Daily Sports Digest: Pearl River Boys Tennis Preview

The Pearl River boys tennis team opens up at home 4 p.m. Friday against East Ramapo and after a solid season last year Head Coach Joan Smith and the Pirates are hoping for another good year.

Pearl River went 5-3 last year and recently Patch caught up with Coach Smith to talk about this season.

Pearl River Patch: As far as age and, more importantly experience goes, what type of team do you expect to have this season?

Coach Smith: We have seven seniors in our starting 11 this year and it should be an exciting year for us. Our number one Singles player is former Scholar/Athlete (from soccer), senior and captain, Sam Berry; No. 2 singles (is) senior and captain is Rajat Rao and No. 3 singles (is) senior, Jack Mikuszewski. Our other two captains play first doubles, senior Brendan McIntyre and senior Jared Schlosser. 

(Editor's Note: Many of the players took part in the recent Pearl River High School March Madness fundraiser, with Mikuszewski defeating Schlosser in the finals). 

Pearl River Patch: What were some of the weaknesses your team had last year that you hope to improve upon this season?

Coach Smith: We are usually stronger in doubles than singles, so I'm hoping to get some more wins at singles this year.

Pearl River Patch: Who are some of your returning players coming back who you see being big contributors?

Coach Smith: Major contributors include Sam Berry, Rajat Rao, Jack Mikuszewski (in singles) and Brendan McIntyre and Jared Schlosser (first doubles).

Pearl River Patch: Who are some of your new players you are expecting to thrust into a larger role on the team?

Coach Smith: My second Doubles team has worked very hard in the off season to round out their game and I'm hoping they are rewarded with some success this year: Yash Bhagat and Dan Scortea.

Pearl River Patch: What are your goals for the season as a team?

Coach Smith: We are hoping to be competitive for a league title this year, staying healthy is always an issue with such a compact season. Playing three or four singles matches in a week can be very grueling. (We) also hope to have a team go to sections (as we did last year), but that's not an easy task.

Pearl River Patch: Are there one or two games circled on the schedule this season?

Coach Smith: The matches against (Tappan Zee) and Nyack will be very difficult, but we are looking forward to the competition!

Pearl River Patch: What are you personally looking forward to this season?

Coach Smith: Personally, I try to stress the mental part of the game and using "your head", not just power on the court. I'm hoping to see some of that strategy bring success to the players.

On Par With the Falcons

This year Albertus Magnus will field a girls golf team for the first time ever. Eight girls have already signed up and Head Coach Terrence Michalak has the team practicing against Philip J. Rotella and Patriot Hills golf courses.

Patch’s Kim Tran has .

Wednesday's results

Sport: Boys Golf

Result: Pearl River defeated North Rockland, 206-215

Highlights: Brian McGarvey shot a 37 for the low score and teammates Kevin Degnan and Dylan Faller each shot a 40 as Pearl River opened its season with a victory over North Rockland on the Rotella Golf Course.

Today's Schedule

In boys lacrosse, Pearl River will play Minisink Valley at Torne Valley at 4:15 p.m. Read more about the Pirates' team here. 

In girls lacrosse, Pearl River will open its season at Suffern at 4:15 p.m. Read a preview of the Pearl River girls lacrosse team here. 

College Sports Notebook

Cousins Makes Pick Sooner Rather then Later

Section 1’s Mr. Basketball, Isaiah Cousins of Mount Vernon made his decision and next year he will be joining Lon Kruger and the Oklahoma Sooners.

Cousins was also looking at big name programs like Connecticut, Xavier and Virginia Tech as well as smaller schools like Rhode Island and Dayton.

The Mount Vernon shooting guard is the fifth incoming freshman to sign on to play for Oklahoma next year.

Spartans, Salerno on a torrid streak

Frank Salerno of New City had four hits and Nick Barbalato of Mahopac added three to lead the St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team to a 13-6 victory over the University of Bridgeport in an East Coast Conference contest at Harbor Yard in Connecticut.

The Spartans have won five straight to improve to 16-8 overall, 4-0 in the ECC, while Bridgeport fell to 3-7, 0-2.

STAC was well-represented in an East Regional poll this week, as it moved up to the No. 4 slot in the d2baseballnews.com rankings.

Matt Marotta of Suffern had an RBI in the first inning as the Spartans struck early, and Mike Russo of Boca Raton, FL, had an RBI double, driving in Barbalato.

The Spartans drove Bridgeport starter Nick Vautrin out of the box in the second inning, after Salerno doubled to bring home Derek Hirsch of Roslyn. But reliever Garret Rogers walked catcher George Wargo of West Haverstraw to force in a run, and Marotta added a sacrifice fly to open a 5-0 lead.

Bridgeport pushed across a run in the third inning on starter Nick May of Middletown, but the freshman left-hander avoided further trouble, and worked out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the fourth.

STAC put the game away in the eighth inning as Salerno’s fourth hit of the day keyed a three-run rally.

Senior right-hander Ken Frawley of White Plains got the win in relief, improving to 3-1.

Salerno went 4 for 5 with three runs scored while Barbalato went 3 for 5.

The Spartans return to action when the University of Bridgeport visits Provident Bank Park in Pomona on Friday at 3 p.m. STAC then travels for a big twin-bill at Molloy on Saturday before returning to PBP to complete the weekend set with Molloy on Sunday.

Mortarboard musings

• The struggling Manhattan College softball team (1-18) can only hope for better when it opens Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) play on Saturday with a doubleheader at Rider (7-15-1). First pitch is set for 1 p.m. at Herb and Joan Young Field in Lawrenceville, NJ. Amanda Babcock of Haverstraw is second on the Jaspers in hitting with a .239 BA, behind Kate Bowen of Newton, CT, who is rolling along at a .357 clip.
• The St. Thomas Aquinas College softball team, coming off a doubleheader loss at Queens College, hopes to bounce back today with a doubleheader at home against Molloy at 3:30 p.m. Sharis Ruiz of Greenwood Lake went 2-for-3 in the second game against Queens after the Lady Spartans were held to two hits in the opener. Maura Power of Pearl River had an RBI in the second game, which Queens pulled out with two unearned runs in the sixth inning.
• The Pace University baseball team has changed its lineup, as Wednesday’s game at New Haven was rescheduled for today at 3:30 p.m. That forced the postponement of a scheduled game against Dominican College. Chris Roemer of Ardsley leads the Setters in hitting with a .390 batting average, while Charlie Galasso of West Harrison is batting .304. Pitcher Eddie Byrne of Yonkers, a Stepinac graduate, is 2-1 on the hill. The Chargers, based in Orangeburg, visit Concordia College in Bronxville today at 3 p.m., visit Felician (NJ) College on Friday at 7 p.m., and then play at Queens on Saturday at noon. Junior Andrew Camardella of Pelham leads Dominican in hitting with a .356 batting average, and his 14 RBI ties him for the team lead. Peter Martinez of White Plains is second in batting at .300.

Weekly Sports Poll

With March in it’s final week this week’s sports poll deals with the NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four in New Orleans. Kentucky and Louisville will play the early game on Saturday night quickly followed by Ohio State and Kansas. Now the only question left in the NCAA Basketball season, is

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