Greg Montalbano has been elected to the Northeastern University Hall of Fame for excellence in the sport of baseball.
Montalbano, Class of '00, fought a battle with cancer his freshman year and went on to become one of the greatest pitchers in NU history.
After an outstanding career at St. John's of Shrewsbury, Mass., where he earned All-Conference honors and the 1995 State Tournament MVP Award. He became one of Coach Neil McPhee's "Blue Chip" recruits for the 1996 season. But, after being diagnosed with testicular cancer, Montalbano spent his first year at NU undergoing two major surgeries and six weeks of chemotherapy.
He bounced back for his redshirt season and, with a 4-2 record plus four saves, led NU to the America East Championship and the NCAA Tournament. In the conference championship game versus Vermont, he entered in relief in the seventh inning with the bases loaded and no outs and struck out the side, then went on to strike out seven of the last 10 batters. In the NCAA Tournament in a series against Bethune-Cookman, he pitched the final 2-1/3 innings and allowed no hits and struck out five of seven batters to send the Huskies on the NCAA Regionals. He finished the year with a 2.56 ERA and 51 strikeouts. He was voted All-New England and District I All-Star.
His sophomore year he again had to fight off cancer but did make seven appearances for a 3-2 record and an ERA of 2.38 plus 34 strikeouts in 35 innings. The 1999 season found Montalbano healthy and he made the most of it with an 8-2 record, a 2.09 ERA and 71 strikeouts in 64 innings. He threw three two-hitters, one one-hitter and one no-hitter. He was named America East Pitcher of the Year, All-America East, All-New England and All-America.
The big left-hander's senior year season was slightly marred by a sore arm and was limited to seven appearances. However, it was more than expected. He enjoyed a 4-1 year with a 2.61 ERA and 61 strikeouts in 48 innings. Again he was All-America East, All-New England, District I All-Star team and Louisville Slugger All-America.
He finished his career as NU's strikeout king, with 217, and third all-time in ERA at 2.55. His record was 19-7, which is good for third on the win list. The ECAC's Award of Valor and the New England Hero Award from Northeastern's Center for the Study of Sport in Society recognized Montalbano's struggle with adversity.
In the summer of 2000, as a fifth round draft choice, Montalbano joined the Red Sox organization. In the fall of 2005, he returned to Northeastern to finish his degree in Civil Engineering.
