The Eagles baseball team is coming off an exciting 2012 season, where Emory won its 11th UAA Championship title and earned its first NCAA bid since the 2007 season. But after losing in back-to-back games at the NCAA tournament, the Eagles 2012 season came to am abrupt end.
The team will enter the 2013 season, motivated to return to where they left off at the NCAA tournament but with face this challenge without several of their impactful players from last year.
The Eagles will rely on a strong, veteran outfield and a promising group of younger players, as they get back in action and plan to build off the previous year's accomplishments.
The Eagles finished the 2012 season with a 26-14 record, which matched the team's best win total from the 2007 campaign.
But the Eagles will enter the 2013 season without three of the team's top pitcher Paul Schwendel ('12C). The team now has the difficult task of replacing him, as he plays in the minor leagues for the Texas Rangers.
In the 2012 season, the pitching staff recorded a 4.02 earned runs average (ERA) and limited their opponents to a .270 batting average while striking out 303 batters in the 360 innings pitched.
For the 2013 season, the team will look to a group of young, promising pitchers headed by sophomore right-handed pitcher Connor Dillman. Dillman, who is coming off an impressive freshman campaign, will lead the Eagles in the number one spot on the mound.
In 2012, Dillman went 8-1 with a 2.84 ERA, setting freshman records for most victories and strikeouts in a season. Dillman was also credited with South Region Rookie of the Year awards in his first year with the Eagles.
Sophomore left-handed pitcher Dylan Finer, who pitched in six games out of the bullpen last year, and freshman right-handed pitcher Tyler Sprague will round out the rest of the Eagles' starting rotation.
The Eagles' bullpen will be led by veteran junior right-handed pitcher Matt McMahon, who has a career 4.01 ERA and two saves in the 31 games he has appeared in for Emory. Other members of the Emory bullpen will consist of a combination of juniors, sophomores and freshmen.
The Eagles other main focus will be filling the voids in the infield caused by graduated seniors shortstop Kevin O'Connor ('12C) and first baseman Jay Page ('12B).
Transfer junior Jared Kahn is the most probable candidate to replace O'Connor at shortstop, as well as to head the batting order in the leadoff spot. Mark Lindemann, the team's only senior this season, will return to his position as second baseman for the second-straight year.
Freshmen Jack Karras and Dylan Eisner are also possibilities for the middle infield positions.
As for the corner infield positions, the Eagles have several options for which players will fill the vacancies at the first and third base positions. Junior Ryan Toscano and sophomore Warren Kember are possible candidates for first base.
Both players shared time playing at third base last year and could potentially start some games at first this season.
Other possible players that may be expected to fill the void at the corner infield positions are sophomore transfer Kyle Arbuckle, and sophomores Jordan Selbach and Chris Slivka. Other potential players for the infield rotation include the team's catchers – sophomore Chris Brown and juniors Josh Bokor and co-captain Jared Welch.
For the team to continue its success from last year, it will rely on a strong, veteran outfield.
The Eagles outfield will return four experienced players, who will rotate between outfield positions and designated hitter. Junior Brandon Hannon will start for his third season with the Eagles.
As the team's co-captain, Hannon sees that his role on the field will be the same, but expects that his responsibilities off the field are slightly different.
The Eagles are hoping that Hannon's production continues over from the past two years as Hannon is ranked third in program history with a career .499 on base percentage and sixth with a .376 batting average. Hannon finished his sophomore campaign with all-UAA first team and all-region second team honors.
Joining Hannon in the outfield is junior co-captain Daniel Iturrey, who finished 28th in Division III last season with a .509 on base percentage and earned all-UAA recognition as well.
In the 2012 season, Iturrey recorded a .339 batting average with two home runs and 33 runs batted in (RBI).
Sophomores Brett Lake and Wes Peacock will round out the remainder of the Eagles' outfield. The sophomores will look to build off their impressive rookie campaign.
During his first season with the team, Lake led the team with 55 hits and 25 stolen bases, while Peacock hit a team-best .379 (11-for-29) and went 7-for-7 in bases stolen over the team's final nine games of the season.
The Eagles will also rely on the strength of their catching unit to carry over the success from last season. Welch will start behind the plate for his third-straight season with the Eagles.
Welch had a dominant 2012 season, where he was selected to the all-UAA First Team and led the Eagles with 42 runs scored. Welch had a .320 batting average, recording 11 doubles and two home runs.
Welch will be backed up by junior catcher Josh Bokor and sophomore catcher Chris Brown.
Emory will be led by Head Coach Mike Twardoski, who will enter the season with 11 wins shorts of 400.
The Eagles will kick off their 2013 campaign with a home game against cross-town rival Oglethorpe University on Wednesday at 2 p.m. at Chappell Park.
– By Elizabeth Weinstein
