Fall Baseball Rolls Along
10/9/2014 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
PITTSBURGH - Two weeks have passed since the Pitt baseball team officially opened the 2014 fall ball schedule with an exhibition against the Ontario Blue Jays. Since then, Pro Day and weekend intrasquad games are helping prepare the Panthers for the Navy-Vegas World Series, which is only nine days away.
"Right now, we are teaching a lot about our team concepts. There are 35 different ways of playing the game, within their (the players') minds, that we are trying to channel into one. That takes time but we are seeing results most definitely which is encouraging," said head coach Joe Jordano.
"The next two weeks we are going to continue to push that level. We are raising expectations, we are anticipating that our players will respond to that challenge and continue to execute at a high level. That will give us some momentum going into our individual work and the strength phase of our conditioning program after the fall segment is complete. Overall, I think there needs to be a higher level of execution, but I believe we have a lot of the pieces in places to make that happen. We are pushing hard every day in all aspects and I expect to see the results continue to improve moving forward."
With more than half of the team made up of freshman and transfers - 20 of 37 players currently on the roster were not at Pitt last year - a collection of players from both groups are already beginning to emerge during the fall practices.
Offensively, "Boo (Vazquez) has been Boo," said assistant coach Bryan Peters. Last year, Vazquez led the team with six homers and 39 runs batted in. During the opening intrasquad weekend, he homered off a lefty, which was encouraging for the coaching staff to see.
Seniors Eric Hess and Matt Johnson, and sophomore Caleb Parry are three other returning position players that Peters specifically called out for their performance on the field so far. When it comes to Hess, Peters spoke of his improved approach and body type that has helped him transition to a better player. Hess also homered on the first intrasquad weekend. While Parry has been considered a "quiet assassin," batting over .500 to start, Johnson has been the vocal leader for the infield.
Three newcomers that have come on strong in the field are redshirt sophomore Jacob Wright, junior transfer Alex Kowalczyk and freshman Jawan McAllister.
"In terms of being the toughest out, Jacob Wright is wreaking havoc so far," said Peters. He added that McAllister is continuing to be a tougher out each at-bat and is improving defensively, and that Kowalczyk has also come a long way.
The pitching staff, in need of replacing four guys who took their talents to the pro level two more that graduated, will lean heavily on the incoming class this year. Currently there are 18 pitchers on the squad that may be called upon during the season, with 11 of them either first-year transfers or freshmen.
Pitching coach Jerry Oakes pointed to transfers Garrett Wrambel and Aaron Sandefur as two players that have made an impact on the mound so far.
The coaching staff is still figuring out how the rotation will be shaped in terms of who will start, relieve or close, but according to Oakes, they know a lot of the experience will come from the new transfers to eat up innings.
Overall, the team performed admirably for its first intrasquad weekend, but Jordano knows that it is still early and there is plenty of time to get better.
Said Jordano: "Taking everything into consideration, I would say it (the weekend) was adequate. We have a very high expectation, so when I say that to some, that might be pretty good. But to us, there is definite room for improvement."