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Season Preview: Mix of Veteran Pitchers and Strong Sluggers Lead Baseball

| By: Cory Walker, Senior Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio -- "This coronavirus might cause our season schedule to change."  

Those were the words uttered by assistant coach Pat Tatom around a kitchen table last Florida when the coaching staff was discussing the 2020 OAC season while at the annual spring break trip to play eight games in Florida. Little did anyone know, less than 72 hours after landing back in Cleveland, an email from John Carroll president Michael Johnson would be sent out, sending all students home for what became the whole semester, soon after the spring sports season ended.

Before the 2020 season prematurely ended, first year head coach Bobby Bell led his team to a 7-4 record, including two wins against top 25 nationally ranked opponents. There was something different about last year's team and John Carroll's previous teams of recent memory. The team won games with pitching and timely hitting instead of a top five nationally ranked offense.

This new method is determined by both the coach's mindset and the players' skillsets. Bell was a relief pitcher at the University of Pittsburgh. Assistant coaches Chet Lauer and Michael Burke also have extensive knowledge about getting success from the mound. After graduating from John Carroll in 2014, Lauer played three years worth of professional baseball overseas in France, Austria, and Australia as a catcher, calling pitches for some of the world's best pitchers.  Burke spent a handful of seasons in the Baltimore Orioles minor leagues as a pitcher.

"We have a good group of guys this year and they have good chemistry," said Lauer.  "We have bonded together and the older players have embraced the young men and are showing them the ropes."

The second being the player's skill set, a big reason the offense didn't put up close to 10 runs a game in Florida was because of two names not in the lineup. Patrick Keohane and Dom Mittiga. If you scroll through the record book of John Carroll baseball, their names will pop up often.  Between both of them, you will find at least one of their names in the record book for career runs, hits, batting average, RBIs, homers, total bases, walks, and OBP. The Blue Streak offense is still among the best in the OAC, but it took a couple steps back from the 2019 team.

Fortunately, the defense and the pitching majorly improved from two or three years ago. Junior Mitch Midea will headline a deep and talented pitching staff this season. Midea currently ranks third in program history in ERA with a 2.56 career ERA. The right hander has proven even without his best stuff he can still compete against great lineups, and the team will look for him to eat up innings with the current schedule of four games over two weekend days.

Senior Andrew Steele missed all of 2020 with an injury and looks to get back to his dominant 2019 form. Steele, who emerged as a dominant reliever during his freshman year, setting the single season save record, looks to continue as a bonafide All-OAC starting pitcher. Steele also owns the program's best ERA with his 2.24 career ERA.

Another senior that developed late in his career was Nicholas Michel. Michel came out of the bullpen his freshman and sophomore season and started to find his groove at the end of his second year. All the offseason work that Michel put in between his sophomore and junior year showed early last season. Michel was given his first start down in Florida and, despite losing the game, pitched extremely well against Muhlenberg College by allowing only three hits in five innings of work.

The final senior starter to follow this year will be John Merrill. John has had success as a starter and reliever in his career, but perhaps his best game was sophomore season as a starter in Florida. Merrill went pitch for pitch against All-American Mason Miller from Waynesburg. Merrill got a no-decision for the game after Waynesburg scored two runs in the last inning against the bullpen to win the game.

Other starters to look out for this season are going to be junior Jon Ambro and sophomores Henry Darrow and Matthew Aukerman.  Ambro made one start last year and got the win after allowing just one run against Waynesburg. Aukerman and Darrow both had their freshman season cut short, but showed that they can impact the game in a big way with their arms.

John Carroll will not just rely on their starters, they have the ability to shorten games with their bullpen.

Duncan Cappar was a key contributor out of the pen last year.  After being a starter his first year and a half, he has settled into the role as a late inning stopper.  Cappar might still start a few games, but he is at his best when coming out of the bullpen in high pressure situations at the end of the game.

