Brockport baseball heads into 2008 with young roster

By Steph Rockwood
STAFF WRITER

The College at Brockport Golden Eagles baseball team completed last season with an impressive record of 24-15. That record is going to be hard to match with only nine returning players, five of which are just sophomores.

The Golden Eagles do have the pleasure of welcoming back three returning players that accomplished a slugging percentage of over .450 last season. A player’s slugging percentage is determined on how many total bases that person reaches and diving that by how many times they were up to bat.

Those players were Mark Carauna, Brent Nicholson, and Matt Beach. The three of them are expected to rack up plenty of extra base hits for the Golden Eagles.

On the defensive end of things, the above mentioned players have quite a role ahead of them.
“Mark Caruana who was a freshman last season caught a majority of our games and made the most impact behind the plate,” said head coach, Justin Beach. “This season he will have a different role as we have returned two catchers (Bobby Warne and Joe Zaccardo) this season, coming off season ending injuries last year. You can expect to see Mark Caruanan in the outfield and pitching this season.”

Matt Beach has been with the team for four seasons and was seen most in the outfield. As a freshman, he expressed his talent on the mound, and will possibly gain the spot as the teams closer. He is expected to contribute as one of the teams’ leaders.

“Brent Nicholson is coming off an injury to his shoulder, which caused him to miss the entire summer and fall,” said Beach.

“You can expect to see him in the heart of our line-up and playing either outfield or being our designated hitter, depending on how his shoulder holds up for us this season,” said Beach. “Brent, along with the other two guys, are very talented and I am very excited to see what they can do for us this season.”

Rob Maxwell, a senior who has been what coach Beach calls “the backbone” of the Golden Eagles’ pitching staff since his freshman year, will be expected to be one of Brockport’s main starting pitchers. Maxwell, along with Matt Beach are expected to assist the transition of the new head coach and are seen as mentors to Brockport’s upcoming freshman.

Brockport is going to be fielding a relatively young team this season. There are 12 freshmen on the roster, and seven of those freshmen are pitchers. The real question is: are those boys ready to pitch at the college level?

“They will be giving the opportunity to play some quality innings, which for our baseball program is not very common,” said Beach. “Most freshmen will have to wait a season or two before they get their shot of playing quality innings and for us this season you can expect to see many of these guys seeing innings that are extremely important. I am excited to see who will be the one who steps up.”

Kris Gentzke, who was an Empire State Game player in high school, was looking good to coach Beach during the Golden Eagles’ fall season. Also, Max Zimmerman will be an adition to 1st base, when Rob Maxwell is pitching. “Tom McCormick has looked very good at shortstop, he will look be battling for the starting spot,” said Beach.

Another new edition to the squad this year happens to be interim head coach, 2003 Brockport graduate, Justin Beach.

He took over the program in the summer of 2007. Beach hopes to maintain Brockport’s reputation of having a strong baseball team, as they appeared in the 2004 Division III College World Series. They have also qualified for the past six years in the SUNYAC tournament.

At just 26-years-old, Beach is faced with being one of the youngest NCAA baseball coaches in the country. This could in turn hurt the young coach, as he doesn’t have a lot of head coaching experience. On the other hand, it could help him as his young age brings him closer to his team.

Brockport will open their season, visiting Rutgers-Camden in Camden, NJ on March 7. The last time that the Golden Eagles took the field against the Scarlet Raptors, Brockport suffered a 10-8 loss. The following two games are against Rowan and Kean, whom Brockport has yet to face on the diamond.

“The NJAC is considered one, if not the best conference in the country,” said Beach. “Kean won the nation championship last season, and will be a tough test for us. Rowan is year in and year out one of the top teams in the country and continuously competing for the NJAC title. We feel that going down to New Jersey to compete against some of the nations best competition will help prepare us for our SUNYAC conference schedule, and also give us an opportunity to see where we match up with some quality teams.”

The home opener will feature the University of Rochester on March 25. The last time the two teams had a match-up, Brockport ran away with the game with a 14-4 victory.

Brockport’s youth, along with their strong offensive game, they expect to be a force to be reckoned with in the upcoming 2008 season. “I must say that I am extremely excited to see what this team can do,” said Beach. “We have many guys that are going to be given opportunities to contribute and step up to the level we need them to. What they make of these opportunities will determine how far this team goes. It should be a fun ride.”