2011 Rock schedule
2011 Rock roster

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Veteran Slippery Rock University Head Baseball Coach Jeff Messer enters every season confident in his team's ability to compete for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference and NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional championships.

So when the 26-year Rock mentor says he's “very excited” about the 2011 season you have to take notice.

The proof will start showing up in the pudding, as the saying goes, later this week when The Rock opens the season with four games at VA Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, Ohio.

SRU is scheduled to meet both Tiffin (Ohio) and St. Joseph's (Ind.) in a nine-inning single game Saturday and again Sunday.

Messer, who owns a 786-455-4 career record and leads all active Pennsylvania college baseball coaches in victories, knows what it's going to take to have a successful spring.

“You've got to be able to pitch well and play strong defense in order to be successful at our level,” he said, “and I think we have the potential to be very strong in those two areas.”

Messer also thinks his offense will stand tall.

“On paper, we've got as good of lineup as we've had in awhile,” he said. “One through nine in our lineup, our guys have been consistent hitters throughout their careers. And we have excellent speed and solid good gap-to-gap hitters.”

Those latter two traits could be significant factors in The Rock's success this spring, particularly in the light of the newly-implemented changes in construction of aluminum bats. The hitting sticks used by college baseball teams this spring will decrease the speed at which the ball comes off the bat and, as a result, is expected to decrease the number of home runs.

“Teams are going to need to produce runs and play 'small-ball' this year,” Messer said. “You're going to need to put the ball in play because there's not going to be as many four- and five-run innings as in the past.”

With pitching expected to be a bigger factor in the outcome of games this spring, Messer is understandably excited about the prospects of his mound staff.

“This is the healthiest our pitching staff has been in a long time,” he said. “Last year, we had a hard time finding four pitchers to line up as our conference-game starters. This year, we have eight to 10 pitchers who could fill that bill.”

“We have the best pitching depth we've had in a long time, if not ever,” Messer added.

The Rock's starting pitching rotation for the opening weekend of the season will feature veterans George Hebert, Zach Jeney and Joby Lapkowicz and freshman right-hander Lou Trivino.

Hebert, a senior right-hander, is coming off a 2010 season in which he compiled a 7-1 record with a 4.03 ERA. Those numbers earned him second-team All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division and honorable mention National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association all-region honors.

Jeney, a senior southpaw, had a 3-2 record and 4.91 ERA a year ago, while Lapkowicz, a sophomore southpaw, was 2-5 with a team-best 3.75 ERA.

Veteran southpaw Justin Steen (3-3, 7.29 ERA) headlines a list of four pitchers slated to be spot starters this spring. Rounding out that group are freshmen John Kovalik, Ryan Oglesby and #J.J. Paskert#.

Pencilled in as middle relief specialists are senior southpaw Rich Hocanson, sophomore right-hander Nic McCowin and junior southpaw Brett Vescovi, all of whom missed the 2010 season and could also wind up seeing action as starters.

Hocanson, who owns a 12-3 record in three Rock seasons, earned NCBWA all-region and All-PSAC-West honors as a freshman in 2007.

McCowin had a 1-0 record and 5.51 ERA in limited action in 2009, while Vescovi had a 4-1 record and team-best 2.45 ERA in 2009.

Also vying for mound time this spring will be veterans Cory Johnson (0-0, 7.11 ERA) and Colin McCoy (2-1, 6.41 ERA) and newcomer Brennan Wojdyla, a transfer from Division I Marist College.

Offensively, Messer welcomes back eight starting position players from last year's team, including All-PSAC-West and NCBWA all-region outfielder Matt Howard.

Howard, one of three starting outfielders returning from last spring, was second on last year's team in hitting with a .395 average with nine doubles, eight triples, five home runs and 27 RBIs. He led the team in triples, runs scored (60) and stolen bases (17-20) last spring.

Also returning in the outer gardens will be juniors Carter Haponski (.345, eight doubles, three triples, one HR, 24 RBIs, 13-17 stolen bases) and Matt Kosik (.326, eight doubles, two triples, eight HRs, 41 RBIs). Kosik led the team in roundtrippers and tied for the team lead in RBIs.

