Scott Scheppy headed for Mercy College

By Mike Zummo
Posted 2/24/21

There will be two Goldbacks on the Mercy College baseball team as Newburgh Free Academy senior pitcher Scott Scheppy has verbally committed to play for the Mavericks starting in the spring 2022 …

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Scott Scheppy headed for Mercy College

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There will be two Goldbacks on the Mercy College baseball team as Newburgh Free Academy senior pitcher Scott Scheppy has verbally committed to play for the Mavericks starting in the spring 2022 season.
“It was in a good location, not too far away and I know I’m going to make an impact as a freshman,” Scheppy said. “That was my biggest concern when I was looking into schools.”
Scheppy considers himself a strike thrower with a fastball that reaches into the mid-80s. He also throws a slider, which he said is a very good pitch to him.
Newburgh baseball coach Scott Seabury said Scheppy is expected to be one of the Goldbacks’ top two pitchers in the spring, along with Jake Lanzer. Even though he’s primarily a fastball/slider pitcher, he’ll throw anything. Seabury described him as a “bulldog” that will take the ball whenever the coach gives it to him.
“I just have a lot of confidence in my pitching abilities and (Mercy has) a lot of senior pitchers this year,” Scheppy said. “There’s a lot of room for pitchers coming in, and I definitely think I can make an impact.”

He will join a team that is picked to finish in a tie for third in the East Coast Conference preseason poll.
The Mavericks were off to a 3-9 start last year when the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the year before they won 21 games and finished one game out of the East Coast Conference Tournament. He also led the team to back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time in program history.
The Mavericks are expected to graduate six senior pitchers, giving Scheppy his opportunity to make an immediate impact on the Mavericks.
“We talk about that with all the guys,” Seabury said. “You always want to look for the right mix. It’s a weight between playing time, what the academic major is going to be, and the fit of the school. There are a lot of weighing factors, but it’s definitely something we discuss.”
And he won’t be going alone, as a week before Scheppy’s announcement, his Newburgh teammate, shortstop Jaden Caballero announced he was attending Mercy. At that time, Scheppy hadn’t made his decision yet.
“That definitely had a strong impact on my decision,” Scheppy said. “We’ve been playing together our entire lives.”
It came as a surprise to their coach.
“I didn’t know he was talking to Mercy,” Seabury said. “I knew all the schools Jaden was talking to, but I didn’t know Scott was in the mix.”
Scheppy has been in the Mercy mix since June when he first started talking to Mavericks’ coaches. They would text every so often and since coaches couldn’t come see him play during the spring season because it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, coaches were sent video or watched him perform through a livestream.
He visited in September and even when he got the offer, he had to apply first before he got the official athletic and academic scholarships.
He was happy for Caballero when he signed and started thinking about what they could accomplish together collegiately.
“It’s going to make such a great difference,” Scheppy said. “Once you get into college and start practicing, I’ll know someone doing the exact same thing and starting at the exact same time. It’s great.”