Baseball Player Magazine

The Minnesota Twins took Lanigan in the third round that June. The past two springs, talent evaluators continued to make their way to Garden City, where the “other” righty developed into one of the program’s finest pitchers in history as well. Couch’s three-year run with the Panthers was just how he’d have drawn it up from when he committed out of Elmont High, and now he begins his path toward the big leagues.  

“Everything finally came true,” he said. “Every little boy dreams of this stuff. It’s a great feeling.”  

For Couch, Adelphi has always been home. He earned All-County and Second Team All-Long Island honors as a senior at Elmont, and pitching down the street and under coach Dom Scala was the ideal scenario.  

“It’s one of the schools I was looking at right away, and after meeting Coach Scala, I knew it was a perfect fit,” he said. “He was a big influence. It was an easy transition.”  

Couch fit right into the rotation behind Lanigan, and the two had the same objective; to play at the next level. They paired up in workouts between starts and during the off-season, helping to build what is now a projectable 6’ 3”, 210 lbs frame.“He was a workhorse,”  

Couch said of Lanigan. “We put in a lot of time during the off-season. What you do during the winter pays off during the spring.”  

It sure did this past spring. Couch struck out 83 over 76.1 innings, both team bests, and posted a record of 5-2. His 2.24 ERA was the best among starters for Adelphi and he held the opposition to a .229 batting average. His production earned him a spot on the NCBWA All-East Second Team for the second straight year, as well as the Daktronics All-East Region Second Team.  

There were points during the season, many points in fact, that Couch looked dominant. He struck out 11 over seven innings in a victory over Dowling. He also fanned nine in a two-hit shutout of Assumption. He said that much of his strategy has been pitching each hitter differently, whether he’s crowding the plate or farther away with hopes of avoiding getting jammed inside.  

Couch has been able to keep opposing attacks off-balance by throwing four pitches effectively: an 88-91 mph fastball that touches 93 mph, an above-average curveball and change-up, and then a wicked slider, which he calls his out pitch. He’s gotten plenty of

opponents out with it.  

Adelphi hasn’t had a rich draft history: Lanigan was the first to get selected since Dom Gatti in 1993. Joe Sambito, a Bethpage grad, is the only Panther to ever make the majors. Adelphi’s dynamic duo, Lanigan and now Couch, is determined to add to that total.  

“It’s what everyone wants to do when they grow up,” Couch said. “There’s nothing else really that I’ve ever wanted to do than play baseball.”