manhattan College. The left-hander from Jamaica is one of the Jaspers conference starters, leads the team with four wins and struck out 11 in a complete-game win against Niagara University Saturday at Van Cortlandt Park. Xifaras did, though, did get reacquainted with Mike Canfarotta, a freshman center fielder at LaSalle University. The two teams met March 25, with Canfarotta driving in a pair of runs in a 10-8 loss. The Bayside native is batting .333 and has played in 15 games for the Explorers this year.While we're on the subject of baseball, the high-school season is less than a month old and I've got to say it's been my favorite season ever because of the wood bat. Teams are being forced to use more strategy, to hit-and-run and to bunt. There's no comparison between the crack of the wood and the ping of the aluminum bat and you can't beat games lasting, on average, two hours or less. As one coach told me the other day, “If we're going to lose, we might as well lose in an hour and a half.”Reach Sports Editor Dylan Butler by e-mail at dbutler@timesledger.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 143.
