Twelve New Eagles Join the Baseball Ranks

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Twelve new players will join the Boston College baseball team for the 2016-17 season, head coach Mike Gambino announced on Thursday. The incoming class consists of five pitchers, three outfielders, two catchers, an infielder and a utility player.

"One of the most important aspects of our program is its character," Gambino said. "The success of this program has been because we recruit high-character student-athletes who also have the talent to compete for an Atlantic Coast Conference championship with the chance to go to Omaha. We believe that this incoming class will fit very well into the culture we are building and these players are talented enough to make an immediate impact during the season and with a postseason run."

The 12-member group includes OF Dante Baldelli (Cumberland, R.I.), UT Jack Cunningham (South Riding, Va.), INF Brian Dempsey (Potomac, Md.). RHP Matt Gill (Simsbury, Conn.), RHP Mikey Giordano (Orlando, Fla.) C Jake Goodreau (Southwick, Mass.), OF Nick Latham (Salem, Mass.), RHP Michael Marzonie (Greenwich, Conn.), C Aaron Soucy (Thompson, Conn.), RHP Brendan Spaguolo (Massapequa, N.Y.), LHP Joe Walsh (Plymouth, Mass.) and OF/C Jacob Yish (Byfield, Mass.).

Baldelli, an outfielder, played on three Bishop Hendricken Rhode Island state championship teams for coach Ed Halloaway. He was selected in the 39^th round by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2016 MLB First-Year Players Draft after being ranked the top player in the state by MaxPreps.com. Baldelli, the brother of former Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox Rocco Baldelli, was one of seven outfielders named to the Louisville Slugger Preseason All-America Second Team and collected all-state second-team and first-team all-division 1 honors in 2015. He played with rising sophomore Gian Martellini on the Hawks from 2013-15, while 12^th-round pick Mike King and associate head coach Jim Foster are also Hendricken alumni. Badelli was a member of the 2015 Division I Super Bowl title football team and batted .309 with one home run in 14 games with the Nashua Silver Knights in the Futures Collegiate Baseball League.

Cunningham is a utility player and right-handed pitcher, who graduated from Paul VI Catholic. The Panthers went 24-8 in 2016 under head coach Jeff Nolan. Cunningham was named the WCAC Player of the Year and collected All-VISAA Division I First-Team, All-Met First-Team and NOVA Nine accolades as a senior, hitting .413 with 10 doubles, 25 RBIs and eight stolen bases. On the mound, he went 5-3 with a 0.53 ERA, 52 strikeouts and allowed just 10 walks over 53 innings. The Panthers were the runners up in the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association Championship. As a junior, Cunningham also collected All-Met First-Team and NOVA Nine honors and was the runner up for WCAC Player of the Year. He put together a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage, batted .510 in league play, hitting .438 overall.

Dempsey is an infielder from Georgetown Prep, who collected Preseason Rawlings-Perfect Game Honorable Mention All-American and All-Atlantic Region Second-Team before his senior season. The Hoyas were 14-13 under Chris Rodriguez and fell in the IAC semifinals. He was named to the 2015 All-Tournament Team at the 17U Perfect Game World Series in July as a member of Baseball Northwest. This summer, Dempsey played 31 games in the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League for the Saugerties Stallions, tallying 27 hits, 10 runs and 11 RBIs.

Gill will join the Eagles as the third alumnus from Avon Old Farms, uniting with current Eagles John Witkowski and Anthony Maselli. The right-hander was a captain of the Winged Beavers, who went 18-3, under head coach Robert Dowling, and collected Colonial League and Founder's League titles in 2016. Gill was named the Co-Colonial League Pitcher of the Year as a senior and collected Preseason Rawlings/Perfect Game Honorable Mention All-American and All-Region Northeast First-Team accolades before the start of the year. He joined senior Luke Fernandes in the Futures League this summer, playing for the Seacoast Mavericks, and racking up a 1-0 record with 3.00 ERA, four saves and 24 strikeouts over 21 innings.

Giordano, a right-handed pitcher who graduated from Bishop Moore Catholic High School in May, tallied 113 strikeouts in his final two seasons. Playing for head coach Tony Mehlich, he captained the team as a senior and led the Hornets to the state semifinals. He pitched a complete game to reach the semis, allowing just two runs in the first, and combined to allow just one hit through seven innings in the 1-0 loss in the Class 5A semifinal game. As a senior, Giordano recorded a 1.93 ERA and was named team MVP. He also earned All-Tournament Team honors at the Perfect Game Underclass World Championships in Ft. Myers, Fla.

