Navy/Vegas World Series Recap
10/24/2014 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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PITTSBURGH – This year’s annual Navy/Vegas World Series may have been won by Navy in a decisive third game, but players from both rosters made strides in the eyes of the coaching staff.
The World Series serves as an end to the Fall Ball schedule, which in 2014 featured an exhibition with the Ontario Blue Jays, pro day, and countless of intrasquad scrimmages leading up to the big series.
With 19 newcomers to the team, including nine transfers, expect the Pittsburgh Panthers to not only have an increased depth all around the field, but for some of the young guns to play a crucial role in the success in the team right away.
“Last weekend enabled me to really watch our team play,” said head coach Joe Jordano. “There is no question that the core principles that we have emphasized are being executed. It also is clear what we have to work on in the off-season. In this league (the ACC), it is imperative that each player is totally locked in on every pitch. One pitch, one play could be the difference in a game. I am confident that as a staff we are ready with a solid plan to make some serious strides in the off-season.”
Assistant coach Bryan Peters’ assessment from the fall season is that the “position players have a lot of work to do. We've shown steady improvement his fall, but lots of things change when consequences get stronger.”
Without giving too much information away, Peters touched on crafting individual adjustments and approaches specific to each player’s strength and weakness as things to work on in the offseason.
However, when talking about Pitt offensively, all conversations begin and end with senior Boo Vazquez. After a promising sophomore season, Vazquez’s stats dipped a bit in Pitt’s first season in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Entering his senior season, Vazquez is primed to take the next step.
“Boo is a whole different animal right now,” said Bryan Peters. “He's always been a gifted hitter and that's always been great for Pitt Baseball. But this year he's made another jump offensively. His work ethic is tireless.”
Peters praised Vazquez’s presence around the team and in the clubhouse as a moral boost. He said that more than ever, Vazquez is investing in both his teammates and team concepts. Vazquez led all players in nearly every offensive category in the three-game World Series. His .600 batting average (6-10), six hits, three doubles, four runs batted in and .900 slugging percentage were all tops among both teams. Vazquez also played solid in left field without an error in six chances.
Another senior Peters expects big this from in 2015 is first basemen Eric Hess. Peters called Hess a model student-athlete and a coach’s dream. His leadership and hard work ethic is something to be desired by any and all coaches.
Although his stats in the Fall Classic may not reflect how far he has come, Peters stated that Hess hit extremely well throughout the entire month and that he is making everyone around him a better player.
Hess did go 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs in the opener and snagged 19 outs at first base for a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage.
Of the newcomers, redshirt sophomore Jacob Wright and freshman Charles LeBlanc both stood out to Peters for their strong play.
“We are lucky to have both Jacob and Charles. Each brings their own dimension of high-level baseball, but they do it in different ways and with different approaches,” said Peters.
Wright is poised to take over one-of-two vacant outfield spots in 2015 left open by graduating seniors Casey Roche and Stephen Vranka. In three games, Wright batted .417 (5-12) with a double, three runs scored and two RBIs. He was a perfect 3-for-3 on stolen bases to lead all players.
Wright’s greatest attribute, according to Peters, is that he is a great athlete that has all the tools to become a great baseball player. Already, Wright possesses foot speed, bat speed and arm strength. But it’s his dedication that will allow him to be great at all three facets.
“He takes great pride in his craft. He cares about technique, he aims to be perfect and he practices with purpose.”
As for Leblanc, he got a late start to Fall Ball due to playing with the Canadian Junior National Team. But it didn’t take long for him to jump right into the swing of things.
“Charles is not a typical freshman. He's played so much international baseball at such a young age, he's battle tested,” said Peters. “He's used to playing meaningful games. He's used to the pressure. That's likely why he experienced success in our fall World Series.”
Leblanc finished second on Navy’s high-octane offense with a .429 batting average and tied for a series-high four RBIs.
Despite those hitters all having immense success during fall ball, there were a number of pitchers on both sides that were virtually unhittable. A total of five pitchers didn’t allow an earned run. They were senior Hobie Harris and Nick Parnell and freshmen Dan Furman, Sam Proctor and Zachary Gakeler. Furman, Harris and Gakeler all tossed at least three innings in relief with Furman the only one not to surrender a hit.
Over the past two seasons with assistant coach Jerry Oakes overseeing the development of Pitt’s pitchers, the Panthers have seen some of their best team earned run averages in program history, posting back-to-back sub 4.00 ERAs.
What impressed Oakes more than the scoreless pitching performances, however, was the competitive edge those hurlers had.
“It was very promising seeing those guys not giving up any runs,” said Oakes. “What I was happy about was they competed out there, and that is one thing we talk about every day - compete your tail off out there.”
Two returning players Oakes specifically called out were Harris and Furman. Oakes said that it was great to see Harris, who gave up one unearned run and three hits in 3.2 innings, throwing with a lot of energy and pitching with a chip on his shoulder. Furman may have had the most impressive pitching performance of the entire weekend, entering with the bases loaded and no outs while keeping the opposition off the scoreboard.
In addition to Harris and Furman’s outings, Oakes was also pleased with what freshman Isaac Mattson had to offer. Mattson also impressed out of the bullpen, going four innings with a series-high four strikeouts to pick up Vegas’ lone win. He gave up just one earned run during his stint.
Just like Peters, Oakes was extremely pleased with the strides the entire staff made throughout the fall, but still sees room for improvement between now and when the season officially begins.
“The strides we need to make from now until the spring is repeating our delivery and pounding the zone more consistently,” said Oakes. “As a whole we just need to keep getting better every week and get in the best shape we can get in to, to prepare for the season. Overall this staff can be really good if all the pieces come together.”
The Pitt baseball team will begin its second season in the ACC in February.