Lehigh's Ercolano gets his wish

by Corky Blake
of The Express-Times

Like most of his teammates, Lehigh University center fielder Joe Ercolano surfed the internet trying to determine which regional the NCAA Tournament committee was going to send the Mountain Hawks baseball team this weekend.

"I had been checking on-line and Baseball America had us going to either the University of Virginia or Clemson," Ercolano said. "Most of the guys wanted to go to Clemson, but I definitely wanted to go to Virginia."

Ercolano got his wish -- Lehigh plays its first-ever NCAA Tournament game against the University of Virginia at 3 p.m. today at Davenport Field at UVa Baseball Stadium.

Thanks to the tournament committee, Ercolano gets to renew acquaintances with a former Fairfield (Conn.) High School teammate, Virginia outfielder Tim Henry.

"My teammates wanted to play against the No. 1 team in the tournament; I thought it would be fun to play against a friend from high school," said Ercolano, a sophomore who led the Patriot League with a school-record 56 runs this spring.

Henry is one year ahead of Ercolano. At Fairfield, Henry was entrenched in center field from the time he was a freshman. Ercolano was an infielder as a sophomore, started in left field as a junior and moved to center as a senior after Henry graduated.

"It really didn't matter to me where I played in the outfield," Ercolano said. "I thought we were both the same ability-wise. He had the spot because he was a year older."

Fairfield won Connecticut's Class LL (big schools) state championship in Ercolano's sophomore year. With Ercolano leading off as a junior and Henry swinging from the No. 3 spot in the order, Fairfield reached the state semifinals.

Ercolano has been entrenched in Lehigh's lineup since the day he stepped on the Mountain Hawks' field. Last year he led the Patriot League with a .420 batting average, which ranked him 15th nationally. Ercolano was the recipient of the Daniel Nolan Award, given to Lehigh's top freshman athlete.

"I liked Lehigh's location and academics," said Ercolano, an engineering major who also considered St. John's, Lafayette and Quinnipiac.

Ercolano told Lehigh coach Sean Leary he was willing to play anywhere in the outfield.

"Because of my speed he put me in center field, which is probably my best position," Ercolano said.

Henry was Virginia's primary center fielder last year and had been in the Cavaliers' starting lineup as a left or center fielder until recently. In the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament last weekend, Henry (.317 batting average, 1 HR, 38 RBIs) was used as a designated hitter, pinch hitter and late-inning defensive replacement.

Physically, the Fairfield flashes appear to be clones: both are listed at 5-foot-10, 165 pounds. Ercolano bats left-hander and throws right-handed; Henry is left-handed all the way.

Ercolano said the Mountain Hawks won't be intimidated playing the 12th-ranked Cavaliers.

"Last year we played North Carolina State down there," Ercolano said. "Most of the guys on this year's team were on that team, too. In the first game we played them we were up like 7-1 before they came back to beat us. But it showed us we can hang with a team from the ACC."

Actually, Lehigh took a 9-0 lead into the eighth inning of that March 25, 2005 game only to surrender 10 runs in the final two innings for the 10-9 loss. The Hawks dropped the other two games to the Wolfpack that weekend 7-5 and 6-3.

This afternoon, Lehigh again will try to hang with an ACC team and just maybe pull off the upset to give Ercolano bragging rights over an old high school teammate.

Corky Blake can be reached at 800-360-3601 or by e-mail at cblake@express-times.com.

This story originally appeared in the Friday, June 2, 2006 edition of The Express-Times. Used with permission.

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