With the 2015 baseball season just days away, the Spartan baseball team has its sights set on returning to the MEAC championship game and avenging the loss that would have capped off a magical run.
After a season that started off with the Spartans losing 12 of their first 15 games, the team managed to muster a surprising rally in the tail end of the season and were red hot heading into the MEAC tournament. NSU played their way to the championship game of the tournament where they fell to Bethune-Cookman at Marty L. Miller Field.
“We’ve added some pieces to our pitching staff that we feel will allow us to get past that hump and perform even better in the MEAC tournament,” said head coach Claudell Clark. “We’ve been to the championship game a number of years and have had some very good runs.”
According to coach Clark, the team has not only used the near championship as motivation during preseason practice, but they’ve also infused the practices with tactics that he hopes will drive each and every player to compete at the highest level and accept nothing less than the number one spot.
“We’ve been using a lot of keywords and themes to get them to want to be that number-one team and practice with a championship effort every single day. We want them to want to be the best at every single drill,” said Clark. “ [We’re also] having them work harder in terms of weight lifting, conditioning and within a practice so they will feel like they’ve earned the right to be there and wouldn’t want their season to end when they get to that point again.”
The strength of this 2015 team, which was picked to finish second in the MEAC North Division, lies once again with the pitching staff. With the return of two key starters—Devin Hemmerich, who led the team with a 2.49 earned-run-average (ERA) and a 5-3 record as a starter and Matt Outman, who was second on the team with a 2.96 ERA and had the team’s best record as a starter at 8-2—the Spartans at the very least look to have two aces at the top of their rotation. Both pitchers are preseason All-MEAC selections.
“They will certainly make for a very consistent pitching staff. We feel like those guys will give us a great start to the game and give us a great chance to win the game late in the innings if we do have a lead,” said Clark. “We have also added Alex Mauricio and Robbie Hiser who throw very well and have some good off-speed pitches and can help us close out some games.”
Offensively, the Spartans may be fighting an uphill battle once again. In 2014, NSU was outhit by its opponents 459 to 421 and had an overall batting average of .271, while their opponent’s batting average finished at .292. The Spartans will also be dealing with the losses of Cody Ellis, Ross Cardwell and Cameron Day, who were the Spartans’ top three hitters and the only ones to hit with an average of .320 or better. They will also be without senior second baseman Killian Strenn, who was declared academically ineligible for this semester. Strenn struggled at the plate last season, but led the Spartans in 2013 with a .417 batting average.
“We’re looking for Justin Lee to step up to the .300 level or to at least be a consistent hitter. You don’t always have to be a .300 hitter to have an impact,” said Clark. “We’re also looking for guys like Andre Moore and Ian Horne—which is a guy you didn’t hear much about last season but had a great fall—to step up. We’re looking for a guy like Kyle Vaas, who has a very promising swing and hit some balls hard for us last year, to help fill the void as well. We have a number of players who are not freshmen or totally unknowns; these are guys who are in striking distance and played a part last year. We are just looking for them to take that next step.”
The coaching staff’s main focal point heading into the season opener is to identify roles on the mound as quickly as possible. Clark knows the pitching rotation will be a vital part of the team’s success or lack there of. He would also like to better utilize the athleticism of this roster on the offensive end.
“We have a lot of team speed and we want to run as much as possible. We want to steal even more bases than last year,” said Clark. “Andre Moore and Justin Lee nearly stole 30 bases each and that really helped the team to advance bases and get guys in scoring position.”
Both Lee and Moore were the other two Spartans named to the preseason All-MEAC team.
The Spartans will open the 2015 season on Feb. 14 when they travel to Durham, North Carolina to take on North Carolina Central University. They will play their first home game on Feb. 21 at 1 p.m. against Navy at Marty L. Miller Field.
KEY NEW COMERS
Alex Mauricio
Mauricio is a freshman infielder/right-handed pitcher from Midlothian, Virginia who is expected to contribute in his first season as a Spartan at second base, short stop and as a pitcher.
Robbie Hiser
Hiser, a junior transfer student from Yorktown, Virginia, is expected to play primarily third base. He may also see some time as a reliever in the back of the pitching rotation. Clark has not ruled out the possibility of Hiser occasionally starting on the mound down the road as well.
Lane Ward
Ward is a freshman pitcher from King George, Virginia who has impressed coaches early on with his abilities on the mound. He may be a pitcher who is eventually inserted into the starting rotation.
Michael Parmentier
Parmentier is another freshman pitcher that the Spartan coaching staff seems excited about. The Suffolk, Virginia native has shown the ability to close out some games if need-be.
Ismael Herrera
Herrera, a freshman catcher, is one of only two catchers on the current roster. This Stratford, Connecticut native could eventually play a huge role if injuries were to plague senior catcher Omar Hotusing.
KEY NUMBERS
.970: The fielding percentage goal set by the coaching staff. Last season the Spartans ended with a fielding percentage of .958, which was an improvement from the year prior.
63: The number of stolen bases for the Spartans last season. Coach Clark would love to see that number increase tremendously as the Spartans gave up more stolen bases to opponents last season than they had themselves.
.272: The combined ERA of Devin Hemmerich and Matt Outman last season in 18 games started. The next lowest ERA was registered by Jeff Di Fulgo who had an ERA of .450.
5: The number of two-way players who had a batting average of .300 or better last season. The Spartans will look for more balance throughout the lineup this season.
Spartan Echo 