COLONIA, NJ – Defending champion Molloy, winner of three of the last four ECC Baseball Championship crowns (’21, ’22, ’24), tops the 2025 ECC Baseball Preseason Poll, as voted on by the league’s six coaches and announced on Friday morning. D’Youville senior infielder Alec Boucher (Essex, Ontario) was voted the ECC Baseball Preseason Player of the Year while a pair of southpaws shared ECC Preseason Pitcher of the Year recognition in D’Youville senior Chris Auclair (Baldwinsville, NY) and Molloy graduate student Ryan Hynes (Stony Brook, NY).
Molloy, ranked No. 19 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Preseason Top 25 poll, top the ECC Preseason Poll with 35 points and five first-place votes. The Lions are coming off of a 2024 season where they compiled a program-record win total (42-14, 18-6 ECC), won their third ECC Championship, and appeared in the NCAA East Region Super Regional Championship. Molloy has appeared in the ECC Championship Tournament Final six times in the last seven seasons.
The Lions graduate five All-ECC First Team selections from that squad, including All-American outfielder Anthony Manisero (ECC Player of the Year), All-American pitcher Charlie Cucchiara (ECC Pitcher of the Year), shortstop Patrick Sanchez, outfielder JJ Devito (ECC Championship Most Outstanding Player), and designated hitter Matt Yip.
Hynes is expected to have a standout season, as the graduate student southpaw was selected the ECC Preseason Co-Pitcher of the Year.
A 2024 ABCA/Rawlings All-Region Second Team selection and All-ECC Second Team pick, Hynes went 11-1 to go with a 3.45 ERA with 68 strikeouts and three complete games last spring. Hynes tossed 7.1 innings of shutout baseball in the ECC Championship Tournament Final to clinch the crown and went on to toss a complete game in the NCAA East Regional Championship Tournament to advance the Lions to the Super Regional.
Fellow All-ECC First Team and All-Region starting pitcher JC Kiss returns to complete Molloy’s 1-2 punch. In his first full season in the rotation, the left-handed Kiss appeared in 13 games on the mound, going 8-3 in 11 starts and 57 strikeouts in 77.1 innings of work. Kiss and Hynes combined to win 19 games a season ago while totaling 125 strikeouts in 150.1 innings pitched.
Shortstop Patrick Sanchez (.308, 62 hits, 41 runs scored, 36 RBI) and third baseman Aidan Larkin (.313, 65 hits, 49 runs scored) are also coming off of All-ECC-caliber seasons.
In just its second year of NCAA Division II postseason eligibility, D’Youville is predicted to make its second straight ECC Championship Tournament postseason appearance. Under the direction of ECC Coach of the Year Kyle McLain, the Saints (31-19, 18-6) earned a share of the ECC Regular Season Championship last year and claimed the No. 1 seed for the tournament. Despite losing the All-ECC trio of ABCA/Rawlings Third Team All-American relief pitcher Samuel Worthen, catcher Hunter Nowak, and outfielder Jeremy Glinski, the Saints return a core of four All-ECC First Team veterans who will pave the way for DYU this spring.
Also earning Third Team Preseason All-American honors from D2 Baseball, Boucher has been selected as the ECC Preseason Player of the Year. Boucher had a breakout junior season for the Saints, leading the ECC in batting average (.448, 7th nationally) and on base percentage (.541, 9th nationally) and recording career-high numbers in hits (52), RBI (32), walks (23), and runs scored (32). Boucher was also named to the D2CCA All-East Region First Team, NCBWA All-East Region Second Team, and ABCA/Rawlings Division II East All-Region Second Team.
The ECC Preseason Co-Pitcher of the Year, Auclair went 5-5 with a 3.63 ERA (5th in the ECC), fanning 66 batters over 69.1 innings of work. Auclair NCBWA All-East Region Second Team after a solid season on the mound as a starting pitcher. He tied for the ECC lead in fewest earned runs allowed, with 28 in starts on the hill.