Haponski and Howard are slated to open in left and center fields, respectively. Kosik, meanwhile, will open the 2011 season as a backup in right field to classmate Derek Carr, a transfer from Division I Youngstown State.

Kosik and senior Mitchell Monas (.336, 12 doubles, two triples, four HRs, 36 RBIs), last year's starting catcher, are expected to split the designated hitter duties this spring.

The Rock infield will feature three returning starters from last spring: Senior first baseman Derek DiRuscia (.331, team-high 21 doubles, two HRs, 35 RBIs), senior shortstop Adam Jury (.320, 10 doubles, one triple, three HRs, 41 RBIs) and sophomore third baseman Jamison Walck (team-high .396, seven doubles, three triples, one HR, 30 RBIs).

Junior Lee Foxton, a transfer from Herkimer (N.Y.) Community College, is the top candidate to replace all-region/all-conference performer Billy Messer at second base.

Jury, Walck and freshman Will Kengor all provide depth at second base, third base and shortstop. Monas, senior Nick Caito and freshman Kevin Welsh will all vie for playing time as a first baseman.

Junior Matt Accardi, a transfer from Marist via Lackawanna (Pa.) Community College, is slated to be the starting catcher, backed up by DiRuscia. Junior Tyler Jewett and freshman Kevin Jovanovich also provide quality depth behind the plate.

Overall, “it looks like we as strong of a team as we have in years,” Messer said. “I think we are stronger offensively than we were last year or the last few years.

“We have enough depth that we can absorb a couple of injuries this year and not lose much quality,” he added. “We could not say that the past couple years.”

There is one big key to the season.

“If our pitching comes through, we could be contenders for the PSAC and regional championships,” Messer said, “but if it doesn't, we could also again be championship pretenders.”

The Rock will find out quickly just how well they match up with the best Division II talent in the nation.

Consider this:

• The Rock's 18 regular-season rivals this spring combined to win 54% of their games last spring;

• Nine of The Rock's 2011 foes won 30 or more games a year ago;

• Eleven Rock rivals had a winning record last spring;

• The Rock's 2011 schedule includes a total of 13 games against six teams that competed in last spring's NCAA Division II playoffs;

• The Rock will play a single game each against Minnesota State and Tampa, two teams that played in the eight-team national tournament in Cary, N.C.;

• The Rock are also scheduled to play four games against defending PSAC champion California (Pa.), three games against Mansfield, two games against West Chester and a doubleheader against Ashland (Ohio). All four of those teams earned regional tournament berths a year ago;

• Ashland, California, Minnesota State, Tampa and West Chester are all ranked this spring in the NCBWA's preseason national top-25 and/or American Baseball Coaches Association's Feb. 7 national top-30 polls;

• Five of The Rock's 2011 foes are ranked in the NCBWA's Atlantic Region preseason top-10 poll: No. 2 West Chester, No. 4 California, No. 7 Seton Hill, No. 8 Mansfield and No. 9 Mercyhurst;

• In addition to West Chester and California, Ashland, Minnesota State and Tampa are also ranked in the top four teams in their respective NCBWA regional polls.

“We're going to take some lumps early on,” Messer said, adding, “If we can come out of our (annual spring break trip to) Florida with a .500 record or better, I think we will be in good shape for the conference season.”

The fact Messer was willing to line up such a tough non-conference schedule for his team speaks volume about the confidence he has in this spring's squad.

“You don't want to play a tough schedule like this if you don't think you can compete against those teams,” he said. “You don't gain anything by playing tough teams and coming out with a lot of losses.

“We're confident we can compete with anyone we will face,” Messer added.

Opposing coaches also seem to think the Green and White are up to the challenge. PSAC-West coaches, in a preseason poll, picked The Rock to finish second behind defending conference champion California in this spring's division race.

NCBWA voters ranked The Rock sixth in their preseason poll and ABCA national voters included SRU among the group of teams that received votes in that organization's latest national poll.

What else is left to say, then, except: Let the games begin!