With its home opener this Friday at Segnette Field against Tougaloo, the Loyola baseball team has a revamped roster and high expectations for the upcoming season.
Sporting shirts that say, “The Road to Idaho begins at Alario,” this year’s team has a goal to make it to the NAIA World Series in Idaho and has worked hard all fall to achieve that goal.
“With the addition of a sold recruiting class and junior college transfers, we truly feel that our dreams to make it to Idaho are within our reach,” political science senior Gil Meier said.
Coach Gregg Mucerino worked hard recruiting, as the new roster includes 11 freshmen and several transfer students, giving the baseball team depth at every position.
“I definitely have high expectations of this young group of players,” Mucerino said. “They definitely came here to play.”
Mucerino has made it clear that many of the freshman will see some, if not a lot, of playing time throughout the season. He emphasized, though, that, “our strong point is definitely the outfield with three returning players and plenty of depth.”
Three new starting pitchers have transferred to the team: communications junior David Musch, from Kansas State University, physics junior Bryan McCaulley and marketing junior Justin Harris, who came from junior colleges. All three bring in college experience that the pitching staff was lacking.
A blow for the team occurred when all-conference center fielder Ryan Moity, communications senior, twisted his knee in the fall. Mucerino said that Moity is at full speed but it will be something to watch out for throughout the season.
On the left side of the infield, general business sophomore Justin Perrone and communications junior Kevin Kalina have solidified the shortstop and third base positions, Mucerino said.
At second and first base, two players will be splitting time to start the season: communications freshman Andy Rodriguez and general business senior David Sudyka will split second base while economics/business sophomore David Lauricella and finance freshman Marc Jaynes will share time at first base.
“We’ve got a lot of depth,” Mucerino said. “We have high expectations for Jaynes. Rodriguez has really been impressive in the fall. We have three catchers, and Jerry Campos [a general studies freshman] has really worked hard in the fall and will definitely get some playing time.”
Commnications junior Hudson Miller and business senior Brad Rodrigue are the other two catchers that will play behind the plate.
Mucerino said that in addition to the three transfer starting pitchers, political science freshman James Blakeman and communications sophomore Brian Sullivan have added depth to the staff.
“Blakeman will see a lot of playing time out of the bullpen. A huge help to the pitching was the adjustment made by Sullivan from catcher to pitcher,” said Mucerino.
Communications freshman Hilton Pittman will be the designated hitter for most of the season.
The team is full of young potential that Mucerino hopes will take Loyola baseball to another level. They will get a chance to prove themselves with the first game tonight at 6 p.m. against Tougaloo at Segnette Field.
