SWR's Luppens is a marked man

There is a bruise board in Shoreham. His name is Jimmy Luppens.

The Wildcats slugger has been hit by the pitch a school record 11 times this season. And get this - he's been drilled 11 times in only 12 games.

The Canisius College-bound Luppens, who led Shoreham-Wading River with five home runs in 14 games as a junior last year, has also drawn 12 walks, including two intentionally, for the first-place Wildcats.

"I stand relatively close to the plate," said Luppens, who laughed at the notion that teams are throwing inside purposely. "There is no inside with me. I like to be able to reach the outside pitch and drive it with power the other way. And anything inside I like to get my hips through and turn on the pitch."

And with that philosophy, Luppens, who fears no pitcher, is paying with the price of pain. He's finding that some pitchers are trying to regain control of the inside part of the plate. Rocky Point's junior righthander Brine Gill hit Luppens in a tough 3-2 loss Thursday and left the mound a bit frustrated.

"When Brine came off the mound he said, 'Coach, how do I establish the inside part of the plate when he leans out and over the area'," said Rocky Point coach Andy Aschettino. "When the ball left my hand I thought it was a strike on the inside corner. It was a quality pitch."

The pitch nailed Luppens on his left leg - the 11th HBP of the season.

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"He's a tough kid and he's not giving an inch on the inside pitch," said Shoreham-Wading River coach Sal Mignano, who earned his 500th career win in 34 years, earlier last week. "I've never seen a guy get hit so much. He takes the pitch the right way and is willing to get hit if they come too far inside. We have a record book and I never included the hit by pitch category. I have to include it now. Maybe five or six times, is the most I can remember any player being hit."

Luppens manages to deal with the pain and his toughness has resulted in a .604 on base percentage. He is hitting .387 with three doubles and a home run. He also had a team-leading 21 runs scored for the 10-2 Wildcats. His contributions extend to the mound where he has a 1.83 ERA with 23 strikeouts in 23 innings and a 3-0 record.

The hitters behind him in the Wildcats lineup are also benefiting from his ability to get on base.

"Our next three hitters have combined for 46 RBIs," said Mignano, whose Wildcats have clinched a playoff berth for the 25th consecutive year. "They love that he's always on base."

Matt Kneisel, the junior cleanup hitter, has 12 RBIs, sophomore Jon Criscitto has 16 and eighth-grader Nick Bottari leads with 18 RBIs.

The Sayville pitchers hit Luppens three times in one game of a series that saw Shoreham-Wading River take two of three games. Said Sayville coach Ryan Cox, "He erases the box and gets on top of the plate. We're not afraid to go inside and get on the hitters hands and he's been clipped a few times. I've never seen anyone get hit that many times."

The modern era (post-1900) major-league record for HBPs is held by Long Island native Craig Biggio, who was plunked 285 times in 20 seasons with the Houston Astros (two shy of Hughie Jennings' all-time record).

"Luppens has quick hands and he gets up there and challenges pitchers and we hit him twice," Aschettino said. "We just came in too far."

Seems like a pattern.