All-ECC First Team first baseman Jon Simpson and All-ECC First Team utility player Billy Morris return for their junior seasons; Simpson slugged at a clip of 57.7 percent, ranking second in the league in homeruns (12) and third in RBI (52) while the two-way weapon hit .313 while posting a 4.23 ERA (6th in the ECC) with 57 strikeouts in 66 innings from the bump.
Looking for their conference-leading sixth ECC Championship Tournament berth this spring, Queens (30-19, 16-8 ECC) comes in No. 3 in the preseason poll with 23 points. The Knights won their second ECC title in program history, and first since 1998, in 2023. Paving the way this spring will be All-ECC First Team first baseman Matt Filip, who hit .264 with 42 hits, seven doubles, six homeruns, 19 walks, 27 runs scored, and 35 RBI with 10 multi-hit games in 44 starts last spring, alongside All-ECC Second Team designated hitter Joey Patane (.324) and Robert Jacobsen (.302) to replace the line-up holes left by the departures of All-ECC First Team outfielder Jorsixt Jimenez and All-Second Teamers Marc Cisco and Francis Segarra. All-ECC Second Team starting pitcher Caleb Cassie returns on the hill after ranking second in the ECC in strikeouts last spring, totaling 71 over 61.0 innings of work.
Mercy (16 points) and St. Thomas Aquinas (15 points) took the No. 4 and No. 5 spots, respectively.
Coming off of a 2024 campaign in which they went 20-29 (10-14 ECC), Mercy is the fourth and final team expected to make the ECC Championship Tournament. Catcher Alfred Hoti and utility player Nevin Scaperotti return as All-ECC Second Team selections from a year ago. Hoti appeared in 40 games (33 starts) with a .241 average, 28 RBI, two homeruns, six doubles, two triples, 21 runs scored, and 27 hits while throwing out 18 runners from behind the plate in 2024. Scaperotti, the reigning ECC Rookie of the Year, batted .382 last spring (5th in the ECC) while posting a 4.52 ERA and .241 opponent batting average with 52 strikeouts in 67.2 innings of work - all in the top ten of the ECC. Additional returners of note are John Nisco (.315) and Zach Ashline (11 HR, 3rd in the ECC).
First-year head coach John-Michael Guarino (Oswego State ’17) will take over a St. Thomas Aquinas squad that finished 24-27 overall (14-10 ECC) last spring. The Spartans return one of their two All-ECC Second Team starting pitchers from a year ago, as Andrew Alameda takes the bump as a senior this spring; Alameda sat fifth in the ECC in both wins (6) and innings pitched (70.0), posting a 5.14 ERA on the year. CJ Cumbo is STAC’s top returner at the plate after batting .289 with 48 hits, seven doubles, and four homeruns to go with a .435 on base percentage, ninth in the ECC last spring.
Staten Island (15-28, 7-17 ECC) rounded out the preseason voting with six points, and the All-ECC Second Team duo of starting right-handed pitcher Gerard Santos and outfielder Chris Polemeni alongside catcher AJ Viglotti (.306 AVG) will lead the Dolphins into 2025. Santos went 5-3 with a 4.77 ERA, ranking fourth in the ECC in fewest earned runs allowed (29), while Polemeni hit. 351 and ranked second in the ECC with a CSI single-season program record 28 stolen bases.
2025 ECC Baseball Preseason Poll
1. Molloy - 35 points (5 first-place votes)
2. D’Youville - 31 points (1 first-place vote)
3. Queens - 23 points
4. Mercy - 16 points
5. St. Thomas Aquinas - 15 points
6. Staten Island - 6 points
2025 ECC Preseason Player of the Year
Alec Boucher, Sr., INF, D’Youville
2025 ECC Preseason Co-Pitchers of the Year
Chris AuClair, Sr., LHP, D’Youville and Ryan Hynes, Gr., LHP, Molloy