News & notes

 The Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League will return in June after a year's hiatus due to COVID, but the Albany Dutchmen are looking for a place to play.

The Dutchmen had played their home games at Siena College from 2017-19, after leaving the College of St. Rose's Bellizzi Field following the 2016 season. The league is expanding to 16 teams this year with two former NY-Penn League franchises, the Batavia Muckdogs & Auburn Doubledays, joining the league after being shorn of their MLB affiliations. 

Since Bleecker Stadium is out of the question, as that's home to the Albany Twilight League, which also returns this summer, I would guess that maybe UAlbany could fill the breach. Stay tuned.

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Speaking of UAlbany, it seems that the Great Danes have found their next head coach for basketball.

Dwayne Killings, an assistant at Marquette, has agreed in principle to be the next coach. He succeeds Will Brown, who stepped down earlier this month after the Danes were eliminated from the America East tournament.

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Siena has decided to part ways with women's basketball coach Ali Jaques after 9 seasons, which resulted in just 2 winning seasons. WTEN's Liana Bonavita has more:

Edit. 7/18/23: The video was deleted by ABC-10.

And so the rebuilding process begins again.

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To borrow and paraphrase an episode title from the original Star Trek, two Section II basketball coaches decided after Friday's Suburban Council men's title game to let it be their last battlefield.

Shenendehowa's Tony Dzikas is leaving the Clifton Park school after 16 seasons, winning four Class AA titles and 1 state title (2015) in addition to the COVID-induced league title. Son Devin is graduating in June, and will move on to Suffolk College next fall. According to reports, Dzikas had been mulling over this decision for a year. In the end, father & son will leave together, going out on top. Congratulations to the Dzikas family.

Over in Troy, Richard Hurley has decided to walk away from the bench again. A 12-3 campaign, good for a Gray division title, the school's third since joining the Suburban Council in 2015, reminded Hurley of why he decided to step away after the 2016-17 season, and spend more time with his family. Hurley will continue as an assistant to principal Joseph Mariano, Jr. going forward.

But unlike in 2017, it does not appear as though Troy has a successor in place, and is graduating nine seniors from the 2020-1 team. Greg Davis, who succeeded Hurley in 2017, has finished his first season at LaSalle, going 10-2.

Then, the question becomes one of, who's next? Would Troy promote from within? Or do they look outside the program?

I can think of three possibilities.

*--Steve Sgambelluri, the former College of St. Rose star, had been at LaSalle until being replaced by Jon Desso prior to the 2018-19 season. Longshot at best.

*--Niskayuna coach Mike Grasso, a former assistant football coach under Bob "The Builder" Burns before changing sports and taking the Nisky job a couple of years ago, would be a candidate to "return home", but doubtful.

*--Former Troy player Curtis Sankey, currently the coach at Columbia, could be persuaded to "come home", and the timing would be perfect, as this year marks 40 years since Sankey (and the rest of the Class of 1981) graduated. A change of scenery would do some good. Sankey's record vs. Troy isn't that great, a paltry 1-5, with the lone win coming in 2020. He'd also be Troy's 1st African-American head coach.

We'll know soon enough what the school board and Athletic Director Paul Reinisch decide.