I’ll admit it: This one caught me by surprise.

After a strong summer and fall, Somers senior RHP Jerry Battipaglia has committed to pitch at Villanova.

A lot of you probably don’t know about Jerry, so here goes: He’s 6-foot-6 and 230 pounds, and boasts a fastball that tops out around 88 MPH. He throws a slider and a changeup, and all of his pitches have shown great improvement since the end of the high school season with Somers, the Class A champ.

Now let’s get to Somers…remarkably, Jerry pitched just 17 innings this season with the Tuskers. His numbers were good (2-1, 3.76 ERA, 16 hits and 15 K’s), but his work was limited. Obviously, Somers has terrific pitching with Dan Tracy, Dan Zlotnic, and Ron Stenz. But it’s amazing that Battipaglia has evolved far enough to land at Villanova, which is a testament to how hard he’s obviously worked. Need evidence: After seeing him play with the South Florida Bandits this summer, Perfect Game chose Jerry as one of 21 seniors from New York state for the 2007 Top Prospect Games.

From what I’ve gathered, Villanova liked Battipaglia’s projectability. He’s a big guy who throws like a big guy, and his size and strength tell the Wildcats’ coaches that Jerry has even further room to develop.

‘Nova has had a good tradition developing pitchers. Iona Prep grad Brian Slocum, an Indians farmhand who was a dominant high schooler in Westchester, and Mets prospect Kevin Mulvey are both former Wildcats.

Great job by Jerry. This one came from nowhere, but sounds like well-deserved.

I’ll have more on this today or tomorrow.

So we’re fast approaching the November signing period and I decided to drop a note here.

My request is that if you’re a player (or the coach or parent of a player) who will sign a letter in a couple weeks please let me know. My email: jthomson@lohud.com

I just want to make sure we here at Leading Off compile a complete list. Here’s what we have so far (did I miss anyone?):

• Steve Proscia, Virginia


• Joe Panik, St. John’s


• Joe Pedavillano, Duke


• Dave Ciocchi, Binghamton


• Alex Adami, Binghamton


• Steve Prosapio, Monmouth


• C.J. Riefenhauser, Iona


• Anthony Castellitto, Iona


• Pete DiResta, Albany


• Kyle Kalaka, Le Moyne


• Vinny Ferraro, FDU


• Joe Lombardi, Le Moyne

Mahopac’s two top arms this season are seniors C.J. Riefenhauser and Anthony Castellitto. And I have confirmed what I posted here yesterday, that both have committed to play ball at Iona.

I tracked both guys down and have written a story about it for The Journal News, which will likely run tomorrow. Ironically, Riefenhauser and Castellitto came to their decisions separately despite the fact that they are very good friends.

Riefenhauser said “it was a coincidence,” but that “it’s nice to know somebody going down there with you, especially somebody who’s one of your best friends.â€?

Both guys were all-section players last year. They combined for 12 of the Indians’ 16 wins. They will make Mahopac one of the the favorites to win next year’s Class AA championship, in addition to left fielder Pete Diresta, who committed to Albany earlier this fall.

I know many of you will be interested in what schools these guys looked at. So here goes:

Riefenhauser said he went on official visits to Sacred Heart, College of St. Rose, and Iona, and unofficials to Stony Brook and Maine. Plus, after making this decision he canceled visits to Southern Conn. State, Bryant and Albany.

OK, now on to Castellitto. His only visit was to Iona. He also had been in contact on several occasions with Fordham, Albany and Siena, but he thought Iona made an offer too good to refuse.

That’s all for now. I’ve been told there are a few final showcases this weekend and the rest of the chips should fall before that. I promise I’ll stay on top of it, so keep reading.

After six very painful days without blogging, we are officially back at your service. Whew!

I arrive to report that Nanuet’s Steve Prosapio has committed to play ball at Monmouth, which won the Northeast Conference last season and advanced to regionals at the CWS.

Several schools showed interest, including Maryland-Baltimore County, Lehigh, Brown, Dartmouth, Iona, Holy Cross and Villanova.

As you probably know, Prosapio was first-team all-county in Rockland for us. He led the county in batting at .518 and RBI with 31. He also joins the growing list of ESG committments, which I won’t repeat again. Just scroll below…

I expect the commitments will keep flowing as we inch closer to November. If anyone wants to pass one along, email me at jthomson@lohud.com.

I just talked to Briarcliff’s Joe Lombardi a little while ago and he confirmed that he’s headed to Le Moyne to play baseball.

I find Lombardi’s case fascinating. He’s a guy who had a lot of different options to consider. He was originally known as a freshman who started at 1B for Briarcliff, but a lot has changed since then.

Last winter, Lombardi, who’s about 6-foot-4 and lefty, became the leading scorer as the Bears upset preseason favorite Woodlands for the Class B title. He also started pitching a little bit for Briarcliff during the baseball season, and had success pitching this summer for the New York Nine in limited time on the mound.

Joe told me he chose to play baseball because it was his best option. He knew he had great size for baseball but that his size was only average for basketball.

Also, he’ll head to Le Moyne with a chance to earn the starting 1B job as a freshman and with the understanding the coaching staff wants a look at him as a pitcher. That — and the fact that they he believes Le Moyne has stronger academics than Albany and Iona, the other two Division I schools who offered him baseball scholarships — led him to Syracuse.

(Note to hoops junkies: Le Moyne has a D-II basketball team, so Lombardi will at least explore the possibility of playing both.)

If anyone else has any signings they’d like me to know about, please feel free to drop me a line at jthomson@lohud.com.

The more the merrier…

Just confirmed that Ketcham senior catcher Kyle Kalaka committed to LeMoyne, as was mentioned here by someone over the weekend.

I’ve been told Stepinac’s Alex Maruri will commit soon, but he and his family are still trying to determine what school is best for Alex and his future, on and off the field. UPDATE 6:30 P.M. Just talked to Crusaders coach Pat Duffy. He’s been on visits to Illinois, St. Louis, Elon, High Point and UNC-Greensboro. St. John’s is also in the mix, and it doesn’t look like Wake and Maryland are likely, despite both showing interest in his bat.

You also have the two lefties. Mahopac’s C.J. Riefenhauser hasn’t decided yet. And I couldn’t help but cringe two weeks ago when I covered Mahopac’s 46-39 win over Fox Lane every time C.J. made a tackle. With that fresh in my mind, I found out today that Clarkstown North lefty Chris O’Grady tore both his ACL and MCL playing QB for the Rams during the second game of the season, which I’d imagine puts his ‘08 baseball season in jeopardy. I hear there are still D-I schools interested even though he’s injured. After all, it’s a leg not his left arm.

I’ll end on this note…good luck to Chris in his recovery. I hope everyone else can wish him well, too.