The Emory baseball team is drawing a lot of attention coming into the 2017 season. Ranked No. 4 out of all Division III teams, the Eagles lofty expectations.
Emory departed early from the NCAA Division III College World Series last season, suffering a loss at the hands of the State University of New York at Cortland. Their journey to the series last year was their third consecutive appearance.
Despite the expectations, Head Coach Mike Twardoski wants to focus on one game at a time.
“The goal is always not to look forward too much,” Twardoski said. “There are so many people telling me we can’t wait to see you again in the College World Series next year, but we’ve got to take it one game at a time and one practice at a time.”
Senior catcher Chris Young believes the team is in great position to live up to their potential.
“We are a lot stronger and better conditioned than we have been,” Young said. “We are all on the same page knowing how talented we are and how successful we have the potential to be.”
Luckily Twardoski is bringing back core members of Emory’s squad from the 2016 season. In total, Twardoski has nine seniors and six juniors. He expects his seniors to step up and be the leaders of the team.
In particular, Twardoski believes that his team’s leadership begins with the seniors on the pitching staff. Among the members of the pitching rotation, he said seniors Luke Emmett, Jackson Weeg and Kyle Monk will be key members of the team. The three combine for an impressive 38 wins, 23 of which belong to Weeg. Weeg also has a career ERA of 2.34.
Weeg’s illustrious career has earned him a plethora of honors. Notably, he was named to D3baseball.com’s 2016 preseason all-America first team and earned 2016 All-University Athletic Association first team honors. His prior success will certainly make him one of the most-feared pitching match-ups across the country entering the 2017 campaign.
When focusing on his batters, Twardoski admits there have been some key departures, but his freshmen are displaying talent.
“We lost some outfield players and Dylan Eisner, a very good second baseman,” Twardoski said. “We needed to stabilize some the kids that we’ve lost, but saying that we have some young talent; some freshmen came in and look very good.”
With the loss of star second baseman Dylan Eisner, Twardoski hopes to see senior Jeff Ronpirin step up to the starting role. Another batter that Twardoski noted was designated hitter senior Brian Hernandez. Hernandez has a career .363 batting average, with 61 runs batted in and four home runs.
In the infield and behind the plate, Twardoski raved about seniors third baseman Philip Maldari and catcher Young. Maldari and Young have career batting averages of .335 and .232 respectively. If Maldari’s prior batting statistics are any indication, he is due for another fantastic season in 2017. Although Young’s batting statistics are not as impressive, his prowess behind the plate and streaks of strong play should expand into this season.
Young believes the team’s offense is poised to be highly effective in the upcoming games.
“I think our offense should be a big step up from last year,” Young said. “We have more power, more speed and more confidence.”
Most of all, Twardoski is impressed with the hard work his team puts in on a daily basis. He believes the Eagles’ preparation has their team poised to do well.
The Eagles will begin their season at home against Sewanee: The University of the South (Tenn.) Saturday, Feb. 11.
