Former ESM players help drive St. Joe’s baseball to success

St. Joseph’s University’s baseball team is competing for its second consecutive Skyline Conference crown, and four Eastport-South Manor alumni are a key part of that effort.

Pitcher Ryan Foran, second-baseman Joe Sanguedolce, infielder Derek Masino, and assistant coach Eliot Robles all honed their baseball skills playing for the ESM Sharks under head coach Jim McGowan.

Now, they’re reunited at St. Joseph’s in Patchogue, where the Golden Eagles are 19-3 (9-1 in the Skyline Conference) and riding a nine-game winning streak.

At a commuter school like St. Joseph’s, where the roster consists entirely of players from Long Island, it’s not surprising some would have played together in high school.

But having three players and a coach from the same school?

“It’s not as common as you would think,” Golden Eagles head coach Tom Caputo said. “But when you’re recruiting, you have a tendency to recruit from good programs… You tend to gravitate toward programs where you’ve had success, where kids come in and they were successful.”

Caputo’s players have continued at the college level the hard work and team-oriented attitude they learned at Eastport-South Manor.

“It’s team first, not me first,” Caputo said. “They’re willing to put themselves behind what the team needs.”

“Coach McGowan does a really good job of getting everybody ready,” said Robles, who graduated from Eastport-South Manor in 2016. “His attention to detail for all aspects of the game really gets you ready for college.”

That attention to detail is paying off on the field at St. Joseph’s.

Sanguedolce, an All-League selection in high school in 2019, was selected as the most outstanding player in last year’s Skyline Conference tournament. He is hitting .342 this season, with 13 RBIs and 13 stolen bases.

Foran, a two-time All-County player in high school, is among the leaders in innings pitched for St. Joseph’s and averaging more than six strikeouts per nine innings. Masino, a two-time high school All-League player, has seen limited playing time as a freshman, but blasted two hits and an RBI in a 15-4 win over Neumann.

Robles was working as an assistant coach for McGowan when Caputo called to talk about joining the St. Joseph’s coaching staff.

“We sat at the diner down the block, and as soon as I started really, really thinking about it, it was a no-brainer to bring him here,” Caputo said.

The Sharks made it to the Suffolk County championship game in 2018, losing 3-1 to West Islip.

Foran, who won the Paul Gibson Award that year as Suffolk County’s top pitcher, was on the mound that day. Ironically, his St. Joseph’s teammate and now good friend, Anthony Cinequemani, was playing for West Islip.

Foran said he’s forgotten the outcome of the game, but says Cinequemani, who hit the game-winning double, hasn’t.

“He won’t shut up about it,” Foran joked.

As to whether the Golden Eagles can bring home a second consecutive Skyline Conference championship, Foran is optimistic.

Asked what’s ahead for the team, he said, “I don’t want to get too overzealous, but big things.”