The 2008 Webster Yankees spent the recent college season building a solid resume.
Cory Brownsten (M.C.C.), Adam Curynski (Southern Illinois), and Geoff Dornes (R.I.T.) head an impressive list of players who will don pinstripes when Webster opens its New York Collegiate Baseball League (NYCBL) season on June 7th at Bolivar.
Brownsten earned NJCAA Dll All-American and Defensive player-of-the-year honors for the Tribunes. The Lockport, N.Y. native threw out 44% of would be base stealers. His ‘pop’ time (the amount of time elapsed between the ball hitting his mitt and the infielder receiving his throw at second base) was measured at 1.81 seconds. The average major leaguer catcher has a ‘pop’ time of 1.7 seconds.
Brownsten hit .390 with a team-high seven round trippers and 50 runs batted in for Monroe.
Curynski finished his first season in the Missouri Valley Conference with an ERA of 2.37. He struck out 33 and walked 19 in 19 appearances for the Salukis including a complete-game win over Evansville and seven solid innings against conference rival Creighton.
Curynski finished the campaign with a 5-1 record.
Geoff Dornes, a sophomore, earned his second Empire 8 Player-of-the-Year Award. The lefty hit .368 with 51 hits, nine doubles, five dingers, and 37 RBI.
Dornes also tossed 51 innings for the Tigers compiling a 3-2 record. In nine appearances the Landisville, Pa. native had an ERA of 2.82 and allowed a mere four walks.
Steve Muoio, Pat Urckfitz, and Danny Kaplan teamed with Brownsten to lead MCC to a third place finish in the NJCAA Dll World Series.
Muoio hit .421 for the season with 6 home runs and 58 RBI including a stellar 4-for-4 performance against Elgin Community College in the World Series. Muoio ripped a homer and two doubles driving in three and scoring three as the Tribunes advanced to the national semi-finals.
Urckfitz struck out two in a perfect ninth to seal the win over Elgin. The southpaw struck out 54 and walked 22 in 37 and a third innings pitched for the Tribunes.
Kaplan batted .348 with 11 doubles, 54 runs scored and 32 driven in.
Adam Perlo finished his first season at Hofstra hitting .323 with a homer and nine runs driven in for the Pride. Perlo started in eight games and played seventeen over all. He went two for three versus Rider early in the season.
John Kenny started 23 games in center field for Hofstra hitting .281 with six stolen bases.
Anthony Gionesi struck out 13 and walked 13 in 22 innings of work for the Pride.
Sam Dawes tossed 29 innings in 25 appearances for the University of Miami, Ohio. The freshman limited opponents to .278 batting average while striking out 31 and walking 16. Against Central Michigan Dawes retired the last eight batters he faced.
Kyle Weldon hit .354 for Miami, Ohio. Also a freshman Weldon had 4 of his 9 RBI versus Eastern Kentucky.
Luke Wallace and Mark Wiggins helped UMass-Lowell to a record of 26-24.
Starting in right field Wallace was one of two River Hawk starters to finish with a fielding percentage of 1.000%. The sophomore hit .261 with two home runs and 25 runs batted in. Wallace also swiped 11 bases.
Wiggins had six hits in 45 at bats in his freshman season.
Shawn Bailey started 14 games for the University of California 0 Pennsylvania. The Webster native had twelve hits and one stolen base.
Ryan Sullivan started 28 games behind the plate for the University of Rochester hitting at a clip of .340 with one dinger and 20 driven in.
Webster’s home opener takes place Sunday June 8th with the first pitch slated for 1p.m. at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
Webster will play their June home games at R.I.T.
For the month of July the Yankees move back to the campus of St. John Fisher while they await the finishing touches of their home field in the town of Webster.
Fans can listen to the games online by accessing the TEAMLINE link on the Webster Yankee site.
The NYCBL, founded in 1978, is a summer wood bat development league for professional baseball. Major League Baseball funds a small portion of the league’s annual budget. The league gives college players who have not yet signed a professional contract the opportunity to develop their skills at a higher level of play, gain experience with wood bats, and be evaluated by scouts.
Teams play a 44 game regular season schedule with games beginning in June and ending in the last week in July. All games are 9 innings, with most doubleheaders scheduled on the weekends. The All-Star game is played in early July, and the League Championship Series concludes in the first week of August.
NYCBL alum in the Major Leagues includes Tim Hudson (Atlanta), Jeremy Accardo, John McDonald (Toronto), and Brad Lidge (Philadelphia).
For this article, season schedule, statistics, and more go to www.websteryankees.com.
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