The St. John’s baseball team will enter their 2007 campaign with a trio of senior co-captains to navigate them as they look to fulfill the expectations that have been placed on their shoulders.

Senior second baseman Sam DeLuca, leftfielder Chris Joachim and catcher Brendan Monaghan were the three players voted in to provide the leadership and stability for a team that is favored to win the 2007 Big East Conference title crown.
“These three players are solid and experienced, and they’ve been through the grind of a Big East schedule,” coach Ed Blankmeyer told RedStormSports.com. “They know what it takes to successfully compete at this level.”

DeLuca will enter 2007 after earning a third team All-Big East selection for his performance last season. The second baseman hit .339 with 41 runs batted in.

Additionally, DeLuca was ranked as the 17th toughest batter to strike out in all of Division I baseball, whiffing just 14 times in 242 at-bats.

Joachim makes the move from first base to left field, and he will hope that his success at the plate from last season makes the move with him. Joachim enjoyed a stellar 2006 season that saw him finish with a .398 batting average, 46 runs batted in and 20 stolen bases. This will be the second season as a team captain for the all-around player.

Monaghan was voted in as a captain despite having registered just 143 career at-bats in 71 games. However, he enjoyed a breakout season in 2006 that saw him hit .354, an average that would have placed him in the Top 15 batters in the Big East had he had enough at-bats to qualify. Defensively, the New Jersey native threw out 38.5 percent of would be base stealers from behind the plate in 2006. Monaghan is already known for his strong leadership skills, and he continued to raise his stock after his strong improvement during the off-season.

Red Storm baseball will kick off Feb. 15 when the team travels to Midland, Texas for The College Classic.