Success and the Long Island Astros go hand in hand.
That’s at least the case with Jeff Rusoff’s college team, which for the third time in four years competed for a national championship.
The Astros capped a hugely successful summer by competing in the NABF College World Series in Toledo, Ohio earlier this month. The squad went 2-2 during pool play and was tied for second, but failed to qualify on a tiebreaker.
Still, the Nassau-based squad won a lot more than they lost during the summer.
“I would have liked to advance to the next round, but we did play very well and it was a very competitive tournament,” Rusoff said. “Overall I was very satisfied with how the team played over the summer and I certainly look forward to recruiting more players during the off-season and having another competitive team next year.”
Things didn’t start out so well for the Astros, who lost two of their first three games.
What followed was a season-changing 13-game winning streak en route to a 17-5 record and second-place finish in the FABL.
“During the course of that winning streak and seeing how strong our pitching was really gave me a clear indication we were going to be very successful this summer,” Rusoff said.
In the Astros case, the old adage that pitching wins championships was true. Led by Nick Petrella, a rising junior at Skidmore College, and Connor Henson, a rising junior at Baruch College, the Astros fielded a stellar pitching staff.
“The strongest part of our team was definitely our pitching,” Rusoff said.
The Astros, though, were far from one-dimensional. Nick Lobello, a rising junior at Queens College, was the team’s MVP, the starting third baseman and best hitter.
The coach’s son, Ryan Rusoff, a former standout at Herricks who now competes at Farmingdale State, PJ Lenz from Suffolk Community College and Mike Rahn, a rising sophomore middle infielder at Molloy College, each enjoyed solid seasons.
“It was a very successful season,” Rusoff said. “We recruited a bunch of new players in the off-season. Very good pitching was recruited, we had a number of returning players from last year and the team did very well. I was satisfied with how we played over the summer.”
In his first two years coaching the college team, Rusoff, who is in his 11th year with the Astros organization, led his team to back-to-back berths in the AAABA World Series in Johnstown, PA. They were the first team to make consecutive appearances from New York in 25 years.
“That’s a pretty nice accomplishment,” Rusoff said.
This year, though, Rusoff opted for the NABF route, which included winning regional tournament in Clifton, N.J. by capturing three of its four games.
While there are several new recruits this summer, Rusoff said the squad also fielded some returning talent, players who have risen up the ranks in the Astros organization, including Queens College starting catcher CJ Gerdowsky, who competed for legendary Jack Curran at Archbishop Molloy in Queens.
“We’ve had a bunch of solid players come up through the organization,” Rusoff said. “It’s allowed us to be highly competitive at the college level.”
