STAC Adding Volleyball

St. Thomas Aquinas College (STAC) announced it is adding men’s and women’s volleyball as its 21^st and 22^nd NCAA sports for the 2023-2024 school year.

Women’s volleyball will compete in the fall as members of NCAA Division II’s East Coast Conference, and the men will compete in the spring with an independent schedule.

“We are thrilled to add both men’s and women’s volleyball as we continue to expand our athletic offerings. These additions will strengthen our academic and athletic profile while creating new opportunities for our campus and community,” said STAC Director of Athletics Nicole Ryan.

St. Thomas Aquinas is launching a national search to find head coaches for both programs.

“St. Thomas Aquinas College has a long and proven legacy of providing outstanding athletic opportunities for our student athletes, who excel both in the classroom – with an ECC-high 90% academic success graduation rate – and on the field,” said STAC President Ken Daly. “As highlighted in our strategic plan, we are passionately committed to the holistic development of our students and are proud to be adding these popular athletic offerings for our student athletes.”

St. Thomas Aquinas is a liberal arts college in Rockland County with 2,000 full- and part-time students, who can choose from more than 100 different majors, minors, specializations, and dual-degree programs across its four schools.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ST. THOMAS AQUINAS

Young Competing in Wilmington

Fordham Prep graduate Cameron Young will be one of the golfers teeing off Thursday in the PGA Tour’s BMW Championship in Wilmington, Del.

Tee times will be released Wednesday for the four-day tournament.

Last weekend, Young finished tied for 31st at six under over four days at the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis. He shot four under on the tournament’s final day.

The 25 year old is the leading candidate for the 2022 PGA Tour’s Rookie of the Year with his five second-place finishes, including recent back-to-back second-place finishes at the British Open in Scotland and the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit.

PHOTO COURTESY OF PGA TOUR

Yost Concludes Summer on Cape

Fordham Prep graduate Eric Yost completed his summer pitching with the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox of the Cape Cod Baseball League.

Yost pitched in game one of the best-of-three East Division Final, allowing five earned runs on seven hits and striking out four over six innings during a 6-3 loss to the Brewster Whitecaps. The Red Sox were eliminated in two games by the Whitecaps, and Brewster, the defending league champ, will play Bourne at 3:30 this afternoon in game two of the championship series with Bourne leading the best-of-three series, 1-0.

Yost finished his summer with a 2-6 record and a 4.19 earned run average. The pitcher for Northeastern University gave up 37 hits and 10 walks in 38 ⅔ innings. He struck out 28.

The Cape Cod Baseball League is the premier collegiate wooden bat summer league that features many of the nation’s top college players. Of the 616 players selected in this year’s Major League Baseball Draft, 197 or 32 percent had played in the Cape Cod Baseball League.

Siegrist Earns Spot on Team USA

Our Lady of Lourdes High School graduate Maddy Siegrist has earned a spot on the 2022 USA Basketball Women’s 3×3 U23 Nations League Team that will be competing in the Dominican Republic, Aug. 13-19.

Siegrist, a rising senior at Villanova University where she was named the 2022 Big East Player of the Year, is one of six players on the U.S. roster, joining Aaliyah Moore of Texas, Celeste Taylor of Duke, Alyssa Utsby of North Carolina, Kayla Wells of Texas A&M and Maddy Westbeld of Notre Dame.

The six players will complete a three-day training camp in Miami on Thursday before leaving for the Dominican Republic.

Siegrist, a 2022 third-team All-American, averaged 25.3 points per game for Villanova to place among the nation’s top college players this past season and grabbed 9.2 rebounds per contest. She had 12 double-doubles in 27 games, scored 30 or more points in nine games and 20 or more points in 21 contests.

PHOTO BY CHRIS SHERIDAN

Case Bounces Back

Iona Prep graduate Brad Case bounced back with two shutout innings of no-hit baseball for the Altoona Curve in a 2-1 victory over Akron.

Case struck out three for the Curve, the Class AA affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

His effort came after he allowed seven runs in four innings over his three final outings of July.

Case is 1-2 with a save and 3.64 earned run average for the Curve in 2022.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ALTOONA CURVE

Stepinac Mourns Loss of Coach

Spencer Barker, longtime lacrosse coach at Archbishop Stepinac High School, has died.

The school announced his death on Sunday, saying he coached lacrosse at the White Plains school for 23 years and most recently served as head coach of the junior varsity team.

“The impact that Coach Spencer had on the school and student-athletes is legendary. He shall be missed by the entire Stepinac family. But, his legacy will live on forever in the hearts of many Stepinac students and alumni,” the school said on its Facebook page.

The announcement comes just days after Stepinac student Christopher Jack “CJ” Hackett died from injuries he sustained in a hit-and-run accident in Yonkers. Hackett was riding a scooter on McLean Avenue when he was hit by a vehicle.

“CJ’s a great kid with an awesome heart. Always went out of his way for others,” CJ’s guidance counselor Robert Russo said on Facebook.

Bocce Camp at Msgr. Farrell

Parishes and Catholic schools in the archdiocese have been offering camps throughout the summer.

Click here to read a Catholic New York and cny.org story on a bocce camp at Msgr. Farrell High School on Staten Island.

PHOTO BY MARY DIBIASE BLAICH

Yost Competing in Cape Playoffs

Fordham Prep graduate Eric Yost and the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox begin a Cape Cod Baseball League best-of-three divisional semifinal playoff series tonight with the Orleans Firebirds.

The Red Sox, the second seed, will host the third-seeded Firebirds in game 1 tonight and game 3, if necessary, on Saturday. Game 2 is in Orleans on Friday.

Yost, 19, is pitching for a second summer on Cape Cod and finished the regular season at 2-5 with a 3.58 earned run average. In 32 ⅔ innings over seven games, six being starts, he allowed 13 earned runs on 30 hits and 10 walks. Yost, who plays at Northeastern University, struck out 24.

In his last outing on July 31 against Orleans, Yost allowed an earned run on three hits and struck out six over 5 ⅓ innings.

The Cape Cod Baseball League is the premier collegiate wooden bat summer league that features many of the nation’s top college players. Of the 616 players selected in this year’s Major League Baseball Draft, 197 or 32 percent had played in the Cape Cod Baseball League.

Moran Still in Salt Lake

Iona Prep graduate Brian Moran gave up two earned runs on two hits and struck out three in three innings of relief for the Salt Lake Bees in a 6-1 loss to Oklahoma City on Wednesday night.

Moran is 3-2 with a 4.05 earned run average this season for the Class AAA affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels. He has given up 34 hits and struck out 36 in 33 ⅓ innings.

Moran, 33, was a seventh-round pick of the Seattle Mariners in the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft.

The Bees continue their six-game series tonight with Oklahoma City in Salt Lake City.

Scully Featured in Catholic NY

Vin Scully was featured in a Catholic New York story after announcing he would retire from broadcasting following the 2016 baseball season.

Scully, who died Tuesday at the age of 94, talked with Catholic New York talked about his life in New York and his broadcasting career.

Click here to read the story.