Goodreau, a catcher and left-handed hitter, played for first-year head coach Bill Dupre at Southwick Regional. The Rams went 16-5 and lost in the Western Massachusetts Division III Tournament quarterfinals after winning the Bi-County South title in 2016. Goodreau hit his 100^th career RBI on May 11, 2016 and just before that earned MassLive.com Athlete of the Week honors for launching a two-run, walk-off home run in the 10^th inning to give the Rams the victory. He batted .418 with a .672 slugging percentage and a .536 on-base percentage as a senior, racking up 28 hits, including four home runs, 35 RBIs, 21 runs and 16 walks. This summer, he played 15 games in the Futures League, collected seven runs, 12 hits and four RBIs for the Pittsfield Suns.

Latham finished a postgraduate year at Phillips Andover Academy after a four-year high school career at St. John's Prep in Danvers, Mass. The left-handed outfielder helped the Big Blue go 18-3 under head coach Kevin Graber and win the Central New England Prep title. As a senior at the Prep, Latham was a captain of the Eagles and lead them to back-to-back Catholic Conference titles. He earned the Athletics Director's Award for leadership in baseball and was also a member of the hockey team. He will be reunited with Prep teammate Jacob Yish at The Heights.

Marzonie is a right-hander who graduated from the Brunswick School in Greenwich, Conn. The Bruins went 20-2 with a perfect 14-0 FAA league record under head coach Juan Montanez in 2016. They won the league title for the second straight year and were ranked sixth in MSGVarsity Tri-State Poll. Marzonie earned All-FAA First-Team honors and Brunswick's Cy Young Award but will miss the 2017 season at The Heights due to Tommy John surgery. He will reunite with Brunswick alum Billy O'Malley, the Eagles' bullpen catcher.

Soucy is a right-handed catcher from the Pomfret School. He earned 2015 Western New England Prep League (WNEPL) First-Team honors under the guidance of head coach Richard Dempsey. Perfect Game tabbed him a preseason All-American underclass high honorable mention heading into the 2016 season and honorable mention before the 2015 season. The outlet ranked him the top catcher and the second-best player in Connecticut in his class. He is an honor roll student as well.

Spagnuolo comes to The Heights from Vanderbilt University. The right-hander made his collegiate debut against Tennessee-Martin in February 2015, allowing two runs on six hits with one strikeout over two innings. While a member of the Commodores, he earned Spring First-Year Academic Honor Roll. At Chaminade High School, he threw the seventh no-hitter in school history as a senior to clinch the league title. He struck out seven and walked four. Spagnuolo helped the Flyers to back-to-back league titles in 2011 and 2012 and was a captain as a senior under head coach Michael Pienkos. He collected Preseason Perfect Game Second-Team All-American and All-Northeast First-Team honors in 2014 and was ranked the third-best right-handed pitcher and fourth-best player in the state of New York by the organization. A multisport athlete, Spagnuolo lettered in basketball and golf as well at Chaminade, earning MVP honors with the basketball team in 2012, when the Flyers won the league title. For the second straight summer, he is pitching for the Newport Gulls in the New England Collegiate Baseball League. Last year, he earned All-Star accolades.

Walsh was named the 2015 Massachusetts Gatorade Player of the Year – the first from Plymouth North High School to earn the accolade. The left-hander is a two-time Boston Herald All-Scholastic and two-time league all-star. He went 7-1 as a junior with a 0.74 ERA, two playoff wins, a no-hitter, two one-hitters and two two-hitters. He also struck out 58 over 41 regular-season innings. At the plate, Walsh hit .395 with a homer, seven doubles and 22 RBIs. The Blue Eagles went 16-7 and made it the Division 2 South Sectional semifinals under head coach Dwayne Follette, who is also Walsh's uncle. In May of 2016, Walsh suffered a torn flexor and UCL and will miss the 2017 season with the Eagles. Until the injury, he had won all three starts with a 1.31 ERA and 21 strikeouts and was batting .441 with one home run and nine RBIs.

Yish, will reunite with former St. John's Prep teammate Latham at The Heights. The outfielder and catcher was the Eagles' captain under head coach Dan Letarte as they went to back-to-back Super 8 finals and lost to Braintree both times. In the 2016 championship game, Yish hit a solo home run. He tied for 12^th on the North Shore with 29 hits and tied for 11^th with 12 stolen bases. As a junior, he recorded 26 hits, 17 runs and 14 RBIs, earning a spot on the All-USA Massachusetts team. He also played football at the Prep and this summer, he played 17 games in the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League for the Saugerties Stallions with new BC teammate Brian Dempsey. He recorded 10 hits, seven RBIs and two runs.

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