Change is an issue for every collegiate team heading into a new season. Some players graduate, others transfer and typically a player or two is dealing with an injury and won’t be ready for the start of the season. Despite a returning coaching staff, Southeast’s baseball team might see even more change than it did a year ago, when coach Andy Sawyers took over the team.
Gone are all three starting outfielders Clayton Evans, Dan Holst and Chris Osbourne, who were also the top three hitters in the lineup for the majority of last season.
Gone are the top two starting pitchers, Justin Murphy and Clay Chandler, leaving only Nate Green, Chase Hagerty, Joey Burris and Ryan Losman as returning pitchers who started a game last season.
Gone are five of the six All-OVC honorees from last season’s 29-26 team.
Redshirt junior second baseman Trevor Ezell is the only starter remaining from the 2016 team that won the Ohio Valley Championship regular-season and tournament titles, and even he played in only seven games last season due to a back injury.
Sophomore Danny Wright, who filled in at second base for Ezell last season and earned All-American honors, will be changing positions this season, moving to center field.
With all of the changes, expectations remain the same for a program that had won the regular-season championship in the OVC three straight years before having that streak snapped last season when the Redhawks finished 16-14 in conference play.
__Outfield__
The Redhawks head into 2018 with a fluid situation in the outfield, having lost a combined 604 at-bats, 23 home runs and 154 runs scored from Holst, Osbourne and Evans, but with that uncertainty comes an element that Sawyers is excited about lineup flexibility.
“We have some options in the lineup. Last year we really felt like we had to have the same guys in the lineup that we had [all season],” Sawyers said. “We have some options, in terms of right-handed hitters and left-handed hitters. … It’s a little more balanced and a lot more fun to manage the group.”
Sawyers is looking to play matchups this season, using the depth and varying skill sets of his younger players.
Of the outfielders listed on the team’s roster, only redshirt sophomore Michael Berra returns from last year’s squad, as Wright is still listed as an infielder. Berra saw limited action last season, mostly contributing as a late-game defensive replacement or pinch-runner, but has impressed Sawyers with how much he has improved over the offseason. Along with Berra, the Redhawks have other options with new players such as sophomore Peyton Faulkner and juniors Chase Urhahn, Justin Dirden and Devon Wilson, and Sawyers will look to play matchups depending on the opposing pitcher.
“We literally could have a right-handed lineup and a left-handed lineup in the outfield,” Sawyers said.
While so much of the outfield seems uncertain, center field appears to belong to one of the team’s most consistent players from last season, in Wright.
Wright said he feels comfortable with the position change, having played some outfield prior to being at Southeast. After coming on strong for the Redhawks, largely in the sixth spot in the batting order, Wright will likely move up, possibly into one of the top two spots.
Wright feels confident about wherever he ends up hitting, especially after the success he had last season, hitting .376 with 22 multiple-hit games. With so much uncertainty in the outfield and at the top of the lineup, Wright could provide some stability.
__Infield__
While the outfield will look much different, the Redhawks’ infield will include some familiar faces. Senior Tristan Gagan returns at first base, and as a fixture in the middle of the lineup. Gagan was named a Third-Team Preseason All-American by Collegiate Baseball, and likely will serve as the clean-up hitter for the Redhawks in 2018.
While Gagan is the only senior position player on the Redhawks this season, he isn’t the longest tenured player on the Redhawks infield, with Ezell’s return from injury. The speedy second baseman was one of the Redhawks’ most productive players in his first two seasons, mostly as the leadoff hitter, a role he will likely take back this season. Sawyers didn’t get to use Ezell much in his first season as the team’s coach, something he is looking forward to doing this season.
“It’s pretty big [getting Ezell back], his team in the fall was losing in our fall competition, he came back healthy and they won the whole thing,” Sawyers said. “He’s a good player, a good leader, he’s a very steady influence. He’s not a guy that’s prone to peaks and valleys, he’s a very steady guy.”
One position in the infield that will be undergoing a change in 2018 is third base, following Kyle Bottger’s departure via transfer. Junior Alex Nielsen appears to be the team’s starter at the hot corner.
Sawyers has been impressed with Nielsen’s defense so far in practice, which would be an important upgrade after Bottger committed the fifth-most errors in the OVC last season, with 15.
“I want defense to be consistent all the way around the dirt, and we weren’t very good at third base defensively last year,” Sawyers said. “When Trevor went down, it really changed some things, but now Nielsen’s skilled, we’ve got (Connor) Basler, who started everyday as a true freshman (at shortstop), Trevor’s back in the mix, and Tristan Gagan is back who played every day, but Nielsen might be the best defender of the group. I feel very good about our infield defense.”
__Pitchers__
The Redhawks’ pitching staff returns several players, but some of them may see a change in duty.. Senior Carlos Vega stands out among the holdovers, as he led the team with six saves primarily serving as the team’s closer. Sawyers said Vega wants to try to stretch out as a starter. In order for him to find success, Sawyers wants to see Vega become more savvy with his pitching, rather than relying on his fastball.
“He pitches like a reliever, so he’s going to need to make some adjustments as to how he goes about it,” Sawyers said. “As a starter, you can’t just try to throw the next fastball harder, because you’re going to throw 100 of them. You have to pitch and command the ball. There’s gonna be times where you start with a breaking ball, and stuff relievers don’t do since they just come at you with their best stuff.”
Vega was the team’s most reliable arm out of the bullpen when he’s healthy, posting a 3.82 earned run average over 35.1 innings.
While he did have some elbow issues throughout the season, but Sawyers believes it was more about having to pitch multiple times in a weekend, rather than the amount of innings causing a problem.
Last season, the Redhawks turned a former closer into a starter and found much success, with Murphy emerging as the team’s ace midway through the season.
Joey Burris, a senior, is another candidate to earn one of the weekend starting roles. Burris was one of the Redhawks’ most trusted relievers last season during Vega’s absences, and was often used in high-leverage situations.
“Joey’s a guy who filled an important role for us out of the bullpen late last year, and he is dramatically better,” Sawyers said. “His pitches have gotten better, he’s throwing harder, he just has a better feel for what he’s trying to do as a pitcher. So he’s going to have a much bigger role. If we opened up the season this weekend, he’d probably start a game this weekend.”
Redshirt junior Adam Pennington, who could end up being a starter depending on health, is on track to return by mid-March, according to Sawyers.
“He’s throwing the ball really, really good. If he comes back and is healthy, he’s a guy that can start and relieve,” Sawyers said. “I said jokingly, ‘Trevor’s our All-American, but losing Pennington last season was probably the biggest loss last year,’ because Danny Wright did come in and played a pretty good second base. We didn’t have anyone to pick up those innings we lost out of Pennington.”
That was evidenced as the third spot in the weekend rotation was never solidified, as the departed Robert Beltran struggled early in the year before being replaced by now-seniors Green and Losman, who both could be given another chance to start this season.
The Redhawks pitching has been a strength for the team, finishing in the top four in the OVC in ERA each of the past four seasons.
While many new faces will play significant roles for the Redhawks, returning players adjusting to new roles will be equally important to the team’s success
Southeast begins play on Feb. 16, when it opens a weekend series on the road against the College of Charleston.
