Diamond Dreams
Montalbano's return bolsters baseball's high
expectations.
By Paul Perillo
A lot of coaches cringe when preseason polls tab their
team as the favorite. Baseball coach Neil McPhee is not one of them.
McPhee has spent the past fourteen years building one of Northeastern's
most successful sports programs, piling up 326 victories, two America East
league titles, and a pair of trips to the NCAAs. So when he sees his team
picked by Baseball America magazine to win the conference title, he's not
concerned by it-he relishes it.
"This team has all the ingredients to be picked as the preseason
favorite," McPhee says. "We have options at all positions and
the kind of depth where we can call on other people to come in and help
out if someone is struggling a bit."
The season starts this month when the Huskies, who traditionally undertake
grueling early-season swings through the South to test their mettle against
top teams, embark on their most competitive road trip ever. N.U. will participate
in the Homestead Challenge tournament in Florida.
But the Huskies will be well prepared, thanks in large part to the presence
of a player McPhee didn't expect to be a part of his team. Greg Montalbano
will return for his senior season despite being selected in the fifth round
of the Major League Baseball draft by the Boston Red Sox last June. Most
players picked that high generally opt to leave school and pursue a professional
career. Montalbano encountered some problems while negotiating with the
Red Sox and decided to return to the familiar pitcher's mound at Friedman
Diamond.
"They made me an initial offer and it wasn't close to the average
that the players drafted around me signed for," Montalbano says. "I
told them I was going back down to the Cape to pitch during the summer
[in the highly respected Cape Cod League] and I decided to come back to
school. They know I'm adept enough to continue working on things I need
to improve."
Montalbano's return "was a huge surprise," McPhee says. "He
realizes it's a gamble, but he's the kind of person who is concerned with
improving and he feels he can do that with us. It's a huge bonus to have
him back to start off every weekend for us."
Montalbano, a six-foot-two-inch, 190-pounder from Westborough, Massachusetts,
won eight games and lost two for the Huskies in 1999, accumulating a 2.09
earned run average. He was named the America East Pitcher of the Year,
a Collegiate Baseball Insider All-America, and a finalist for the National
Collegiate Baseball Writers' Northeast Region Player of the Year.
About the only thing that slowed him down last season was a horrible
blister on his pitching hand, which prevented the southpaw from getting
a grip on the ball during his last two starts. His ERA was 0.68 up to that
point, but he allowed thirteen runs in those two outings.
Rather than beefing about his brush with professional ball, Montalbano
is focused on another successful year for the Huskies. "Everyone around
here is very excited for this season. We're going to have a very strong
season and be heading off to the regionals somewhere," he says. "My
teammates respect my decision and I expect to sit down with the Red Sox
again at the end of the season. I have no regrets at all."
McPhee is quick to point out that his team is by no means a one-man
show. His pitching staff is loaded with talent. Right-handers John Burns
and Jason Gillespie will follow Montalbano in the rotation. Right-hander
Chris Walsh and lefty Greg Kelley will battle for the fourth spot.
The job of catching these fine pitchers will fall on the shoulders of
freshman Luke Carlin, whom McPhee is very excited about. There are also
quality players at the corners, with captain Mike Lomuscio at third and
Matt Keating, who doubles as a winger on the hockey team, at first. Both
will be counted on to drive in runs.
The outfield will be in the hands of veterans Todd Korchin and Hernan
Guerrero and rookie Pedro Pena. Sophomore Ben Beck will also be in the
picture, with the odd man out slated for designated-hitter duty.
The name Pena should be familiar to N.U. baseball fans. Pedro is the
brother of Carlos, who was selected in the first round of the 1998 draft
by the Texas Rangers. The third Pena brother is Omar, a freshman who is
expected to contend with Mike Wysong for the starting shortstop job.
"This team has a chance to do some special things," McPhee
says. "We've been able to establish a program of success and have
maintained it over time. We've had a lot of players drafted over the years,
players like Carlos and Greg and Jay O'Shaughnessy and Mike Glavine. These
players are the backbone of our program and they allow us to compete at
an elite level."
Rowing for a Repeat
Northeastern's women's crew battled its way to a third-place finish
at last year's Eastern Sprints and placed fourth at the NCAA Championships.
That team lost ten rowers to graduation, leading to speculation that the
2000 version would be hard-pressed to duplicate such success.
But don't tell that to coach Joe Wilhelm. "We've established a
program where we expect to win," Wilhelm says. "We don't consider
this a rebuilding year. We think of it as reloading. We've stepped up our
recruiting efforts in recent years and that allows us to handle a situation
like this."
Wilhelm will begin his second season at the helm of the women's program
after seven years working with the men's freshman team. He has continued
a storied tradition that was cultivated by former coach Carie Graves, who
left last year to head the women's program at the University of Texas after
ten years at N.U.
Wilhelm believes he has several talented rowers capable of leading his
team back to the nationals. Two of the squad's few experienced athletes
are seniors Lydia Blundell and Sarah Melville. Blundell, from Tasmania,
Australia, will begin her fourth season as part of N.U.'s varsity eight
boat, while Melville is among the strongest women on the Huskies' team.
"Lydia is a real consistent performer with a smooth stroke,"
Wilhelm says. "She is the hardest worker on the team. Sarah won the
senior singles title at the Club National Championships and has aspirations
of rowing with the national team. She probably won't make it this year,
but she shows the work ethic of what it takes to get there."
Junior Christina Tymoszewics returns after suffering from a back injury
last year and figures to give the Huskies a lift. Wilhelm refers to her
as "a real boat-mover." Sophomore Stacie Wozniuk earned the distinction
of being named captain, quite an honor for someone with limited varsity
experience.
The Huskies will open the season with a trip to South Carolina to take
on Clemson on March 25 before heading into the meat of their schedule.
They compete in the Eastern Association of Women's Rowing Colleges, widely
considered the toughest league in the country. Last season, nine of the
fifteen teams that qualified for the NCAAs came from the East, and eight
of those clubs finished in the top ten.
That's a trend Wilhelm hopes will continue but fears may be changing.
During the last five years, several major Division I schools have added
women's crew programs. With their enormous athletics budgets and prestigious
reputations, several are already beginning to make an impact among traditional
rowing powers such as N.U., Boston University, Harvard, Princeton, and
Brown.
"Overall, I think it's a great thing for the sport," Wilhelm
says. "It's concerning, but we have a very strong tradition and there's
nothing like rowing on the Charles River. Where the University of Michigan
rows, for example, they're the only team that rows there. East Coast schools
will always be able to draw talent, and winning races doesn't come down
to money. We have great facilities here and schools that have been on top
as long as the East Coast schools have obviously know how to win."
With the uncertainty surrounding his young squad, Wilhelm hesitates
to make predictions for the season. But he clearly hopes to be one of the
competitive schools in the league. A strong showing at the Eastern Sprints
in May and another invitation to the NCAAs in New Jersey two weeks later
are certainly within reach.
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