Huggy sits down with "Worm" Sturm

I sat down with Steve Sturm and conducted a brief interview with him. Steve, also known as Worm because it rhymes with his last name, is a senior pitcher on our pitching staff. He is looking to have a bounce back season after missing last season.

The first question I asked Steve was what is your favorite restaurant to eat at. He responded with Kentucky Greg's Hickory Pit which is a BBQ restaurant located in Depew. The restaurant is famous for being on the show Diners, Drive ins, and Dives which is hosted by Guy Fieri on the Food Network.  After his first trip this restaurant has been Steve's favorite ever since.

I followed up my first question with what was his favorite dish to get at Kentucky Greg's. Steve said that he really likes to mix it up when he goes to this restaurant. He said his go to dish however is the pulled chicken sandwich with fries and mac salad as his two side choices.

Next I asked what is his favorite music artist to listen to. He responded that he likes all genres from classic rock to rap. Some of his favorites (just to name a few) are Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Led Zeppelin, Stone Temple Pilots, and Alice in Chains. His all time favorite band is Pearl Jam.

Having such a wide range of music he enjoyed I then followed up asking him what was the last concert he attended. Steve had attended Thursday at the Harbor this past summer and saw Fitz and the Tantrums.

The final question I had was if you are stranded on a desert island and had to be stuck with one teammate on the baseball team who would it be and why? Steve responded with Matt Casilio who is our third basemen. Steve stated he would be fine with anyone but he chose Casilio because nothing bothers him and despite being stranded he knows they would have a good time.

Questions with Quinn: Getting to Know Joey Tingue

Quinn Danahy conducted a brief interview with Joey Tingue. Joey is a fifth year senior and is a member of our pitching staff. Joey attended high school at Pine Valley and after high school he attended Jamestown Community College.

Joey missed his first season two years ago with an injury and was awarded a medical redshirt. He worked hard to get back on to the field last season and had a good start in Florida vs. Colby College. Joey has improved a lot over his three seasons with the Blue Devils. He has added a change up to his arsenal of pitches and his location has improved gradually since his first season. 

NLCS outlook

 

Quinn Danahy conducted a quick interview this morning with Erik Krohl and Kenny Johnston on their predictions of the NLCS. Krohl is our shortstop and is an avid St. Louis Cardinals fan. Kenny is our right fielder and provided his outlook on the rest of the series for the Dodgers (despite the fact he is wearing a Giants hat).

Hands back, create separation

If you ask Brian Castonguay what separation is, he'll give you an expalnation like this.

Stride and Separate.
You will stride forward in a very controlled and soft movement, while using your shoulder and outside oblique to pull the top half of your body in the opposite direction.

Tension.
Once your front foot hits the ground and your hands remain back from where the load took them, this will create tension in your front oblique area.

This tension is like a stretched rubber band that will allow for a violent action toward the baseball. The more stretched tension you create, the more bat speed you can create.

The best recruits are the players you have

Three pitchers who missed last season with medical redshirts are set to return to action this spring. The three pitchers are Steve Sturm, Nate Lester, and Ben Senior.

Steve Sturm looks to return to the conference rotation a spot that he held two seasons ago. Sturm is a strike thrower and throws a lot of fastballs much like his idol Bartolo Colon who pitches for the Oakland A's. Sturm also throws a nasty changeup and curveball which keeps opposing hitters off balance.

Nate Lester is looking to get back on the mound after earning a spot on the team last year. Lester also throws a lot of strikes which is something we preach to our pitching staff. Nate spent a lot of time preparing for the season in the weight room last year before missing the year with his medical redshirt. He is perhaps the best athlete on the staff.

Ben Senior missed last season after pitching for us two seasons ago in his freshman campaign. Ben worked on spotting his fastball this past fall season and made some good progress throughout the fall. He has scrapped the splitter from his repertoire.

The challenge for these three pitchers along with the rest of our pitching staff is going to be who will fill the 140 innings that need to be filled from last season.

Playball! Devils take on JCC

Saturday was our playdate vs. Jamestown CC. We had a gorgeous day for two games.

We used four pitchers in game one, and six pitchers in game 2, and worked just about everyone into the lineup, scoring over 20 runs on the day.

The Hammer went to Erik Krohl. He had four hits in the two games and scored the winning run in a walkoff victory, taking out the catcher on a play at the plate.

Erik addressed off season workouts in his speech. He invited the freshmen for a lift with him, Kenny and Carmody.

The JUCO Claw went to fifth-year senior Joey Tingue. Joey struck out two in his inning of work against his former Junior College. Joey has seen a lot of adversity, working through a medical redshirt season a couple years ago and putting himself through college working three jobs. He spent four hours in the morning taking the State Trooper exam, them showed up for game two and dealt some strikes.

Joey spoke about never knowing when your last game will be and to enjoy the opportunity you have today.

Other solid performances were from ECC transfer Ricky Mendiola who talked the ball over the fence on a majestic homerun that scraped the back of the fence on the way down. Anthony Schiro threw out a pair of runners and picked one off first, in addition to a double and two sac bunts. The pitchers have enjoyed throwing to him, too.

Quinn Danehy roped a triple and had several good AB's. He's down 30 pounds from last year and has been working his tail off. Freshman RJ Spinella added two hits off the bench, and a steal of home. He's got to be the most improved player this fall.

Tommy Morris and Carl Wolf worked a quick couple innings.

We are done for the fall, and the off season begins tomorrow.

I'd like to give a shout out to former Blue Devils Brian Sheehan and Kyle Morris for helping with the between-game spread.

Alumni Game wrap up

Thanks to all those that made the Alumni Game. Usually we have it during Homecoming, but with the end of our fall season and Homecoming moved back this year, we moved things up.

Veteran Winston Woodard got the start on the hill. Winny graduated in the early 80's, but is still active in several leagues and tournaments. Lefties can stick around forever.

Legend Mark Clifford also made it up. A Hall of Famer in baseball and basketball here, Mark never misses a game. He's also been a big help recruiting -- we've had five Timon players in the program, and several others he's coached in AAA Muny ball.

Also participating were John Bennett, Zack Hugg, Ian Gallagher, Dan Fetes, Dan Greco, Tommy Tantillo, Brian Sheehan, Ricky Carlson, Erik Dietrich, Brian Bongiovanni, Mark Clifford, Jamie Sapienza, Winston Woodard and Tim Cowan. Also present, but did not play were Tommy Dee, Tom Hesketh and Joe Pucciarelli.