By Jared Shafran

The Northeastern baseball team has seen a few new recruits sign letters of intent to play with the team starting in the 2010 season.

Peter Castoldi and Chris Carmain, both players on the St. John’s Prep baseball team located in Danvers, Massachusetts are the newest Huskies, recently signing their letters.

Castoldi is a speedy player who plays shortstop and third base for the Eagles.

St. John’s Prep head coach Pat Yanchus said Castoldi would be bring patience to a Northeastern squad that had .355 team on-base percentage last season.

“Castoldi had an on-base percentage of .431 last season,” Yanchus said. “He draws a good number of walks and does his job of getting on base. He has good power for a middle infielder and is a good fielder who can play wherever.

“Although he only batted for a .281 average on the season, he came on at the end of the year,” Yanchus said.

That power came in handy for St. John’s Prep as Castoldi hit a pair of home runs in games played last season.

Yanchus also said Castoldi has a very strong arm and the team is considering using him as a relief pitcher in the upcoming season.

Off the field, Yanchus said Castoldi was elected to be one of the team captains for the upcoming season and is a clear leader of the team.

“He is not very verbal from what I can see but other players look up to him,” Yanchus said. “He was a unanimous pick for captain by the rest of the team.”

Castoldi also plays wide receiver and defensive back on the St. John’s Prep football team and Yanchus said Castoldi is considering going into law enforcement and thought Northeastern would be a great fit.

In addition to locking up an infielder for their team next year, Northeastern has also successfully recruited the services of Carmain.

Carmain, a pitcher and conference all star last year, can also play first and third base. He bats cleanup in the St. John’s Prep lineup and hit .379 last season with a .455 on base percentage.

Last season, which was his second varsity season under Yanchus, Carmain had a record of 3-1 as the team’s number two starter and also got one save coming on in relief.

“He has a lot of potential as a pitcher,” Yanchus said of Carmain. “His fastball is usually in the upper 80s and he has a really good forkball, which he uses as his off speed pitch.”

In 36 innings pitched last season, Carmain had 34 strikeouts, proving he can get a batter out by himself if necessary.

Carmain was also elected as one of the team’s captains for the upcoming season.

“He is an example of a player who hustles on every single play and is a good leader,” Yanchus said. “For his size, he has really good agility and he is a good competitor.”

Standing at 6-feet-3-inches, Carmain also plays basketball for the Eagles. “He dives all over the floor in basketball and I have to tell him not to get hurt because we need our pitchers,” Yanchus said.