This Week in Baseball- Opening Weekend Edition

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So 49erAlumnus started this last year with a weekly baseball thread reviewing and previewing our weekly baseball news. I wanted to continue that this year and add a little season preview and a look at this weekend’s opponent, Coppin State.

LOOKING BACK

The 2010 season ended in disappointing fashion for the Charlotte 49ers. After winning the A-10 regular season title, the Niners (39-17 Overall, 20-7- A-10) were upset twice by Saint Louis in the A-10 Tournament to end a great season with a bitter taste in their mouth.

It is no surprise that the 49ers are again picked as favorites to win the A-10 by every major college baseball publication. Charlotte is ranked 44[sup]th[/sup] nationally by College Baseball Today in their pre-season poll, were receiving votes in the NCBWA Pre-Season Poll, and were ranked 23rd in College Baseball Daily’s Mid-Major Top 25. Despite losing their biggest run producers on offense in Zane Williams and Ryan Rivers, Charlotte returns all of their speed on the base paths. With the combination of losing the two best power hitters and the new “dead bats,” look for the Niners to use their speed to play a lot of ‘small ball’ this season. Pitching will be the strength for the 49ers as they return almost its entire pitching staff including all three weekend starters from last year. Let’s take a look at the 2011 Niners position by position.

Pitching- Pitching will be the strength of the 2011 49ers team. There are at least six weekend quality starters on the staff this season. The three weekend starters that return from last year are right handers Chad Rothlin, Corey Roberts, and left hander Tyler Pilkington. Roberts was named to the A-10’s All Rookie Team last season. These three young arms led the 49ers to an A-10 record of 20-7. Also returning are 2009 weekend starters, Andrew Smith and Joe Yermal. The two right handers missed most of the 2010 season due to injury. Other top returning pitchers who started at least one game last season but will likely come out of the bullpen in 2011 are right handers Wes Hatley, Sean Pope, Corbin Shive, and lefty Johnny Hamilton.

The Niners bullpen is anchored by pre-season All American Bryan Hamilton. The senior righty had a great season of summer ball and received many accolades, including being named to the Cal Ripken League All Star team as their closer. He has been named to multiple pre season All-American teams, was named to the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Watch List, and voted “Pitcher you least want to face” by A-10 coaches [font=times new roman]. [/font]Other returnees adding depth out of the pen include righty Brandon Delong and lefty Jordan Hudson.

Charlotte also added some great freshman arms to the staff. RHP Tyler Barnette was drafted in the 9th Round of the 2010 MLB draft by the Boston Red Sox, but chose Niner Nation over Red Sox Nation. Barnette will likely compete for a spot in the weekend rotation. LHP Micah Bryan was highly recruited and originally committed to ECU, but ended up choosing Charlotte over the Pirates. Other freshmen added to the Niners staff are right handers Brock Hudgens, Ryan Mas, and Dylan Taylor who used a red shirt last season.

Outfield- All three starting outfielders return this year for the 49ers. Junior Justin Wilson split time between right field and DH last season, but should see the most time in right this season. He was voted the best outfield arm by the A-10 coaches. The left handed hitting Wilson was named to the 1st Team All Conference last season while batting .358, scored 58 runs, and collecting 20 stolen bases. Locking down center field is senior right hander Cory Tilton, who batted .318, drove in 52 runs, scored 60 runs, and stole 27 bases. Rounding out the outfield, starting in left will be left handed junior Shane Brown. Brown batted .356 with 15 stolen bases and scored 58 runs.

Coming off the bench in the outfield are right handed Michael Green, switch hitting JJ Elseser, lefty Jordan McNeely, and lefty catcher Zach Passerelle.

(CONT)

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Infield - The Niners are very solid up the middle with sophomore shortstop Justin Roland and senior second baseman Corey Shaylor. Roland was named to the A-10’s All Rookie team after a solid freshman season batting .310 and scoring 50 runs. Shaylor is coming off an outstanding season leading the Niners with a .388 batting average and driving in 49 runs. The right handed hitting second baseman was named 1st Team All-Conference and has gathered plenty of pre-season accolades including being voted as one of the best pure hitters by the A-10 coaches.

Both Sophomore Shane Basen and Kevin Gillespie spent time at the hot corner last season but Basen looks to be the starter at third base in 2011. Gillespie, who had the most HR’s last season of all returning players will likely be a regular in the DH spot this season.

When Ryan Rivers decided to forego his senior season and sign with the Angels, he left a huge hole at first base for the Niners. The likely starter here in 2011 will be Miguel Rodriguez. The big righty will hopefully provide some pop in the lineup. Pitcher Corbin Shive can also see some time at first.

