Ferro, Favazza Earn Bayside Honors

BERLIN- Stephen Decatur's varsity baseball team was honored this week for an outstanding 2007 season with a Bayside South Conference Pitcher of the Year award for Dominick Favazza and a Bayside South Conference Manager of the Year award for first-year manager Rick Ferro.

Favazza was dominating all year, compiling a 7-2-2 record and a gaudy .680 ERA while striking out 55 in 50 innings of work. He was also a force at the plate, batting .350 on the season including five home runs. When Favazza wasn't on the mound, he was a steady player in the field, typically playing third base.

Joining Favazza on the Bayside South First Team was teammate Brian Hudson. Decatur's Paul Stortini and Dustin Schaeffer were named to the All-Bayside South Second Team.

Ferro won conference Coach of the Year honors for leading the Seahawks to a 17-4 mark for the season. With Ferro at the helm, Decatur won the Bayside South division before falling to Easton in the Bayside Conference championship. The Seahawks were tough all year, starting the season with a 7-0 mark before their dropping their first game, a 5-4 loss to James M. Bennett on April 10.

After that loss, the Seahawks reeled off eight more wins in a row to improve their record to 15-1 on the season. Decatur finished the season with a Bayside South-leading 16-1 record and won the division for the second year in a row and a first under Ferro.

The Seahawks fell to Easton, 10-0, in the Bayside Conference championship game, but earned the number-three seed in the Class 2A-East region tournament. Decatur, with Favazza pitching, won its quarterfinal game, thrashing Wicomico, 10-0, in a game shortened by the slaughter rule. However, the Seahawks fell to Parkside in the Class 2A-East region semifinals to end the special season.