Your Source For All Things Charlotte 49ers Baseball

Here’s a look at how our teams of interest are doing this season. It is probably still too early to worry about RPI but we’ve posted it anyway:

To get you ready for opening weekend here is an abbreviated version of Niner Nuggets. We’ll have more for you after the weekend.

Take a look at where all of the 49ers 2022 opponents will be playing this weekend listed in order of the schedule. Other than Tampa, there are a few games worth paying attention to. Rice is traveling to #1 Texas this weekend. Future 49er opponents squaring off this weekend are App St at Campbell, Western Illinois at WKU, and West Virginia & Coastal Carolina in the Baseball at the Beach event in Myrtle Beach.

After having the entire 2020 MiLB season cancelled due to Covid it was refreshing to have MiLB baseball back in 2021, even if it was delayed and came with some uncertainty. We were personally excited to get out to the minor league parks once again and happy to have some #ProNiners to cover for the first time since the 2019 Arizona Fall League.

2021 provided many highlights from a 49ers perspective and was an exciting season to cover. Things were certainly different as Covid caused minor league teams to go with 6 game weekly series’ throughout the season and many teams only played half of the opponents in their league due to travel limitations. One of the most exciting points this season was when the 49ers had two guys up at the Triple-A level at the same time. We also added two more #ProNiners to the mix from the 2021 Charlotte squad.

Zach Jarrett continued his upward progress through the Orioles organization in 2021. After being drafted in the 28th Round out of Charlotte in 2017, Zach has steadily climbed the ladder towards Baltimore one step at a time. In 2019, Jarrett was up and down between High- A Frederick and Double-A Bowie. He earned spots on both the mid and post season Carolina League All Star teams in 2019 and was primed for a good season at Double-A Bowie in 2020 before the season was cancelled.

After Spring Training this season, Jarrett was assigned to Double-A Bowie where he batted .302 over 11 games before getting called up to Triple-A Norfolk. Zach was called up on May 19 and made his Triple-A debut on May 21 by going 2 for 3 with a Double. He remained in Norfolk for the remainder of the 2021 season where he ended up batting .231 for the season with 10 HR, 40 RBI, 46 Runs, and 12 SBs in 102 Games. Despite fewer games on the schedule this season, Zach had career highs in stolen bases (12) and Walks (44) while playing mostly CF for Norfolk. Zach did not commit an error and had five Outfield Assists in 2021. He was frequently shown making highlight catches like this one during the season. Jarrett’s 10 home runs were 1 off his total from the 2019 season and 4 off his career high in 2018. We were fortunate enough to see one of the ten in person here in Charlotte.

All things considered, Zach had a pretty good year in 2021 and he’s just one step on the ladder away from playing in the big leagues. We are looking forward to seeing what happens in 2022.

Josh Maciejewski has worn many different hats in his pro career since being drafted by the Yankees in the 10th Round of the 2018 Draft. After being drafted from Charlotte, Josh eased in to his pro career, starting out in the Gulf Coast League and eventually finishing the 2018 season with the Staten Island Yankees. 2019 was a whirlwind season for Josh as he pitched for four different Yankees affiliates during the season. He pitched for Staten Island, Tampa, Charleston, and Scranton-Wilkes-Barre. Maciejewski pitched well in Charleston, earning Sally League Pitcher of the Week honors . He was called up to Triple-A twice during the season and ended up in High-A Tampa to finish the year. With all his travels, and his performance on the mound, Maciejewski was named an Organizational All-Star with the Yankees following the 2019 season.

In 2021, the Yankees moved their High-A affiliate from Tampa to Hudson Valley, and that is where Josh started the season. Maciejewski pitched well in Hudson Valley and was called up to Triple-A Scranton for 3 weeks starting at the end of July. He made four Triple-A starts for SWB with his best coming on August 17 vs Worchester where he allowed only 2 Hits and 0 Runs in 5 IP.

Overall, Josh topped his career highs for Games (22), Starts (17), IP (101.1), and Ks (105) in 2021. He had a 9-4 record and a 4.10 ERA at the High-A level and earned High-A East Pitcher of the Week awards in July and September. It was a good season on the mound for Maciejewski including a good showing at the Triple-A level when given the opportunity. He has now pitched at every level in the Yankees organization except for Double-A and the Major Leagues. Let’s hope we can check some more boxes off in 2022.