Senior right hander Ross Steedley will start behind the plate for the Niners. He split time with Zane Williams last season who signed with the Rays. Others who could see time behind the plate are freshman lefty Zach Passerelle, freshman righty Patrick Raley, and Miguel Rodriguez.

To round out the infield the Niners have added Juco sophomore lefty Tony Montalbano and freshman Justin Seager.

LOOKING AHEAD

Schedule:
Friday 4:00- SP’s: Andrew Smith vs RH Jim Vagnier
Saturday 12:00- SP’s: Tyler Barnette vs RH John Bergwall
Saturday 3:30- SP’s: Corey Roberts vs RH Andrew Kiessling
Sunday 12:00- SP’s: Chad Rothlin vs LH Zach Spahn

Projected lineup:

CF- Cory Tilton
LF- Shane Brown
2B- Corey Shaylor
DH- Kevin Gillespie
RF- Justin Wilson
1B- Miguel Rodriguez
3B- Shane Basen
C- Ross Steedley
SS- Justin Roland

The 49ers open the season this weekend taking on Coppin State for a 4 game series. The Eagles (14-33 overall and 7-11 in the MEAC) are coming off a season where they took a step forward by qualifying for the MEAC Tournament for the first time since 2006. In 2009 the Eagles did not win a game and improved to 14 wins last season. They have brought in a new coach hoping to continue the momentum from last season’s turnaround in Sherman Reed. Coppin State is predicted to finish last in the conference by the MEAC coaches despite almost everyone returning. They are also rated 293rd by College Baseball Today. The Eagles may surprise some people in the MEAC but look for a sweep by the 49ers this weekend.

The top returning players for Coppin State are:

OF Dwight Robinson
3B Dan Gleiberman
P Tim Pomierski
P/OF Jim Vagnier- voted most underrated pitcher by the MEAC coaches
3B/P Derek Richards
IF Craig Richmond
C/3B Alex Black
P/SS John Bergwall
IF/OF Will Butler

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Great write up, great thread. Thanks!

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That was a great write-up. Thanks for doing that.

5

Great write up and I look forward to much more through the season.

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Wow, you have to be seriously bad team to not win a single game in baseball for a whole season. Doubt Coppin St improved enough from 2009 to give us much trouble.

Good write-up. Seems like you put a lot of effort into it and I hope you got paid/ or just copy and pasted it and pretended that you wrote it. I hope, not saying you did.

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Baseball America projected NCAA World Series lineup:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/college/season-preview/2011/2611286.html

We’re the 4 seed in Charlottesville per them.

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I’m worried our conference is gonna hold us back again like last year…hopefully we can run thru the a-10 and have some decent non conference wins against mizzou and unc and try to get an at-large bid

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[quote=“49RFootballNow, post:7, topic:24969”]Baseball America projected NCAA World Series lineup:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/college/season-preview/2011/2611286.html

We’re the 4 seed in Charlottesville per them.[/quote]

Also projected as a 4 seed from ESPN and College Baseball Daily.

http://espn.go.com/ncaa/blog/_/name/ncaa_baseball/id/6127208/ucla-earns-top-seed-early-bracketology

[b] [/b] [b]Clemson Regional [/b] Clemson Baylor Western Carolina Charlotte

http://www.collegebaseballdaily.com/2011/02/16/2011-ncaa-baseball-regional-projections/

1. Clemson
  1. Auburn
  2. The Citadel
  3. Charlotte
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Conference USA was in danger of sending just one team to regionals last year before Southern Mississippi won the conference tournament to snag the automatic bid from favored Rice

What happened to CUSA baseball?

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[quote=“49r9r, post:10, topic:24969”]

Conference USA was in danger of sending just one team to regionals last year before Southern Mississippi won the conference tournament to snag the automatic bid from favored Rice

What happened to CUSA baseball?[/quote]

Not sure about the Conference, but I know ECU had a down year last season. They beat South Carolina in a weekend series early on and then seemed to fall off in conference.

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[quote=“Mr. Bojangles, post:11, topic:24969”][quote=“49r9r, post:10, topic:24969”]

Conference USA was in danger of sending just one team to regionals last year before Southern Mississippi won the conference tournament to snag the automatic bid from favored Rice

What happened to CUSA baseball?[/quote]

Not sure about the Conference, but I know ECU had a down year last season. They beat South Carolina in a weekend series early on and then seemed to fall off in conference.[/quote]

ECU got off to a decent start last year before one of their top players, the ss, was kicked off the team. The season went down hill from there.

By the way, this write up is way better than anything I did last season. Great job, Mr. Bo!

