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Men Local trio playing key role in Eastern Connecticut's baseball success (JI)

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Nice to see ECSU return to prominence after the long career and retirement of Holowaty. Good story on Benincaso as well.
 
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When Christian Fedko talks… people listen.

Great story.




-> Eastern (49-3) won the school’s fifth DIII championship, but first since 2002 and first under Hamm. The Warriors did it with a roster full of state kids, many with neat stories, redemption stories, perseverance stories. Luke Broadhurst, Zach Donahue and Ryan Bagdasarian all came from UConn and settled in the top of the order, hitting .406, .327 and .358, respectively.

But bullpen catcher to pitching ace? Benincaso, 23, went 7-0 with a 2.51 ERA in 16 games, 10 starts, with 70 strikeouts and 16 walks in 75 1/3 innings.

“So happy for Tommy,” UConn coach Jim Penders said. “He did the toughest, most thankless job for us. He always had a great arm and confidence in bushels.” <-

-> As his senior year at UConn approached, Benincaso began throwing off a mound and he asked Ben Casparius, now with the Dodgers’ organization, to aim a pocket radar gun. Fedko’s suspicion was confirmed: Benincaso was throwing 91, 92 mph.

“I told [pitching coach] Josh MacDonald the next day, ‘I want to play college baseball,’ and that’s where it all started,” Benincaso said. Coach Mac was all for it, and the coaches were tremendous help in getting schools interested.”

MacDonald began working with him, and had him pitch in intrasquad games, startling the teammates who weren’t yet on to the secret, to get something on film. Benincaso got some offers from Division I mid-majors, but chose Eastern, which was coming off an NCAA regional appearance and hungry for more in 2022, and where he would have extra eligibility. <-
 

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