May 5, 2005

Garden City, N.Y. - Head baseball coach Dominic Scala has been voted New York Collegiate Athletic Conference (NYCAC) Coach of the year as announced yesterday, May 4 by the conference office. The Panthers are currently 23-15 overall and have advanced to the double elimination portion of the NYCAC playoffs.

"This is a tremendous honor, but you can't do it all by yourself," Scala said. "Bobby Malvagna is the best assistant in the conference, Casey Twibell has come a long way as a coach and Dan Krines has been a tremendous help."

In just two season at the helm Scala has taken the Panthers from 7-30 in 2003 to 23-15 this season. "I came in with a philosophy that if we work hard everyday, concentrate on the fundamentals and the kids listen to the coaching staff good things will happen," explained Scala.

Adelphi is currently ranked third in the Northeast Region in the NCAA Regional poll released on May 4, putting the Panthers in position to receive a NCAA Division II Regional bid. "I'm very proud of our guys and happy for them, they have worked really hard this season and I know that we can play with anyone," Scala said.

The Panthers proved to be a very resilient team this season. After starting the year with a southern swing that resulted in Adelphi being 1-7 after just eight games the Panthers bounced back to go 22-8 to close out the regular season schedule. Adelphi also ended the NYCAC regular season with a mark of 13-7, tying them with Concordia for second in the league, a four place jump from their sixth place finish a year ago.

The third seeded Panthers have won 12 of their last 15 games and will roll into Friday's contest against second seeded Concordia looking to extend their five game win streak. The game will be played at noon on the University of New Haven's campus.