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[quote=“49erAlumnus, post:12, topic:24969”][quote=“Mr. Bojangles, post:11, topic:24969”][quote=“49r9r, post:10, topic:24969”]

Conference USA was in danger of sending just one team to regionals last year before Southern Mississippi won the conference tournament to snag the automatic bid from favored Rice

What happened to CUSA baseball?[/quote]

Not sure about the Conference, but I know ECU had a down year last season. They beat South Carolina in a weekend series early on and then seemed to fall off in conference.[/quote]

ECU got off to a decent start last year before one of their top players, the ss, was kicked off the team. The season went down hill from there.

By the way, this write up is way better than anything I did last season. Great job, Mr. Bo![/quote]

Sounds familiar.

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Did ya’ll know they were changing the bats this year?

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/sports/sport/2011/feb/17/tdsport01-new-bat-regulations-change-college-baseb-ar-849101/

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[quote=“VA49er, post:14, topic:24969”]Did ya’ll know they were changing the bats this year?

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/sports/sport/2011/feb/17/tdsport01-new-bat-regulations-change-college-baseb-ar-849101/[/quote]

Yes, and it will change the game drastically. That old familiar “ping” of contact is gone. It has been replaced by more of a “thud”. Even clean hits sound like the hitter has been jammed and hit the ball off the handle. HR’s will be way down as a result. If you hit home runs this year, it will be because you are capable, not because your pop fly happend to carry over the fence.

16

[quote=“49erAlumnus, post:15, topic:24969”][quote=“VA49er, post:14, topic:24969”]Did ya’ll know they were changing the bats this year?

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/sports/sport/2011/feb/17/tdsport01-new-bat-regulations-change-college-baseb-ar-849101/[/quote]

Yes, and it will change the game drastically. That old familiar “ping” of contact is gone. It has been replaced by more of a “thud”. Even clean hits sound like the hitter has been jammed and hit the ball off the handle. HR’s will be way down as a result. If you hit home runs this year, it will be because you are capable, not because your pop fly happend to carry over the fence.[/quote]

The article mentioned UVA and Va Tech’s coaches are against the switch. I wonder what Hibb’s view is? I wish they would go all wooden bats but I know the economics behind it all.

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[quote=“VA49er, post:16, topic:24969”][quote=“49erAlumnus, post:15, topic:24969”][quote=“VA49er, post:14, topic:24969”]Did ya’ll know they were changing the bats this year?

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/sports/sport/2011/feb/17/tdsport01-new-bat-regulations-change-college-baseb-ar-849101/[/quote]

Yes, and it will change the game drastically. That old familiar “ping” of contact is gone. It has been replaced by more of a “thud”. Even clean hits sound like the hitter has been jammed and hit the ball off the handle. HR’s will be way down as a result. If you hit home runs this year, it will be because you are capable, not because your pop fly happend to carry over the fence.[/quote]

The article mentioned UVA and Va Tech’s coaches are against the switch. I wonder what Hibb’s view is? I wish they would go all wooden bats but I know the economics behind it all.[/quote]

The bat change should be a good thing for us this season. An already formidable staff should be aided by their opponents having dead bats.

On offense, we were set to play small ball this season anyway. Now a lot of other teams will be doing the same.

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There will also be a pitch clock this year in college baseball.

http://t.co/2SRYqOl

The new rules require a pitch being thrown every 20 seconds when no one is on base. One of the base umpires at the championship will have a stopwatch to enforce the count.

Pitchers who do not comply initially receive a warning. Additional violations result in a ball being added to the count of the current batter. If the batter is at fault for the pitch not being thrown in 20 seconds, a warning will be given initially and additional violations will add a strike to the count.

Some schools in the SEC like Auburn have put up pitch clocks. I never thought I would see the day when we had clocks in baseball.

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[quote=“VA49er, post:16, topic:24969”][quote=“49erAlumnus, post:15, topic:24969”][quote=“VA49er, post:14, topic:24969”]Did ya’ll know they were changing the bats this year?

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/sports/sport/2011/feb/17/tdsport01-new-bat-regulations-change-college-baseb-ar-849101/[/quote]

Yes, and it will change the game drastically. That old familiar “ping” of contact is gone. It has been replaced by more of a “thud”. Even clean hits sound like the hitter has been jammed and hit the ball off the handle. HR’s will be way down as a result. If you hit home runs this year, it will be because you are capable, not because your pop fly happend to carry over the fence.[/quote]

The article mentioned UVA and Va Tech’s coaches are against the switch. I wonder what Hibb’s view is? I wish they would go all wooden bats but I know the economics behind it all.
[/quote]

Hibbs answers your questions here in his interview with News14 last night.

http://charlotte.news14.com/content/sports/636876/one-on-one–loren-hibbs–unc-charlotte-baseball-coach

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The new bats sound like hitting a rock with the old bat…