2006 Baseball Preview Part 4 - Youngstown State
Feb. 13, 2006
Just over three years ago, Youngstown State head baseball coach Mike Florak was raving about the incoming group of players. He said they'd help the program make significant strides and dubbed them "our best recruiting class ever." Now entering the 2006 season, that recruiting class has built into a group of 11 seniors that will be at the heart of a squad hoping to build on the program's best record in nearly 10 years.
All but two players return from last year's roster, and those 11 seniors headline a group of 19 returning letterwinners, eight returning starters and three returning starting pitchers from the weekend rotation that will put YSU among the most veteran squads in the country. Perhaps most importantly, 14 players remain from the 2004 squad that won the Horizon League Championship and advanced into the NCAA Tournament.
"The experience this group has is absolutely critical," Florak said. "They know what it takes to win - selflessness, determination and putting team goals in front of individual goals."
Although only two players are gone from last season's 29-27 team that finished second in the Horizon League's regular season, the Penguins will have work to do to overcome their departure. Justin Thomas, the 2005 Horizon League Pitcher of the Year, was drafted in the fourth round by the Seattle Mariners in June. Outfielder Jim Phillips, the lone senior on last year's team, hit .330 and was named the Vindicator Male Athlete of the Year.
But the Penguins do return First-Team All-Horizon League selections in Justin Banks and Brandon Caipen and All-Newcomer Team selection Erich Diedrich. They and the rest of the offensive returnees represent 85 percent of last season's runs, 83 percent of the hits and 83 percent of the RBIs from last season.
"The team feels good heading into the year," Florak said. "They're a very close-knit group, and they've accomplished a lot of great things in the past. We're looking for a great year."
Infield
The Penguins will return all five starters on the infield with Banks and Caipen solidifying the group at third base and catcher.
Banks is the most experienced player on the roster having started 162 games in his three seasons. Last year was a breakout season as he was named First-Team All-Horizon League last season after leading the team in batting average (.356), hits (67) and runs scored (37). He also hit a league-high 18 doubles and was named to the All-Tournament Team for the second consecutive year.
Caipen earned first-team all-conference honors as a utility player after starting 30 games at catcher and 20 in right field. Caipen is also a four-year starter and has started more than 50 games in each of his three seasons. Last year he hit .301 overall and .370 against league opponents.
Diedrich will spell Caipen behind the plate and will see significant action as the designated hitter. As a redshirt freshman in 2005, Diedrich hit a team-high six home runs and tied for the team lead in triples and sacrifice flies. He started 26 games behind the plate and 16 as the designated hitter.
Fellow senior Charles Schultz also returns for his fourth year as a starter in the infield. After playing third for his first two years, Schultz moved to shortstop last season and drove in a team-high 38 RBIs and hit .282. He also hit an impressive .382 against league opponents and was named to the Horizon League All-Tournament Team.
Mike Turjanica was inserted into the starting lineup midway through the season and ended up starting 22 of the final 24 games at first base in 2005. In his limited action, he finished tied for the team lead in triples with three, and he hit .462 in the final six games of the season to finish with a .269 batting average. The sophomore was also solid in the field, committing only one error in 178 chances for a fielding percentage of .994.
The Penguins also got a boost defensively from second baseman Josh Page in his redshirt freshman season in 2005. Page started 33 games and committed only two errors in 183 chances at second for a fielding percentage of .989. He started the season off hot at the plate and was above .300 for the first half of the season before finishing with a .252 mark.
John Koehnlein, a freshman from Steubenville Central Catholic High, may also see significant time in his first season. Brian Boone and Brian Dill will add depth at first base while Lou Gattozzi will come in after two seasons at Siena.
Outfield
The slated starting corps in the outfield all started at least 30 games last season, and two of the members hit better than .310.
Senior J.D. Hannan started 37 games overall and 29 of the final 31 contests in centerfield last season. As a junior, Hannan hit .346 and tied a team-high with 37 runs scored. Since becoming an everyday starter, he led the team with 29 runs scored and 42 hits over the final 31 games of the season. He also hit a team-best .400 in Horizon League contests.
Senior Dustin Thomas hit .312 overall and .371 against league opponents in his first season at YSU after transferring from Columbus State Community College. After primarily satisfying catching duties at Columbus State for two years, Thomas started 24 games in left field and 22 as the designated hitter.
After being a key reserve as a freshman and starting 30 games last season, Brent Parks will head into the season as the third starting outfielder. In 51 contests last season, he hit .267 and scored 12 runs while driving in 12 runs.
Dill and Koehnlein could also patrol the outfield while Caipen will play in right when not behind the plate.
Pitching
The Penguins bring back four starting pitchers from last season that started at least seven games, and senior lefty Chris Dennis will return from a redshirt season to help fill the void left by Thomas. Entering the season, Florak said there are six players vying for three spots on the weekend rotation.
Senior lefthander Eric Shaffer ranked second on the squad last season with a career-low 3.98 ERA. He held opponents to a .272 average, which ranked fourth in the Horizon League, but he was hurt by low run support and finished with a record of 4-8.
Junior righty Andy Svitak finished with a record of 5-1 after moving into the starting rotation in mid-March. He also went an impressive 3-0 with an ERA of 2.35 in four regular season starts against Horizon League opponents. Svitak could also see time in the bullpen after finishing with four saves and making 20 appearances as a freshman.
Sophomore righthander Lucas Engle started nine games and compiled a 3-2 record last season. He did not allow a run in a combined 12 innings in two of those wins.
Dennis led the team with a 3.61 ERA as a junior in the 2004 season and finished with a 1-7 record. In 2004, he more than doubled his inning output from his sophomore season, and he struck out a career-best 65 hitters.
Kevin Libeg moved into a reliever role in mid-March last season and helped solidify the bullpen. He ended up tying for the school record for appearances and had a 2.36 ERA and four saves out of the bullpen, but the senior righty has solid starting experience and could move back into the rotation. As a sophomore he went 5-3 and was named to the Horizon League All-Tournament Team.
Boone, who went 2-2 and showed vast improvement as a mid-week starter last season, is also in the running for a spot in the rotation.
The bullpen will be deep with Ryan Sellman, Matt Gnacinski, Josh Wells and the possibility of Svitak and Libeg.
Sellman had a solid freshman campaign with a team-high six saves in 30.2 innings. He also tied Libeg for the school record for appearances with 26.
Gnacinski has been stable middle reliever for the past three seasons and will serve in the same capacity for his senior season. Last year he made appeared 18 times out of the bullpen and kept opponents scoreless in 12 of those appearances.
Wells was the squad's best reliever as a freshman in 2003 with a team-low ERA of 2.86, but the lefty was hampered by a nagging elbow for the next two seasons.
Sophomores Joe Antinone and Chuck Schiffhauer have made big strides and could see an increased role.
Story provided by Youngstown State University Office of Sports Information