Reece Hampton was working his way up the Tigers organization after being drafted in the 12th Round in 2018 and was playing in High-A Lakeland at the end of the 2019 season. He hit .270 with 12 SBs in his first full professional season.

Hampton started off the 2021 season in Spring Training camp with the Detroit Tigers organization but was released in late April. He quickly signed a contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks in early May and was assigned to their High-A affiliate, the Hillsboro Hops. Over 44 Games with the Hops, Reece set career highs in SBs (16) & HR (4) before being released in August. Shortly after that, Hampton signed a free agent deal with the Gastonia Honey Hunters of the Atlantic League.

Reece took the Atlantic League by storm, putting up video game numbers in his first two weeks with Gastonia. Over 46 games with Gastonia, Hampton hit .350 with 10 HR, scored 39 Runs, and drove in 27. He also stole 10 bases for the Honey Hunters in their final stretch of games. It was an up and down 2021 season for Reece, but he finished it very strong and we look forward to see what is ahead in 2022.

Colton Laws has been battling through shoulder issues for much of his professional career. Laws was drafted in the 7th Round of the 2017 MLB Draft by the Toronto Blue Jays and went on to pitch sparingly for the Bluefield Blue Jays and the Vancouver Canadians to close out the summer of 2017. He started the 2018 season with the Lansing Lugnuts in the Low-A Midwest League. He made 10 starts in Lansing before he started to have shoulder problems. He ultimately needed to have offseason surgery. Laws missed the 2019 season recovering from surgery and was ready to go to start the 2020 season. Unfortunately there was no 2020 season, and Laws was forced to wait another year to get back on the mound.

After another setback, Laws started the 2021 season working down in the Blue Jays Spring Training Complex in Dunedin. He was officially assigned to the Vancouver Canadians and on the injured list for most of the season. Eventually he took the mound in a rehab assignment for the Florida Complex League Blue Jays in July, where he pitched 1 scoreless inning. He would pitch in a total of 6 rehab assignments between the Complex League and the Dunedin Blue Jays, pitching 6 innings, striking out 5 and allowing only 1 Run.

Colton has worked hard to get back to this point and we hope his injuries are behind him. We are looking forward to seeing a healthy and successful 2022 season from Colton Laws.

The 49ers program added two more #ProNiners to the ranks during this summer’s MLB Draft. Bryce McGowan and Aaron McKeithan both heard their name called this summer and decided to sign and begin their professional careers.

Aaron McKeithan was drafted by the St Louis Cardinals in the 16th Round of the 2021 MLB Draft. After signing, he worked out in the Cardinals’ Florida Complex and then was assigned to the Palm Beach Cardinals roster in Low-A. McKeithan got a little taste of pro ball, playing in 22 games in the final months of the season, batting .154. He also threw out 4 runners attempting to steal and only allowed 1 passed ball from behind the plate. We are looking forward to following Aaron as he starts his climb through the Cardinals organization.

Bryce McGowan was drafted in the 18th Round of the MLB Draft by the Colorado Rockies. McGowan signed and was eventually assigned to the Arizona Complex League Rockies. He made 4 appearances and pitched 1 inning in each allowing only 1 hit and striking out 4. After the season ended, the Rockies invited McGowan to participate in the Fall Instructional team in Arizona where made a few more 1 inning stints. Pitchers and catchers will be reporting before you know it and we are looking forward to seeing where Bryce will be playing in 2022.

TJ Nichting started off the 2021 season in Spring Training with the Orioles. Unfortunately he was released by the Orioles after the spring and did not come north with the organization. TJ was drafted by the Orioles in the 9th Round in 2017, and had advanced up to AA Bowie where he spent the entire 2019 season. He also was selected to play in the prestigious Arizona Fall League following the 2019 season. Over three seasons in the Orioles organization, Nichting batted .267 with 66 Doubles, 14 HR, 121 RBI and 25 SB.

49er Brett Netzer also was in Florida this spring for Spring Training with the Red Sox. He did not play in 2021 and is listed on the Restricted List by the Red Sox organization. In three minor league seasons Netzer has played up to Double A Portland and batted .263 with 10 HR and 127 over his career.

Harris Yett retired from baseball prior to the 2021 season. Yett was drafted by the Orioles in 2019. He spent most of the 2019 season in the Gulf Coast League, and went up to Aberdeen and Delmarva late in the season. After the 2020 season was canceled, Yett retired from baseball.

In case you haven’t heard, the Charlotte 49ers are heading to the American Athletic Conference.  This is certainly exciting news for Niner Nation. Chancellor Sharon Gaber called this a ‘transformative milestone” for the University. We certainly feel the same. There will be added TV revenue, TV exposure, an in-state rivalry, and a chance to rekindle some of the heated battles we had with several of our original C-USA brethren. The exact date of the move has not been officially determined yet, but we can assume it will happen within the next two seasons.

So what does all this look like from a baseball perspective? The new look AAC will feature 14 schools but only 10 of the 14 play baseball. For whatever reasons, Temple, North Texas, SMU, nor Tulsa have baseball programs. Temple played baseball in the A-10 with Charlotte but stopped playing baseball in 2014. Navy is a football only member and plays their baseball in the Patriot League.

The ten team league will consist of ECU, Tulane, USF, Wichita State and Memphis with the newcomers of Charlotte, FAU, Rice, UTSA, and UAB.  That is a pretty solid baseball league. Three of the teams played in the NCAA Tournament last season, and seven of the teams were in the top 100 in RPI at the end of the year.

Charlotte baseball has a long history with all of these programs through the various conference shuffling over the years. That is one of the main reasons that we feel like this conference is a good fit for us, the history with like-minded institutions. The programs in the conference have been very successful on the diamond, combining for 29 Super Regional appearances, 15 trips to Omaha, and two National Titles.

The AAC Baseball Tournament had all 8 league teams participate in a double elimination tournament similar to the 8-team format that C-USA uses. The Tournament has been held at the Spring Training home of the Philadelphia Phillies, BayCare Ballpark in Clearwater, FL since the league formed in 2014. We assume only the top 8 will make the tourney each season. Nothing against, Ruston, Biloxi, or Hattiesburg, but Clearwater sounds like a fun road trip. We assume all teams will play each other every regular season for 27 conference games over 9 weekends.

Let’s take a look at the baseball programs that will make up the future AAC:

We’ll start with the new in-state conference rival, East Carolina. The Niners have gotten a good look at the Pirates over the past two seasons, playing them in a series at the Hayes last year, and then travelling east for a series last season. Charlotte also went head to head with the Pirates in a winners bracket game in the Greenville Regional last season. They are a program with six Super Regional appearances and play in a very nice facility, Clark-Leclair Stadium. Most recently, the Pirates have won the AAC in 2019 & 2021.  ECU has a significant investment in baseball and their baseball facilities will be among the top in the league. Fans of both programs will certainly look forward to having drivable road weekends every other year.

The history between the 49ers and the Pirates goes back to the very 1^st season of 49ers baseball in 1979. The two teams have played 38 times over the years and the Pirates have a decided advantage. ECU and Charlotte have shared a conference twice over their history. ECU joined C-USA in baseball for the 2002 season and played the 49ers for 4 seasons. The two schools once again shared C-USA when Charlotte re-joined in 2014. ECU then left C-USA for the AAC in 2015.

Tulane has a very strong baseball tradition with over 120 years of history. The Green Wave have been to three Super Regionals and have made two trips to the College World Series over the past 20 seasons. Their most recent trip to the NCAA Tournament was in 2016.

Tulane plays in a 5000 seat ballpark on-campus, Turchin Stadium. The stadium is a pro style park and is referred to as “the crown jewel of Tulane University’s athletic facilities.” Tulane has certainly invested in baseball and their facilities appear to be near the top of the league. Being located in New Orleans gives 49er fans an exciting option for a weekend road trip.

Tulane and Charlotte have shared a conference for 15 seasons over the years.  Charlotte joined the Metro Conference in 1992 and the two played each other for three seasons there before becoming charter members of Conference USA. The Niners played the Green Wave for ten seasons to 2005, and then one season when Charlotte returned in 2014. Tulane then left for the AAC. Tulane won 4 conference titles in the time that the two shared conferences and the 49ers have faced Tulane 10 times in conference tournament games.

Wichita State has a great baseball program and was considered one of the elite baseball programs in the country throughout the 80s and 90s. Over that time they went to Omaha six times and won the National Championship in 1989. The Shockers have been to the NCAA Tournament 27 times with their most recent trip being in 2013. The Shockers joined the AAC in baseball for the 2018 season after spending nearly 70 years in the Missouri Valley Conference.

Wichita State plays their home games on campus at Eck Stadium (Wichita, Kansas). Eck Stadium has a capacity listed at 8153, making it the largest on campus facility in the AAC. The investment in baseball is strong at WSU and they have consistently been upgrading their facilities to compete with the best in the league.

Charlotte has only played Wichita State once in program history, but the two programs are certainly connected. Long time 49ers Head Coach Loren Hibbs came to Charlotte in 1993 after playing and coaching for the Shockers for 10 seasons. Hibbs led the 49ers program for 27 seasons, winning 819 games and making five NCAA Regionals.  He retired as the 49ers Head Coach in 2019 to return to Wichita State as Assistant Athletics Director for Baseball Operations and Player Development.

South Florida is another baseball program that Charlotte has a long history with dating back to season 1 in 1979. The 49ers played the Bulls in their 1^st ever post-season game, the 1979 Sun Belt Tournament. Both schools were charter members of the Sun Belt Conference and shared the same conference in baseball from 1979 to 2005. They both left the Sun Belt for the Metro Conference in 1991, and then were charter members of Conference USA in 1995. USF left for the Big East (now the AAC) after 2005.

USF is the defending AAC Tournament Champions, earning their 14th NCAA Tournament bid last season. The Golden Bulls also won the Gainesville Regional last season to earn their first trip to the Super Regionals in program history.  They play their home games on campus in Tampa, Florida at USF Baseball Stadium that opened in 2011.

Memphis and Charlotte were charter members of Conference USA and they both played there from 1995 through 2005. The Tigers have played baseball for 108 years and have made the NCAA Tournament 6 times, with the most recent trip being in 2007. Memphis has an on campus, 2000 seat stadium, FedEx Park that will be undergoing some renovations in the near future. There has not been much recent success in Memphis, but with recent donations to the program, it appears that the investment in baseball is there.

Rice and Charlotte share a short history after Charlotte re-joined C-USA in 2013. Both programs will be leaving C-USA for the AAC.

The Owls have a great baseball history with 7 trips to the College World Series and 11 Super Regionals under their belt. They also won the 2003 National Championship under legendary coach Wayne Graham. Since Charlotte re-joined C-USA, Rice has struggled by their standards and have had 3 Head Coaches over that time period. Most recently, Rice hired former player Jose Cruz Jr to lead the program after the 2021 season.  Rice plays their home games on campus at 7,000 seat Reckling Park in Houston, Texas. Their facilities rank among the top in Conference USA.

Another successful program joining Charlotte in the move to the AAC is FAU. The only history the two programs have is their shared time in the most recent incarnation of Conference USA. The Owls have been very successful in recent history with 14 NCAA Tournament appearances. They have won 2 Conference USA Regular Season titles in the past 5 seasons most recently in 2019, when they last advanced to the Regionals.  FAU plays in a 2000 seat on-campus stadium in Boca Raton, Florida, FAU Baseball Stadium. Their facilities would rank in the bottom half of Conference USA but they have been successful nonetheless with long time coach John McCormack.

The AAC will be the third conference that both UAB and Charlotte have shared over the years.  The history between the two programs goes back to the first season of Charlotte baseball, when the 2 teams played in 1979. The 49ers won their first Tournament game in program history, beating UAB in the 1981 Sun Belt Tournament. The two shared a conference in the Sun Belt until 1992, then both were charter members of Conference USA in 1995.  UAB has been in C-USA since the founding of the conference.

UAB has two NCAA Tournament Appearances in their program history, the most recent being in 2012.  The Blazers have two home fields that they can host games. Young Memorial Field is a 1000 seat ballpark on campus where the Blazers play some home games. Other home games are played at 8500 seat Regions Field, Home of the Double-A Birmingham Barons. It appears the Blazers will continue to use two homes and there are plans for a baseball/softball clubhouse to be built on campus in the near future.

UTSA was one of the teams that joined C-USA when Charlotte re-joined the league in 2013.  The two have shared a league ever since.  The Roadrunners previously played in the Southland Conference and the Western Athletic Conference before joining C-USA.  They have 3 NCAA Tournament appearances with the most recent being in 2013 as a member of the WAC.

The Roadrunners play in an on campus, 800 seat field, Roadrunner Field. The facilities would rank in the lower half of C-USA. San Antonio will be the longest conference road trip that the 49ers will make and they will likely make the trip every other year.

Finally, we take a look in the mirror.  What does Charlotte bring to the AAC?  The 49ers are coming off a historic season, winning the Conference USA Regular Season and playing in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 10 years. The Niners spent several weeks in the Top 25 and were one of 20 finalists to host a Regional in 2021. The 2021 regional trip was the 6^th for the 49ers program.

The conference affiliation history for the Niners started in 1979 in the Sun Belt. The Niners then joined the Metro Conference in 1992, where they won the Tourney in 1993, and the Regular Season titles in 1994 & 1995. Charlotte spent 10 seasons in the original Conference USA FROM 1996 TO 2005 before leaving for the Atlantic 10. In the A-10 the Niners won three A-10 Tournaments and five Regular Season titles in 8 seasons. Charlotte returned to Conference USA for the 2014 season.

The Niners call Hayes Stadium home on campus, with a capacity of 3000. While most of the 49ers home games are a played on campus, since 2015 Charlotte has played at least one game a year Uptown at the 10,000 seat Truist Park, home of the Triple A Charlotte Knights. Charlotte also had the honor of hosting the first baseball game at the new Single-A home of the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers in 2021. The park holds roughly 5000 and is 25 minutes from campus.

Upgrades are in the works for Hayes Stadium with the intentions of hosting regionals in the near future. A few recent enhancements to the facilities include a new indoor practice facility that opened in 2018 and the 49ers were one of the first ballparks in C-USA to install Trackman at their stadium in 2021.

It certainly is an exciting time in Niner Nation and everyone is looking forward to the move. In the meantime, we have a few more seasons in C-USA left, so we might as well win a few more trophies. #9ATC  

School is back in session, the Niners are back on the field for fall workouts, and that means that the summer is officially over. What a summer it was for several 49ers competing in collegiate summer leagues across the country! 49er players combined for 6 All-League players, 2 batting titles, and 1 Championship this summer!

To recap the summer, we will start off by taking a look at the Niners that were representing up in the Cape Cod League. Charlotte had four players that represented the #9ATC on the Cape at various times throughout the summer, which is the most we’ve had in recent memory. Catcher Aaron McKeithan started out the summer playing with the Harwich Mariners before getting drafted and signing with the St. Louis Cardinals. McKeithan had a dinger in his eight games for Harwich before getting drafted.

LHP Spencer Giesting teamed with McKeithan to form what we will guess is the first 49er battery to play together in the Cape. Giesting made three starts and three relief appearances this summer for the Mariners, with his best outing being a 4.2 inning relief appearance vs Falmouth. He came in in the 3rd inning and held Falmouth scoreless, striking out 6 to pick up the Win.

Outfielder Jake Cunningham played four games for the Hyannis Harbor Hawks, before a hand injury cut his summer short. He had four hits in four games, including a double to start the summer.

Incoming 49er RHP Anthony Casciola made the trip up to the Cape late in the summer and made two relief appearances for Hyannis. He pitched 2.2 innings and ended his Cape season with a 0.00 ERA and did not allow a hit. Prior to the Cape, Casciola had a successful summer down in Florida pitching in the Collegiate League of The Palm Beaches for the Palm Beach Snow Birds. He was named CLPB All League and participated in the All Star game after posting a 0.61 ERA in 10 appearances. Great summer for the transfer from Bucknell, travelling up and down the east coast.

It was a big summer for several 49ers competing in the historic Coastal Plains League. Will Butcher spent his summer crushing baseballs for the Forest City Owls (including this 456′ shot). Butcher finished the season 8th in the league with a .346 batting average, and earned First Team All-CPL honors.

Butcher’s teammate in Forest City, incoming outfielder Cam Fisher, won the CPL Batting Title this summer with a .384 batting average. Fisher also stole 11 bases and scored 26 Runs for the Owls to earn First Team All-CPL honors. With all this going on in Forest City, we had to make the trip to McNair Field this summer.

Incoming 49er LHP Will Lancaster, a transfer from USC-Upstate, had a big summer for the High Point – Thomasville HiToms. The lefty was among the league leaders in several pitching categories including ERA (2.18), Wins (5), and Ks (54) leading to him earning First Team All-CPL honors.

Jack Dragum returned to his home state of Virginia to once again spend the summer with the Penninsula Pilots. Dragum drove in 23 runs and scored 22 for the Pilots while playing 2B and SS. He also jumped back on the mound this summer and made two appearances. Dragum struck out 6 of the 7 batters he faced in those two appearances.

Outfielder Hunter Baker spent part of the summer playing for the Asheboro Copperheads. He had a HR and two SBs in 11 games this summer.

Rising sophomore Nate Furman put up some video game numbers for the Winchester Royals in the Valley Baseball League this summer. Big Furm batted .424 for the summer, including a .529 average over 4 Playoff games. Furman won the league batting title with a .400 regular season average, led the league with 31 Walks, and also led the league with 25 SBs. He finished 2nd in the league in Runs scored with 38. He also had the highest On-Base Percentage in VBL History at .570! Furman earned a spot in the VBL All-Star Game at JMU mid summer and earned 1st Team VBL honors after the season. These kind of numbers prompted a visit from DNR reps as well.

With the Southern Collegiate Baseball League being so close, we were able to check in on several of the Niners playing there this summer. Two incoming freshmen, catcher Huck Wathan and infielder Hayden Brandon played with the Carolina Vipers this summer, coached by 49ers Aaron Bray and BJ Hagan. Brandon batted .204 in 16 games this summer while playing in both the infield and outfield. Wathan batted .328 with 14 RBI working mostly behind the plate and earned All League honors.

The Mooresville Spinners won the SCBL title this summer with two 49ers on the roster. Infielder Dante Defranco batted .267 over the season and had four hits in four playoff games while primarily playing 3B. RHP Hale Sims pitched for the Spinners early in the season and struck out 16 in 13.2 IP over four starts.

Incoming freshman JD Suarez led the Concord A’s in HRs this summer with 4 and participated in the SCBL HR Derby. He batted .349 with 10 RBI and scored 21 Runs earning All League honors.

There were two incoming Niners that spent time in the Northwoods League this summer. Catcher Jakob Kouneski batted .200 over 24 games for the Minnesota Mudpuppies and catcher Kaden Hopson played 11 games for the Willmar Stingers early this summer. Hopson is transferring in from Arizona and Kouneski is coming to Charlotte from NIACC.

RHP Tony Rossi, a transfer from State College of Florida, pitched for the Sanford River Rats in the Florida Collegiate Summer League this summer. He struck out 32 in 21 IP over 5 appearances.

And finally, incoming freshman infielder Andrew Grande spent the summer with the Fuquay-Varina Twins of the Tidewater Premier Summer Collegiate League. He hit .333 over 12 games with the Twins.

Editor’s note: Summer league rosters and stats can be illusive. If we discover any additional items, we’ll update them as they become available.

Continue reading “2021 MLB Draft Guide”

Continue reading “July 1st Roster Update”

Continue reading “49ers Summer Ball Update – July 6”

After one of the most successful seasons in program history, the Niners are going back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2011! Charlotte, who has been ranked as high as #15 this season, was selected as the number 2 seed in the Greenville Regional on Monday, marking the highest seeding the program has ever earned. After winning the C-USA Regular Season with a record of 24-8 and an overall record of 39-19, the Niners were rewarded with an extremely drivable regional that gives fans the opportunity to follow the team on the road.

Continue reading “Niner Nuggets- The Postseason”

There were some big things happening with the Charlotte 49er Baseball program over the past week. Let’s take a quick look!!

Continue reading “Niner Nuggets- Week 14”