Depth
and Experience Should Help Golden Grizzlies Roar in 2003
What a difference a year
makes. For the Oakland baseball team this phrase could hold a
lot more meaning than they think. After entering the 2002
campaign with little experience head coach Mark Avery believes he has
obtained the pieces to complete the puzzle for 2003. "Last
year we had no experience entering the season. Now with all of
our transfers and the experience we received last year, we have some
experience entering the season."
Avery believes additions like senior
transfer Chris Hilton (Amherstburg, Ont.) and junior college transfers
Ryan Good (Rochester Hills, Mich.) and Chris Way (Royal Oak, Mich.)
could help Oakland improve upon last season. "Hilton's
great hitting, coupled with his strong arm will make him a threat on
offense and defense." "Good and Way are both solid
righthanded pitchers." "Way is our hardest thrower by
far, but both will add to the pool of talent in the
bullpen." With the loss of five key players, particularly
captain and pitcher Jared Thomas and pitcher David Viane who Avery
lost to the draft along with Nick DiPonio, Erik Crossley and Chris
Kimball it will be important to get some experience under the
belts of these new additions.
Oakland gets the season under way with
its spring trip to North and South Carolina, starting at UNC-Ashville
on February 22nd. Avery feels a little more comfortable with the
spring trip this year compared to those in the past.
"Instead of playing the likes of Georgia Tech and Auburn as we
have done in the past, we are going to play Mid-level Division I
schools similar to ourselves." "This should be a very
good test for us early on."
Along with playing the likes of UNC-Ashville,
Davidson and Wofford to start the season, Oakland will face Central
Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Detroit, Dayton and Butler. They
will also face the likes of Big Ten teams Michigan and Ohio State and
will travel to South Bend, Ind. later in the season to tangle with the
Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. By playing with these teams, Avery
believes this will be a good way to track his team's improvement
throughout the year. "These are solid teams that are really
improving in the region, and if we want to keep up with them we have
to continue to improve as a program year in and year out."
"College baseball, with how the draft is changing and with the
lack of players getting drafted out of high school, the college game
is definitely improving and we have to improve to be able to compete
with these players and the teams that acquire them."
After finishing third in the Mid-Con
with a 9-8 record and being within a game of the Mid-Con Tournament
championship game, the Golden Grizzlies are ready to tear into their
Mid-Con schedule on April 19th against Western Illinois, and get
another chance to reach that championship game. "I think we
should be in the top three in the conference if everything falls into
place," said Avery. "It's tough to compete in the
Mid-Con, especially against Oral Roberts." "They are
one of the best teams in the country, let alone our conference, so if
you can get a win out of them in that four-game series you feel like
it was a success." "Hopefully we can be in the top
four teams and go back to the tournament and get a chance to at least
compete in the championship game."
Leading the team into the 2003 campaign
will be captains Peter Varon (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.), Kyle Boehm
(Grand Rapids, Mich.) and Tony Marulli (Sterling Heights,
Mich.). Varon, a first baseman, is a fifth-year senior and
all-conference player. He had a .303 batting average last season
with 13 home runs and 39 RBIs to go along with a team-best .596
slugging percentage based on appearance. "Varon put up
great numbers for us last season," said Avery. "He was
by far our most important hitter, putting us ahead or tying the game
for us with 11 of his 13 home runs." "He was that
go-to guy in the middle of the lineup we could always depend
on."
Boehm is a second-year captain who
finished last season with a 3.79 ERA as a righthanded pitcher.
He had 32 strikeouts in 23 appearances, recording five saves as a
freshman. "Entering last year Kyle had probably the best
freshman pitching performances we've had here at Oakland since going
Division I," said Avery. "He went out there and
was always in our tough situations." "He was our
closer/stopper in the bullpen and we always used him when the game was
on the line."
Marulli, hit .276 last season with 18
RBIs. He had 21 stolen bases as a junior. "Tony is a
two-year starter for us who has great experience and is someone we
expect a lot of great things out of this year," commented
Avery.
