The Shepherd University baseball team began preparing for the upcoming season back in August and the beginning of the spring 2014 campaign has finally arrived. The Rams will head down to Aiken, S.C. for the Prestige Appliance Classic on Feb. 7 where they will look to avenge their outing last year when the team went 0–3. The Rams and head coach Matt Mcarty will look to improve on a 28–20 season last year where they also went 21–10 in conference play.
Head coach McCarty will serve his first season as permanent head coach as last year he was the interim replacement for departed coach Wayne Riser. McCarty took over and, after a slow start, led the Rams to a winning record and built a lot of promise for the future.
The Rams lost a couple key players from last year’s team. Behind the plate, the lineup lost 50 runs batted in from catcher Chad Murphy, and on the mound, the Rams lost Pitcher Josh McCauley who was a 21st-round selection of the Chicago Cubs.
However, the Rams returned key players as well as adding some solid young talent. The Rams returned four players who received all region honors last season such as senior outfielders Ryan Messina and Michael Lott as well as senior pitcher Paul Hvozdovic and sophomore pitcher Ryan Pansch.
Important bats returned for Shepherd as well. Michael Lott received Regional Golden Glove accolades and All-American Honors after batting .406 last season and hitting 19 doubles. Messina led the team in batting average, home runs and RBIs, hitting .444 with 14 home runs and 55 runs batted in.
The Rams also returned key parts of the pitching staff. Hvozdovic led the team in wins, innings pitched and strikeouts, striking out 85 batters last season. Hvozdovic also received Regional Golden Glove accolades. Sophomore pitcher Pansch, the team’s leader in earned run averages, returned as well. Pansch struck out 64 batters in 54 innings pitched.
The team has been working extremely hard and every time you go by Fairfax Field, you’ll see players out there working on getting better, and the team has brought in enough new talent to really believe they can compete for a championship this season; they expect nothing less. “I think with all the new talent we’ve added to the roster and the time and effort the team has put in during the fall season, we expect nothing less than winning the first conference championship in the Mountain East Conference,” said outfielder Dylan Garten. This marks the first year Shepherd athletics are competing in the newly-formed Mountain East.
The Rams baseball program is definitely expecting big things for the upcoming season and anything less than a conference championship will be a disappointment. That’s a credit to the young coaching staff setting a standard and their ability to solidify stability amongst the program. The positives of having a stable coaching staff in place are already showing up in recruiting as shepherd recently received five signees for 2015.
The expectations for the upcoming season are also a credit to the hard work and determination of the student athletes. The team has bought in and worked to the level they need to expect nothing else but a conference championship. After the team’s trip to Aiken, S.C., the Rams return home to open up at Fairfax Field on Feb. 15 against Pitt-Johnstown. Be sure to make it out to Fairfax Field and support the Rams at some point this season.
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