Major preseason baseball accolades for OCHS grad

Ocean City High School graduate Sean Mooney, shown in action for St. John’s against Seton Hall last April, has been named the Big East preseason Pitcher of the Year. (photo from St. John’s athletics website)

Following a stellar freshman season, Ocean City High School graduate Sean Mooney has earned some major preseason accolades ahead of his sophomore campaign with the St. John’s University baseball team.

In the span of two days, Mooney was named the preseason Big East Pitcher of the Year and a second team preseason All-America selection by Collegiate Baseball.

Both honors were announced on the St. John’s athletics website this week.

Last season as a freshman, Mooney became only the second player in Big East history to be named the conference’s Pitcher of the Year and Freshman of the Year after going 8-2 with a 1.71 ERA and 88 strikeouts in 100 innings pitched.

The 2016 Ocean City graduate pitched at least seven innings in nine of his 13 starts and held opponents to a .196 batting average against him.

Mooney was selected to play on USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team last summer.

Mooney was a two-time second team all-state selection as a junior and senior at Ocean City. He led the Raiders to the South Jersey Group III championship as a senior, when he went 9-1 with a 0.63 ERA and recorded 102 strikeouts against only 11 walks.

St. John’s begins the 2018 season on Feb. 16 for a three-game series against Campbell in North Carolina. St. John’s is the favorite to win the 2018 Big East title according to a preseason poll of the conference’s coaches.

— Brian Cunniff