In the outfield Avery will use a five
player rotation, two left handed hitters in Jeff Hall (Perrysburg,
Ohio) and Spencer Hynes (Clarkston, Mich.) and three right handed
hitters in Will Tollison (Toledo, Ohio), Josh Patton (Troy, Mich.) and
Brad Leach (Shelby Twp., Mich.). Avery is very impressed with
this group and is very confident in their ability. "This is
by far the best quality group of outfielders I have had since I have
been here."
Peter Varon will play a majority of the
time at first base for the Golden Grizzlies and will bat fourth in the
lineup. Coach Avery will use a three to four player rotation up
the middle. Jerry Dufour (Windsor, Ont.) and Ryan Freiburger
(St. Clair Shores, Mich.) will share time at second base and John
Sullivan (Saginaw, Mich.), Bryan Marulli (Sterlin Heights, Mich.) and
Freiburger will split time at shortstop. Ty Herriott (Ostrander,
Ohio) and Sullivan will occupy the third base spot. This
rotation will provide Oakland with some experience in the infield for
the first time since Avery has been here. Behind the plate Tony
Marulli (Sterling Heights, Mich.) and Chris Hilton (Amherstburg, Ont.)
will split time, with Marulli getting the majority. This will
give Oakland greater experience at the catcher position, being able to
start a senior and redshirt junior rather than a freshman or sophomore
which has been the case in the past.
Despite the loss of Thomas and Viane to
the draft, who had approximately 100 innings and a sub five ERA
between them, Avery is confident his new arrivals will mix in well
with the returning players to add some depth on the mound.
"With the depth that we have, I think this will be the first time
we can go into conference weekends with a full arsenal of pitchers at
our disposal."
The starting rotation will include
senior B.J. Brown (Niles, Mich.), juniors Dominic Carmosino
(Cincinnati, Ohio) and Brad Morenko (Marysville, Mich.), and junior
college transfer Chris Way (Royal Oak, Mich.). Freshmen Billy
Schmieder (Chillicothe, Ohio), Paul Phillips (Blissfield, Mich.) will
be the weekday starters for the Golden Grizzlies.
In the bullpen for Oakland will be
stoppers Tim Edick (Northville, Mich.) and Kyle Boehm (Grand Rapids,
Mich.). Steve Kniebbe (Bridgeport, Mich.), Ryan Good (Rochester
Hills, Mich.), Tim Stenger (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Nate Weller (Grand
Haven, Mich.) will round out the great depth of talent ready to throw
for coach Avery. "This will be, by far, the most talent
that we've had since I've been here and we have a tremendous amount of
arm strength." "Every guy in our staff is going to be
throwing 87 mph or harder this year and we will probably have nine or
10 guys touch 90 mph throughout the year, which is a big difference in
what our pitchers have thrown in the past." Oakland's top
relief pitcher coming into 2003 will be Gordon Hosbein (St. Joseph's,
Mich.). Hosbein struggled in 2002 with shoulder problems but
first-year pitching coach Mike Villano has seen some major improvement
in the off-season. "Hosbein has really improved in the time
that I have been here," stated Villano. "He is a very
aggressive pitcher who is going to throw a lot of strikes for us this
season and force hitters to put the ball into play. Relief
pitchers win games and we expect Hosbein to have a major impact on our
success this season."
What a difference a year makes.
The experience and depth Oakland will have this year should take the
Golden Grizzlies as far as they want to go, but Avery knows it will be
up to the pitching staff to lead them there. "I think our
team will go with our pitching staff, if we can continue to keep our
team in the ballgame by keeping the scores down we should have a great
season." "If you don't throw the ball well you just
aren't going to win at this level." "The same holds
true for us, but I think the depth we have will really make a
difference."
The optimism Avery has toward his
pitching staff is due mostly to pitching coach Mike Villano, who
begins his first season as an assistant coach for the Golden
Grizzlies. "Villano has done a phenomenal job with our
pitching staff." "He has done a great job simplifying
pitching for our guys and I think his experience has really helped
them out. Ben DiPonio and Chris Newell both return to the
Oakland coaching staff for their second year. "Ben did a
great job shoring up our defense on the infield and Chris has done a
great job with our hitters." "Chris is also working
with the outfielders and infielders this year."
Will a year make the difference for
Oakland as they prepare for their 2003 campaign? Coach Avery and
his team hope to answer that question with a resounding
"YES."
|
