Slippery Rock's Billy Messer (left) and Kutztown's Adam Maini (right).
Lock Haven, Pa. - Kutztown and Slippery Rock have been chosen as the preseason favorites in the PSAC baseball preseason poll conducted by the league’s head coaches. Both the Golden Bears and The Rock are coming off seasons in which they each qualified for the PSAC Tournament and won more than 30 games each last year. The voting was very spread out as three different teams received first place votes in the Eastern Division and four different teams got at least one first place vote in the Western Division.
Kutztown, which finished in second place in the East last year as well as tied for third at the PSAC Tournament and fourth at the NCAA Regional with an overall record of 34-17, returns a slew of experienced players. Despite losing its ace and seventh-round selection Darin Gorski to professional baseball last year, the Golden Bears will have an experienced of left-handers but their top hurler looks to be right-hander Adam Maini. Also headlining the staff are Trent Mertz and Ryan Cassidy. Maini led the pitching staff with a 1.56 ERA last year while holding opposing hitters to a .215 batting average and also had seven wins. Kutztown also returns closer Mike Bucklin to the pitching staff. The offense also returns several key players from a year ago, led by PSAC East Freshman of the Year Shayne Houck, who led the Bears in batting average, hits, runs, home runs and slugging percentage last year. He is a utility player in the field. Other key returnees on offense include infielder/DH James Quigley as well as Mike Kacelowicz and Jared Frey, who led the team in RBI, and outfielders Mike Dugan and Corey Buletza.
Much like Kutztown, Slippery Rock will have to replace the production of one of the PSAC’s top players ever, but for The Rock, it will come on offense, as Matt Adams, a 23rd round pick last year, departs after hitting .495 last year, which led the nation in Division II and was the third-highest single season average in PSAC history. The Rock, which went 36-15 and had nine regulars hit over .300 last year, return five of those individuals, led by Matt Kosik, who hit .443 in 33 games. Also returning is Adam Jury (.395), Derek Diruscia (.379), Jacob Oswalt (.379) and Billy Messer (.344). Diruscia was second on the team in RBI last year while Messer was second on the team in hits, both behind Adams in each category. On the mound, The Rock returns on of its top starter on Vince Lloyd, who went 8-1 with a 3.19 ERA in 10 games last year while holding opponents to a .235 average. The Rock also returns one of its top relief pitcher in John Thomas, who went 3-0 in nine appearance last year and allowed just seven earned runs in 21 innings.
Kutztown just edged out West Chester for the top spot in the East by just one point, as the Golden Rams also garnered three first place votes. The Golden Rams are the defending PSAC Tournament champions and also won the Eastern Division a year ago while advancing to the NCAA Division II College World Series by winning the Atlantic Regional. West Chester was followed by Shippensburg, East Stroudsburg, Millersville, Mansfield and Bloomsburg in the East. Mansfield received the other first place votes.
In the West, the votes were very spread out, as Slippery Rock got just two first place votes while edging out Mercyhurst by just one point. The Lakers, the defending PSAC West champions who were also the runners-up at both the PSAC Tournament and NCAA Atlantic Regional tournaments, got one first place vote but still topped California for second. The Vulcans, despite also receiving two first place votes, were voted third while IUP, which also got two first place votes, was fourth. Lock Haven, Clarion and Gannon rounded out the poll.
Eastern Division
1. Kutztown (3)
2. West Chester (3)
3. Shippensburg
4. East Stroudsburg
5. Millersville
6. Mansfield (1)
7. Bloomsburg
Western Division
1. Slippery Rock (2)
2. Mercyhurst (1)
3. California (2)
4. IUP (2)
5. Lock Haven
6. Clarion
7. Gannon