Media Day: https://spark.adobe.com/page/RBxOFjLh0MOSv/

D1Baseball.com Preview: https://csnbbs.com/thread-869579.html

The Seahawks open up their season on Friday, February 15th by hosting St. Joseph's and VMI for the weekend. Each of the 3 teams will get 4 games out of the weekend slate, starting with a noon game between VMI and St. Joe's.

Here's a look at our two upcoming opponents:


Saint Joseph's Hawks
2018 Record: 21-27
A-10 Record: 7-15 (10th)
2018 RPI: # 227
A-10 Preseason Coaches Poll: 10th (of 13 teams)
D1Baseball.com Prediction: 9th

The Hawks had only one hitter who batted over .300 last season. Luckily, he returns in 2019. Senior 1B/OF Charlie Concannon led the team in batting (.317), RBI (29), OBP (.393), and Slugging (.483). The 2016 Louisville Slugger Freshman All-America will hope to build his draft stock in his final year of eligibility.

Junior Catcher James McConnon will also be counted on in the middle of SJU's lineup, coming off a season where he hit .288 8 XBH and 16 RBI. Junior Outfielder Kadar Namey led the team in HR (6) and was 2nd in RBI (26), but only batted .195 with a .257 OBP. Speedster Matt Maul (14 SB) is gone, leaving the Hawks with precious few threats on the basepaths.

The Hawks will need to replace their top 2 weekend starters, as Tim Brennan (9-3, 2.94 ERA) and Justin Aungst (2-9, 3.57 ERA) are both gone after getting the ball a combined 25 times for starts over the season. The likeliest Friday option will be sophomore Matt Kennedy. The big 6-8, 243 lbs right hander made 9 starts last season as the primary Sunday option, and posted a solid 34:14 K/BB ratio. Expect his ERA to drop from 5.24 as he learns to avoid the long ball (5 HR allowed) and hit batsmen (10).

Top reliever Ryan Devine will slot in the most-used bullpen option and closer, after making a team-high 19 appearances last season. The sophomore righty had the team's best ERA (2.63), striking out 19 over 27.1 innings and converting a pair of saves. With Steve Powles (3 saves) gone, Devine will get even more work in 2019.



VMI Keydets
2018 Record: 26-27
SoCon Record: 12-12 (4th)
2018 RPI: # 169
SoCon Preseason Coaches Poll: 9th (last)
D1Baseball.com Prediction: 8th

After a pretty successful run through the Southern Conference regular season, VMI went 2 and out in the SoCOn tournament, and is now projected to take several steps back in 2019. The biggest reason for that is the team lost 7 of their top 9 hitters from the past season. Matt Pita (.389, 14 HR, 48 RBI), Matt Dunlevy (.339, 9 HR, 37 RBI), Will Malbon (.307, 8 HR, 39 RBI), Peyton Maddox (.304, 7 HR, 38 RBI), and Nathan Eaton (.287, 8 HR, 24 RBI) are all gone, and that group of 5 sluggers accounted for 69 % of the team's HR's. Eaton (36 SB), Pita (23 SB) and Dunlevy (12 SB) were also dangerous on the basepaths for the Keydets.

The Keydets will look to pick up the pieces in '19, led by senior first baseman Jake Huggins, who hit .280 with 4 HR and 31 RBI in 2018. Huggins was the only Keydet to receive any preseason SoCon honors, picked to finish on the 2nd Team All-Conference. Meanwhile, sophomore second baseman Callen Nuccio didn't make his first appearance of the season until April, but did well in his 20 starts to finish the season. Nuccio hit .313 with 8 RBI, and helps solidify the right side of the infield for 2019.

There were also heavy losses on the mound this offseason, as 3 of the team's top 4 starting pitchers are gone as well. The expected Friday starter will be the lone returner of that quartet, junior righty Zak Kent. Kent went 5-5 with a 5.88 ERA in his 14 starts, though he did sport an impressive K/BB ratio of 81:35. The other slots in the weekend/midweek rotation appear to be up for grabs.

VMI also lost their closer, Matthew Eagle, who produced 7 saves in '18. Two-way performer Eaton picked up the other 2 saves for the 2018 Keydets. That leaves two returning right-handers to pick up the slack out of the bullpen. Redshirt junior Corey Johnston went 3-0 with a 5.45 ERA in 23 appearances, while junior Derek Tremblay made 24 appearances, posting a 2-2 record and a 5.86 ERA. The 2 pitchers combined for over 60 innings of work in 2018.