DeVito Debuts for Rome Braves

St. Joseph by-the-Sea High School graduate Ricky DeVito made his debut for the Rome Braves of the South Atlantic League on Aug. 10.

The 20 year old surrendered two earned runs on four hits and two walks over 3 2/3 innings. He struck out two in picking up the loss.

DeVito is 0-1 with a 4.91 earned run average for Rome. Overall with three minor-league teams this season, he’s 0-1 with a 3.42 ERA, allowing nine earned runs on 17 hits and striking out 26 in 23 2/3 innings.

DeVito was an eighth-round pick of the Atlanta Braves in the 2019 Major League Baseball Draft out of Seton Hall University.

 

Espinal Pitching on Cape

Cardinal Spellman High School graduate Blake Espinal is 0-1 with a 5.92 earned run average for the Harwich Mariners of the Cape Cod Baseball League.

The 21 year old, who pitches for Seton Hall University, has 12 strikeouts in 13 2/3 innings.

The Cape Cod Baseball League is the premier collegiate summer baseball league in the United States.

 

Espinal Pitching on Cape

Cardinal Spellman High School School graduate Blake Espinal is pitching for the Harwich Mariners in the Cape Cod Baseball League, considered the top collegiate baseball summer league in the country.

After surrendering two earned runs in each of his first three relief outings, the 21 year old has pitched a shutout inning in each of his last two outings.

Espinal, a pitcher for Seton Hall University, is 0-0 with a 5.58 earned run average, allowing six earned runs on six hits and four walks over 9 2/3 innings. He struck out 11.

Espinal’s ERA has dropped from 7.04 to 5.58 over his last two outings.

The Cape Cod All-Star Game is Sunday in Orleans. The league produces nearly half of the first-round picks each year in the Major League Baseball Draft. In 2018, St. Joseph by-the–Sea graduate Ricky DeVito and Iona Prep graduate Joe LaSorsa both pitched for Harwich and each was selected in this year’s MLB Draft.

LaSorsa Perfect in Pro Debut

Iona Prep graduate Joe LaSosra pitched a perfect eighth inning in his pro debut for the Hudson Valley Renegades in a 7-3 New York-Penn League loss to the Vermont Lake Monsters in Burlington, Vermont, on Tuesday.

LaSorsa was selected in the 18th round of the 2019 Major League Baseball Draft by the Tampa Bay Rays, who assigned him to their Class A short-season affiliate in Hudson Valley.

LaSorsa pitched three seasons at St. John’s University before being drafted. He was 6-5 with a 1.66 earned run average in 2019.

 

MLB Draft Begins Tonight

The Major League Baseball Draft starts tonight with the first round and it’ll be interesting to see who is selected from the archdiocese.

One player to watch is Ricky DeVito, a junior pitcher from Seton Hall University who was the 2018 Big East Pitcher of the Year and an All-American. He also had a good summer in 2018 competing against college baseball’s top players in the Cape Cod Baseball League.

According to an MLB video, the graduate of St. Joseph by-the-Sea High School on Staten Island has a fastball that tops out at 94 miles per hour and he could be selected in the top five or six rounds of the draft.

Click here to see the video.

Espinal to Pitch on Cape Cod

Cardinal Spellman High School graduate Blake Espinal is on the 2019 Harwich Mariners roster to compete in the Cape Cod Baseball League, the premier summer collegiate baseball league in the nation.

Espinal, a left-handed pitcher at Seton Hall University, is 3-4 with a 4.41 earned run average, striking out 30 in 32.2 innings this season. In 2018, he was 3-0 with a 2.08 earned run average, allowing 13 hits and striking out 15 in 21.2 innings.

Espinal is not the first Seton Hall player from the archdiocese to compete for Harwich. In 2018, St. Joseph by-the-Sea graduate Ricky DeVito pitched for Harwich after being named the Big East Conference Pitcher of the Year and a second-team All-American.

Orange County’s Cullen Dana, a graduate of Don Bosco Prep in New Jersey, pitched for Harwich in 2017 and was a 30th round pick of the San Diego Padres in the 2018 Major League Baseball Draft.

OLL Grad on MSG 150

Our Lady of Lourdes High School graduate Julianne Viani is a member of the MSG 150 crew.

MSG 150, which debut on Monday and will continue throughout the summer, is a 150-minute sports and entertainment show airing at 8 p.m. on Monday through Thursday on the MSG Network.

Viani is joined on the MSG 150 crew of analysts by former Southern Illinois basketball player Camron Smith, former Tampa Bay Ray Fernando Perez, former Knick and Syracuse star John Wallace and former Georgetown basketball player Monica McNutt. Bill Pidto and Alan Hahn are the hosts.

Viani, who played professionally in Europe, was a basketball analyst for New York Liberty on MSG. She’s also a college basketball analyst for ESPN, CBS Sports Network, Pac-12 Network and Big Ten Network.

Viani played on three state championship teams in her four seasons at Lourdes, helping the Warriors finish her sophomore season ranked fourth in the USA Today national poll.

In 2007, she helped Marist College become the first Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference basketball program to reach the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament.