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How SWEEP it Is!! — The Niners completed a 4 -game sweep over FAU at the Hayes this past weekend. It was a very exciting series that went back and forth, and the Niners coming away with four straight wins. Three of the wins were 1-run games and the two Saturday games both featured 49er walk-offs.
Continue reading “Niner Nuggets- Week 7”With conference play about to begin, we compared a sampling of metrics year-over-year between last year’s team and the current squad. Here are the numbers and a few observations below:
Continue reading “Tale of the Tape: 2020 vs. 2021”It was an up and down week for the Niners as they went 1-3 on the week. After a dominating 9-0 victory over 14th ranked Tennessee on Tuesday, Charlotte dropped three highly contested games at #13 East Carolina over the weekend. The Niners now sit at 8-6 after 4 weeks of the 2021 baseball season and their current RPI is 42 with Conference USA play starting next weekend.
Continue reading “Niner Nuggets: Week 4”The Niners went 1-3 on the week dropping a back and forth mid-week match-up at UNCG, and then taking one of 3 games this weekend against Western Carolina.
Continue reading “Niner Nuggets: Week 3”
The Niners stayed hot by sweeping the William & Mary Tribe over the weekend by a combined score of 31-5. No need to adjust your computer monitors, folks. This is not a post about the 1998 team, this is 2021. The schedule gets incrementally tougher over the next few weeks, but so far it’s hard to critique anything about the start to the season. Things are clicking in all phases of the game right now.
Continue reading “Niner Nuggets: Week 2”We are going to try a little something new this year to make more use of this blog. Every week we will provide you a wrap of the week and a few nuggets about the team. We will also track Conference USA and how our non-conference opponents are doing.
Continue reading “Week 1: Niner Nuggets”
In the third piece of our 2021 Charlotte Baseball season preview, we will discuss the pitching staff. Before we get into talking about the pitchers on this 49er staff, it is important to note that there was a change to Charlotte Coaching staff over the offseason. In November, Coach John Stott took a position with the Chicago White Sox organization as an Area Scout. That left an opening in the staff for a new Volunteer Assistant Coach.
In December the 49ers announced that Austin Meine would be the new Assistant Coach and Pitching Coordinator. Meine came to Charlotte from Premier Pitching Performance (P3) out of St. Louis where he was Director of Pitching and Biomechanics. He was already very familiar and close to the program due the partnership that Charlotte has had with P3 over the past year and a half.
Coach Woodard had this to say about Meine: “I believe that Coach Meine is the new wave of coach coming down the pike. He is young, hungry and fluent in utilizing all modern training techniques and technologies in player development. He has already demonstrated with our team, through our partnership with Premier Pitching Performance, that he has the skillset and the ability to communicate these methods in a simple capacity and at a high level.”
Now that we’ve learned about the new Pitching Coordinator, let’s talk about this deep and talented group of pitchers that the coaching staff has to work with.
Starting Rotation
Since Conference USA will be playing 4 game weekends, the Niners will need 4 starters on the weekends.
Sophomore RHP Andrew Lindsey (New Johnsonville, TN/Waverly Central HS/Walters State) has been named the starter for Friday’s season opener against Morehead State. A newcomer to the staff, 49ers fans may remember Lindsey from the Fall of 2019 exhibition game at the Hayes when he threw 5 shutout innings against the Niners. Lindsey is a 6’-4 strike thrower that has been up to 93 in the preseason. D1 lists him as the 12th best 2021 Draft prospect out of C-USA, so a successful season could have him hearing his name called in the Draft this summer.
Set to go Saturday is freshman LHP Christian Lothes (Hebron, OH/Lakewood HS). Unfortunately, 49er fans did not get to see much of C-Lo last spring as he only pitched 2.2 Innings due to injury. In what we saw leading up to last season from Lothes, we were very excited to see what he would contribute last season as we were going into Conference play. From all accounts, Lothes has been even more impressive this pre-season while adding strength and weight to his frame and hitting 96 on the radar gun. MLB scouts have taken notice and D1 Baseball listed him as the #2 Draft prospect out of C-USA, behind Bryce McGowan.
Speaking of McGowan, Sunday’s tilt will sport one of the more veteran pitchers on the staff in sophomore RHP Bryce McGowan (Cary, NC/Cary HS). The hard-throwing righty enters his 3rd season with the Niners and brings a wealth of experience to the table. He was a weekend starter in his freshman season here and has 16 starts under his belt. Over the offseason he has perfected a slider as his secondary pitch, and adds a change-up to the repertoire. MLB scouts have taken notice and D1 Baseball listed McGowan as the #1 2021 MLB Draft prospect in C-USA.
Once the schedule transitions to 4 game set, we expect sophomore RHP Austin Marozas (Plainfield, IL/Plainfield South HS/ San Jacinto) to complete the rotation. Marozas considered signing a pro contract this summer, but chose to sign with the 49ers instead. Austin pitched last season at the JUCO Pitching powerhouse San Jacinto College in Texas. He was one of the top high school pitchers in Illinois before having Tommy John surgery. The 6’7” righty trained at P3 and was up to 95 on his fastball this spring. Marozas was listed as the 13th best 2021 Draft prospect out of C-USA by D1 Baseball, right behind Lindsey.
There are a few other pitchers on staff that have had experience starting on the weekends including junior RHP Matt Brooks (York, PA/Spring Grove Area HS), senior RHP Ryan Czantskowski (Mountain Home, AR/Mountain Home HS/Connors State), and junior RHP Andrew Roach (Springdale AR/Springdale HS/Cowley College).
Brooks has worked his way back from shoulder surgery that ended his promising 2019 season. He has 24 starts under his belt as a 49er and a record of 13-11 over his career. It was great to see Matt back on the mound this fall after spending the summer with many 49er pitchers at P3.
Czantskowski has experience starting on the weekends with 13 career starts as a 49er. Ryan won the Coaches Award last season after going 1-1 with a 4.07 ERA & 20 Ks. He and Brooks are a big part of the veteran leadership on this staff.
Roach had arguably the best season as any 49er pitcher last season, posting a 2-2 record, and led all starters with a 1.99 ERA & a 1.10 WHIP last season.
Bullpen
There are a lot of new faces in the bullpen to go along with the familiar ones. How each of their roles will ultimately shake out is yet to be seen. Here’s a look at the depth fans can expect to see from the pitching staff:
• Senior RHP Colby Bruce (Charlotte/South Meck) has served as the closer over the past few seasons for the Niners earning Preseason All C-USA honors a year ago. After an offseason surgery, it is unclear if Bruce will see the mound this season as he recovers. In his absence, the Niners will have to find someone to fill that role.
• One candidate that has been suggested for the closer role is newcomer Sophomore RHP Sam Grace (St Charles, MO/Francis Howell HS/Jefferson Co. CC). Grace was up to 95 in the fall and adds a nasty splitter to the repertoire. Grace was previously drafted by the Orioles out of HS in 2018.
• Senior RHP Nick Turnbull (Churchville, MD/John Carroll School/Maryland) had 13 Ks in 10. IP last season. He worked out at P3 this summer as well and has improved his slider and change-up. His fastball was up to 94 with his fastball in the preseason
• Junior RHP Jackson Boss (Loganville, GA/Walnut Grove HS/Young Harris) had a tremendous season as a newcomer to the staff in 2020. He finished 2nd in the NCAA in appearances, pitching in 11 of the 49ers 17 games.
• Junior LHP Trae Starnes (Taylorsville, NC/Alexander Central HS/Catawba Valley CC) returns for 2021. He made 2 starts and 3 relief appearances in 2020, striking out 10 in 9.1 IP. One of 3 LHP on the roster.
• Sophomore RHP Will Palinkas (Matthews/ Providence HS) has experience as both a starter and reliever over 2 seasons at Charlotte. He spent the summer working at P3 and returned to Charlotte a much stronger pitcher. Has good off-speed stuff that he is throwing for strikes.
• Sophomore RHP Justin Offshanka (Huntersville/Hough HS) provides a different look out of the pen with his delivery. Staff was impressed with his improvement over the last year. He has 7 relief appearances over 2 seasons.
• Sophomore RHP Hale Sims (Paducha, KY/St Mary HS/John A. Logan) was described by D1 Baseball this fall as “a 6-foot-9, 290-pound behemoth with a heavy fastball.” He’s only listed at 6’4″ but we certainly can see why he would appear larger. He brings a big, versatile arm to the staff from Logan College and touched 95 this preseason.
• 6’7” Sophomore RHP Casey Bargo (Corbin, KY/Madison Central HS/Lincoln Trail) is listed as the 22nd best 2021 Draft Prospect out of C-USA according to D1 Baseball. He touched 95 with his fastball in the preseason.
• Freshman RHP Dillon Phillips (Mooresboro, NC/R-S Central HS/Walters State) sits 91-93 with his fastball and will compete for high leverage innings this season. D1 Baseball lists him as the 27th best prospect in C-USA.
• The coaching staff says that sophomore RHP Jake Curry (Key Largo, FL/Coral Shores HS/Polk State) has one of the best change-ups on the staff. He posted a 3.5 ERA in 16 starts at Polk State.
• Sophomore RHP Tyson Tucker (Delphi, IA/Maquoketa HS/Northern Iowa Area CC) brings a toughness to the staff according to the Coaches. He pitched for Northern Iowa Area CC over the past two seasons, striking out 25 in 23.1 IP over 15 appearances
• Sophomore RHP Kolton Scherbenske (Rapid City, SD/St Thomas More HS/DMACC) is the first 49er baseball player we’ve had from South Dakota. Staff says he has closer stuff and good size at 6’4”.
• Freshman transfer RHP Zach Zedalis (Charlotte/Cox Mill HS/NC Central) brings intensity to the staff. Pitched at NCCU last season. Was named SCBL All League this summer pitching for the Carolina Vipers.
• Freshman RHP Tyler Parks (Sicklerville, NJ/Gloucester Catholic HS) was one of the 1st players to commit to this staff. Listed as one of the top 15 RHP in NJ for the 2020 class. Sat around 90 this fall with his fastball.
• Freshman LHP Spencer Giesting (Hamilton, OH/Badin HS) was impressive this fall and has a very promising role on the pitching staff being one of the few lefties. Listed as one of 20 Impact First Year Freshman in C-USA by D1 Baseball.
• Freshman RHP Gus Hughes (Greensboro, NC/Grimsley HS) has one of the best curve balls on the staff. Looked impressive in the fall with his fastball around 91-92.
• RHP Jack Dragum (Mechanicsville, VA/Hanover HS/Louisburg JC) is the only 2-way player on the roster. The infielder could see time out of the bullpen. He was 2nd Team All Coastal Plain League this summer as a relief pitcher.
This roster breakdown will be a tad more complicated than they have been in the past. There are several reasons for that. First, due to the circumstances surrounding the 2020 season, the NCAA lifted the 35-man roster cap for the 2021 season. As a result, the current roster sports 44 players, including 6 returning seniors. That’s another thing to keep in mind. The NCAA not only gave seniors their year of eligibility back from the 2020 season, they gave everyone last year’s eligibility back. So, when you see a returner like David McCabe or Dominic Pilolli referred to as a freshman, that’s why. Finally, there are a slew of new-comers on the roster. There are 26 new faces to go along with 18 returners.
What does it all mean? It makes this the deepest Niner baseball team that we’ve ever seen. There’s a chance that it could be one of the most talented squads we’ve fielded,too. Time will tell.
We’re starting with the positions players. Be on the lookout for our take on the pitching staff tomorrow. Keep in mind that with the depth present on the roster there are going to be a lot of options when it comes to Coach Woodard’s lineup card from game to game. The ability to tailor the lineup based on matchups will be an ongoing feature this year. That being said, we’re going to tell you how we see it and make a call on who we see starting against Morehead State this Friday. We might be wrong, but hey, we’ve never let that bother us before.
Position Breakdown
Catcher – Look for sophomore transfer Aaron McKeithan (Arden, NC/TC Roberson/Manatee CC) to spend a lot of time behind the plate for the Niners. McKeithan comes to Charlotte from Manatee CC, but in truth he’s a home-grown product from TC Roberson HS in Asheville that signed with Tulane out of HS. McKeithan’s presence behind the plate should help shore up an area of concern from last season. His arm is good enough to keep baserunners honest and his bat should make an impact as well. Returners Craig Keuchel (Conroe, TX/Caney Creek HS/Hill College) and Jacob Whitley (Clemmons, NC/West Forsyth HS/Gardner-Webb) will be in the mix to spell McKeithan, although Keuchel’s place on the field is likely right field. RS junior Whitley provides experience with a strong bat and can contribute when called upon. Freshman Tyler Cotten (Yorktown, VA/Grafton HS) is a big physical prospect that will be fun to watch develop.
First Base – We’re going with freshman transfer Will Butcher (Arden, NC/TC Roberson HS/NC State). Another TC Robertson product, Butcher comes to the Niners after originally attending NC State out of HS. He’s a big target (6’2”, 210) and plays solid defense. At the plate, he’s a double looking for a place to happen. Returning freshman David McCabe (Oshawa, Ontario/Everest Academy) is also a candidate, but for this exercise we are slotting #BigMaple at third base. Returning senior Rafi Vazquez (Annandale, VA/Bishop McConnell/Florence-Darlington Tech) is an option at first as well. Rafi’s big lefty bat is going to have him on the field a lot, although it might be as the DH.
Middle Infield – There are a ton of options up the middle. Some of the pieces are interchangeable. Depending on the matchup and the day, the Niners can create a lot of looks. But we told you we were going to make a call, so here we go.
At second base give us transfer sophomore Jack Dragum (Mechanicsville, VA/Hanover HS/Louisburg College). Dragum started out at UVA and comes to the Niners from Louisburg JC. He has range and a big arm. His bat is coming along and will be something to watch. At short we are going with sophomore transfer Austin Knight (Jacksonville, FL/Bolles School/Tennessee). Knight comes to the Queen City after spending his freshman season up on Rocky Top. He’s athletic with range and a capable arm. He has a live bat that can do some damage. These guys could be flipped on opening day, but remember what we said about being wrong. We can’t forget about returning senior Carson Johnson (Springdale, AR/Springdale HS/Connors State) in this discussion. Carson (Career .309/.394/.363) has been near the top of the pile in OBP during his time on campus and plays defense with grit. He’s working his way back from injury though, so it will be a work in progress. The name a lot of fans ask about is Gino Groover (Morrow, GA/The Walker School). By now you’ve heard that Gino had a chance to go in the draft last Summer but chose to be a Niner instead. The freshman from Georgia is going to get on the field. He has too much skill to keep him off of it. His fluid movement makes the game look easy in many cases. At the plate he’s a disciplined hitter with a ton of bat speed. For this exercise we’re bringing him off the bench and trusting the staff to bring him along. For that matter, Groover is one of a handful of promising infielders that will be fun to watch develop. Dante DeFranco (Hillsborough, NC/Orange HS), Nate Furman (Brookhaven, PA/Monsignor Bonner HS), and Charlotte-area product Chandler Riley (Concord, NC/Cox Mill HS) will all be fun to watch develop as they get settled into college baseball.
Third Base – For our money we are going with returning freshman David McCabe at the hot corner. Big Maple is going to be one to watch this season. The Canadian has the agility and hands to play all over the field, as he showed by playing SS some last season for the Niners. At the plate the switch hitter has power to all fields from both batter’s boxes. If he has the season that we believe he will, he could see his name called in the Draft this summer. A lot of the guys mentioned above could play third. However, we are going with sophomore transfer Thomas Caufield (West Chester, PA/Henderson HS/Pitt CC) to see time there. Caufield provides another lefty bat option and can also play anywhere on the infield.
Outfield – It’s a familiar story by now, but there are a lot of possibilities in the outfield. Since the Niners return all three starters from last year, we are going with returning senior Todd Elwood (Career .306/.379/.348) in left, returning freshman Dominic Pilolli (2020 .403/.481/.567) in center, and returning junior Craig Keuchel (2020 .215/.304/.446) in right. Elwood (Indian Trail, NC/Piedmont HS) covers good ground on defense, has an arm to keep runners honest, and consistently finds ways to get on base. It’s hard to not pick him here. Piliolli (Youngstown, OH/Canfield HS) has the wheels to play center and is considered “Charlotte’s best overall player and a 2022 draft prospect” by D1 Baseball. He also came out on fire last year, leading the team with an OPS of 1.048 through 17 games. Keuchel has been working to improve in right and has made strides there after coming in as a catcher. He may well see some work behind McKeithan but playing him in right is a way to get his bat in the lineup. Behind this trio are three newcomers to the program that will push to get in the lineup: sophomore Parker Stinnett (Knoxville, TN/Powell HS/ Walters State CC), sophomore Hunter Baker (Huntersville, NC/Hough HS/Florence-Darlington Tech), and freshman Jake Cunningham (Charlotte/Ardrey Kell HS). Fans may remember Stinnett and Baker from the exhibitions their respective teams played at the Hayes in the Fall of 2019. Stinnett can cover a ton of ground in the outfield and is a table-setter offensively, Baker is an aggressive lefty bat, and Cunningham is a young athletic prospect with room to grow. It would not be surprising to see any of the three find their way onto the field.
Designated Hitter – Again, it’s a matchup thing. We are going with returning senior Rafi Vazquez (Career .281/.373/.494). It’s an easy call with his big lefty bat and smooth swing. Another lefty option at DH is Carson Johnson. Gino Grover could get some ABs here as a righty. Butcher or Keuchel could also find themselves here depending on the day.
As we said, there are a lot of moving parts. Also, the staff is sure to experiment with different looks as the season progresses. All we can say for sure is that we’re more than ready to watch it unfold.
The last time we saw the 49ers Baseball team on the field, Colby Bruce was throwing a 1-2-3 9th inning and Charlotte was celebrating a 9-8 victory over 9th ranked NC State at Doak Field in Raleigh. That was March 10, 2020. The world changed in the following days and the remaining 2020 College Baseball season was canceled.
Over 11 months later, we are finally set to see the 49ers take the field again. After what seems like the longest offseason in sports history, the 2021 Niners are set to take the field February 19 vs Morehead State. To get you ready for the 2021 season, we have a series of blogs that will set us up for the 2021 campaign.
We will start with a schedule breakdown to take a look at the teams that the Niners will face this season. 2021 will look very different schedule-wise for many teams throughout the country. Different conferences are going with different formats to try to get as many games in safely. Conference USA has decided to split into divisional play with Charlotte playing in the East Division along with FAU, ODU, FIU, WKU, & Marshall. The West Division of C-USA will include USM, LT, Rice, MTSU, UTSA, and UAB. Divisional play was aimed at limiting the travel throughout the league. Charlotte will play home and home series with ODU, its closest opponent in conference. Charlotte will play interdivisional opponents Rice and UTSA from the West Division.
Conference USA also decided to go from 10 – 3 game weekend series’ to 8- 4 game weekend series’ with the Saturday games being 7 inning double headers. This scheduling change will result in having fewer mid-week games during the conference season, but also opened up 2 weekends to add regional out of conference series’. It all adds up to a 56 game schedule for the Niners with high quality regional opponents and fewer long road trips in conference play.
In the non-conference weekends, the Niners will host Morehead State, William & Mary, WCU, College of Charleston, and UNCW. The Niners will travel to ECU for a 3 game series. Mid-weeks schedule include UNCG, Tennessee, Wake Forest, App State, & North Carolina.
The Conference USA Tournament will be hosted by Louisiana Tech in their new ballpark May 26-30.
As we have learned from the past several months in the sports world involving COVID, all of these games are tentative and subject to change. Below are a brief look at the 49ers opponents in 2021:
FEBRUARY 19-21: Morehead State
FEBRUARY 26-28: William & Mary
MARCH 2: at UNC Greensboro (APRIL 6 at Charlotte)
MARCH 5-7: Western Carolina
MARCH 9: Tennessee
MARCH 12-14: at East Carolina
MARCH 16: at Wake Forest
MARCH 19-21: College of Charleston
MARCH 23: App State / APRIL 20: at App State
MARCH 26-28: at WESTERN KENTUCKY
APRIL 2-4: FLORIDA ATLANTIC
APRIL 9-11: at FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL
APRIL 13: at North Carolina
APRIL 16-18: UTSA
APRIL 23-25: ODU/ APRIL 30-May 2 at ODU
MAY 7-9: MARSHALL
MAY 14-16: at RICE
MAY 20-22: UNC Wilmington
Diamond Niner Report 