STONY BROOK, N.Y. — The 2010s indisputably were the decade of the Seawolves in America East baseball.
Of course, a storybook Super Regional win against LSU in Baton Rouge, La., famously propelled Stony Brook to the College World Series in 2012 — making the Seawolves the first-ever America East team and the first New York program in three decades to reach Omaha.
"That 2012 team set a benchmark — we're better than just going to the regional," said current New York Mets reliever Daniel Zamora, who pitched for Stony Brook from 2013 through 2015.
Yet that College World Series berth just scratched the surface of a decade of achievement …
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PRO ACTIVE: The Seawolves had a whopping 20 players drafted during the decade, highlighted by the program's first-ever first-round pick — Travis Jankowski by the San Diego Padres in 2012. Jankowski, now a five-year major league veteran, was traded to the Cincinnati Reds on Oct. 31. He is due to visit Yankee Stadium April 17-19 and Citi Field May 4-6 during the 2020 season. In all, five Stony Brook products appeared in the majors during the decade: Joe Nathan, Tom Koehler, Nick Tropeano, Zamora and Jankowski.
America East Players of the Year
| 2019 |
Nick Grande |
| 2017 |
Toby Handley |
| 2015 |
Jack Parenty |
| 2014 |
Kevin Krause |
| 2012 |
Travis Jankowski |
| 2011 |
William Carmona |
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HARDWARE: Stony Brook earned 45 America East all-conference first-team selections and 31 second-team selections during the decade, plus 21 all-rookie team picks. Perhaps even more impressively, six America East Player of the Year selections came from the Seawolves as well as four conference pitchers of the year and a whopping seven rookies of the year.
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POWER PLAY: Stony Brook earned wins against members of
every Power Five conference during the decade: ACC (NC State, Miami), Big Ten (Michigan, Minnesota), Big 12 (Kansas), SEC (LSU) and Pac-12 (USC)
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TITLE TOWN: Stony Brook baseball earned five regular-season titles (2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2019) and four America East postseason titles (2010, 2012, 2015, 2019).
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WINNING FORM: The Seawolves produced a .600 winning percentage during the decade. That stellar mark included a .673 winning percentage in America East play. Home cooking was particularly kind to the Seawolves, who posted an amazing .749 winning percentage in their home stadium during the 2010s.
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FIELD OF DREAMS: Spearheaded by a generous donation from Nathan, Stony Brook baseball christened Joe Nathan Field on May 20, 2011. The Seawolves subsequently opened an indoor hitting facility that allows its student-athletes around-the-clock cage activity and other workouts regardless of the weather. That facility came courtesy of a generous donation from the family of former Seawolves standout Johnny Caputo '16.
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HONOREES: Legendary head coach
Matt Senk — a three-time America East Coach of the Year during the decade — was inducted into the New York State Baseball Hall of Fame on Nov. 3. He joined Nathan, who was inducted the previous year. Senk also was named National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association National Coach of the Year in 2012.
Now, Senk and crew look forward to exceeding that success during the upcoming decade. That pursuit begins with the 2020 season opener on Feb. 14 at Texas State.
"I am so proud of the outstanding accomplishments that our players and teams have achieved the past 10 years, which has helped to give our highly successful program, athletics department and world-class university the recognition it deserves," Senk said. "Of course, none of this happens without the hard work and dedication of all of my players and coaches before and during the past decade. I truly cannot thank them enough.
"I'm extremely excited for our present and future players and the challenges, opportunities and experiences that await us all."
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