3-peat !! Marco Gullo walk-off sac fly and St. Joseph’s defeats Farmingdale, 9-8 ! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/fmbNLwZIZS
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 12, 2024
During their run of three consecutive Skyline Conference Championships from 2022-2024, St. Joseph’s offense was a juggernaut. They batted .354 with an incredible .944 OPS as a team in 2022. Those number dropped slightly to .334 and .903 in 2023 – although still at elite levels. In 2024, they batted .325 with a .901 team OPS. Three years, three high-octane offenses that led them to the top of the conference.
They were unable to defend their crown in 2025, as they lost to No. 3 Farmingdale 2-1, and No. 4 Mount St. Mary’s 3-2.
When asked what went wrong, head coach Tom Caputo had the following to say:
“As far as baseball reasons go, we didn’t hit well enough. We didn’t do a good enough job with runners in scoring position – two out hits weren’t as abundant. If you look at our stolen bases, we weren’t as successful as in the past. We went 100-for-105 in stolen bases. That tells me we needed to steal more. We went out and recruited. We got some athleticism – and not just speed but baseball IQ is just as important.”
The obvious challenge for St. Joseph’s will be replacing their large crop of seniors that departed after the 2025 season. That group was a part of three conference championships and solidified the program as one of the top Div-III programs in the region.
Several of the players were All-Conference/All-Region types, and John Lynch is their all-time hits leader (175). Here’s some of their other players and their 2025 stats.
- A.J. Joya: .403 AVG, 1.028 OPS, 23 RBIs, 13-for-17 SBs
- John Lynch: .301 AVG, .911 OPS, 6 HRs, 29 RBIs
- Jordan Ramlogan: .302 AVG, .827 OPS, 21 RBIs, 32-for-39 SBs
- Mike DiFilippo: .333 AVG, .843 OPS, 21 RBIs, 10-for-12 SBs
- James Maggio: 25 RBIs, 22 runs, 14-for-18 SBs
From their pitching staff, they will have to replace their top 2 starters and closer
- Peter Manger: 4-2, 2.03 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 48.2 IP, 3 CGs
- Jack Kelly: 5-3, 3.46 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 52.0 IP, 2 CGs
- Dante Morabito: 3-3, 3.77 ERA, 4 SV, 31.0 IP, 28 Ks
In terms of the pitching staff, Coach Caputo stated that they were solid overall, but were impacted by their drop off in offense. “We weren’t able to extend leads. We had leads in most of our conference losses. We could’ve put teams away and didn’t. Look at the Mary’s games and the one we lost to {Johnny} Dougherty. We got a guy on third base four or five times.”
Needless to say, there is plenty of roster turnover and new faces.
“We were old for a while,” said Caputo. “We have 15 new faces.”
They brought in a handful of transfers; John Margolies (Hauppauge), Preston Gerena (Longwood), CJ Pisano (St. John the Baptist), Troy Moussette (Newfield), Tommy McMichael (St. Dominic) , Frankie Asaro (Wheatley). Margolies especially is a huge pickup, as he can step in and immediate play third base while also potentially pitching in relief – as he did for Hauppauge when they won the Long Island Championship in 2024.
John Margolies had 3 hits and earned the win in relief as Hauppauge captured the Suffolk County Class AA Championship pic.twitter.com/mjSxHlWmT7
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 26, 2024
In terms of freshmen, they brought in several as well – Coach Caputo mentioned a few by name that have performed well; catcher Brady DiMitrio (St. Anthony’s), Ryan Kurre (Plainview JFK) and Andrew Amarando (Connetquot).
The team will not be all new faces, they still return plenty of impact players.
Most notably they have All-Conference 1B Joe Thatcher who batted .375 with a 1.082 OPS, 35 runs scored, 5 HR and 25 RBIs. They will be counting on him to be a difference maker once again.
They return Dom Crema, who started 35 games last year. The Smithtown West grad transferred from St. Thomas Aquinas and batted .329 with an .889 OPS in 2024 before taking a slight step back last season. They’ll need a big season from him to replace some of the departed seniors.
They are hoping for a return to full strength from CF Joe Hackal, who is coming off an injury but had 50 hits and batted .340 with a .473 OBP in 2024.
Coach also mentioned Paul McNally, who will hit in the middle of the order and might pitch. Coach noted that he’s been up to 91 MPH off the mound.
Coach Caputo stated that Jake Hall will get an opportunity in RF this season. He had a strong season in 2025, batting .357 with a 1.022 OPS over 28 at bats.
Mid 7: Longwood added an insurance run on a sac fly by Jake Hall
Longwood 4, Commack 1 pic.twitter.com/lrY3ytKWuN
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 24, 2022
Behind the dish they have senior Marco Gullo, who played in 28 games last season with a .347 AVG and drove in 16 runs. Coach noted that he has been one of the leaders on the team, although he does not believe in naming captains.
The Golden Eagles will be young, but they are talented once again. Their recently graduated class of seniors helped turn the program into a perennial winner. Coach spoke very highly of them.
“They were all impactful. Not just on the field, but other stuff that we’ve put in motion like in the community. Their response to everything was terrific. Whether we were up two runs, down two runs, they’ve always had the right response. It was greatly appreciated by the coaches. They left showing the young guys how to go about things – hopefully I don’t need to re-teach the culture that they developed.”
Coach is also pleased with the work in the classroom, as their team GPA is 3.35.
They will be doing their Spring Training trip to Myrtle Beach, SC this spring to kick off the season. It’s their fourth year of going, Caputo mentioned that he likes the level of competition and the amount of games they’re able to get in.