Other senior relievers to watch out for will be Erich Payne, Jack Lubor, and Kasey Anzlec.  Payne will serve more as a long reliever. In the past, he has come into games in the 4th, 5th, or 6th innings and ate up multiple innings while keeping the score close.  Anzlec will be the feature lefty out of the pen for the Blue Streaks, and will be looked upon to silence other left handed batters. The last of the senior slingers is Jack Lubor. Lubor throws submarine and provides the variety out of the pen any team needs to make a deep run into the NCAA championship.

Bell will have a deep selection of players who are entering their fist or second official season including; Joe Smith, Garrett Siegel, Samuel Basso, Jack Bennett, CJ Lent, Luke Chlystek, Jayden Faraguna, Brandon Ferdinando, John Gavric, Riley Pavlik, Maxwell Shumaker, and Sylvan Wiley.

Transitioning to the offensive side of the team, the Blue Streaks are led by senior spark plug and lead-off hitter Sam Heaton. Entering his third season as a mainstay in the starting lineup, Heaton was off to a hot start last year, hitting .317 and scoring 10 runs, all while getting on base at a .440 clip. It will be interesting to see where else Heaton improves as he looks to continue his dominance at the plate during his senior campaign.

The infield also returns juniors Justin Hanley and Jack Bennet. Hanley enters his third season as a starter at first base. Hanley is a powerful middle of the lineup bat who has a knack for driving in runs with runners on base. Bennet, who splits his time as a pitcher, drove in 6 runs last season in 4 games started and looks to make his presence felt again this season.

In the outfield, the Blue Streaks return a plethora of talent. Senior Michael Anderson, who has started 44 of 51 career games, brings the most experience with him into the season. Anderson started 6 games last season, batting .333 on 21 at-bats. Fellow senior Christian Cassaro brings 30 games of starting experience with him into this season. He embodies Charlie Hustle with the way he plays. Cassaro also has some pop in his bat along with all that hustle, including a clutch late inning home run against King's College last year in Florida.

Elsewhere in the outfield, juniors Matthew Springer, Benjamin Surman, and Henry Haracz look to play a factor for the Blue Streaks. Springer, in his seven starts, provided a .360 OBP to go along with 4 RBI's and a .476 SLG%. For his career, Springer is a fine defender as he owns a .983 fielding percentage, only making one career error in 31 games played. As for Surman, he lit it up when given the opportunity to play. In three games started, Surman drove in 3 runs, scored 4 runs himself, and reached base at a .400 clip. Haracz, who also pitches, played 8 games in the outfield last season, providing 7 hits and driving in 5 runs.  Haracz got his chance to play as a two way player last year and slugged his way into the clean-up spot in the line-up.

More players to look out for who didn't get much of a chance to display their offensive promise last year are; Danny Murphy, Luke Galioto, Matt Cassaro, Victor Glaser, Grant Gideon, CJ Lent, Tyler Cyrus, Anthony Bonavita, Mo Thiel, Trey Smith, Jared Orwell, Brady Fields, Bennett Cavaretta, and Nate Blach.

"We expect everyone to contribute this year," said Bell, "Whether it being seniors leading the freshmen, or people coming up with timely hits, in order for this team to make it as far as they can go, we need everyone to perform this season."

There are also some freshmen who look for their chance to shine in the Blue and Gold; Brandon Albright, Jackson Birt, Luke Chlystek, Jacob Connery, Erik Daugenti, Chase Diosy, Matthew Filippelli, Tyler Gast, Collin Kennedy, Logan LaMere, Connor Mayle, Mason McCurdy, Spencer McDonell, Joey Mongelluzzi, Joseph Olsavsky, and Ryan Szczepinski.

Bell also noted that "we are glad to get back on the field. The guys worked so hard last season to prepare only to have it stripped away.  They have continued that hard work this season and are more than ready to step on the diamond."

The Blue Streaks open the season against Baldwin Wallace in a 4-game, non-OAC pair of twinbills. First pitch on Saturday is 11:45 am, with JCU playing as the home team at BW in the season opener. 
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