Hitting wasn’t a problem for Georgia State’s baseball team last season.
Defense, and how it affected a group of young pitchers, was.
Many of those hitters have returned this season for the Panthers, who had the third-highest average (.321) among Division I teams. Georgia State will open the season against Illinois on Friday at Panthersville.
To improve their fielding, and hopefully their pitching, coach Greg Frady and his staff spent a lot of time during the offseason working on catching and throwing in an attempt to improve a defense that committed 90 errors and had a fielding percentage of .960, among the worst in the Colonial Athletic Association last season.
“We really spent the time, paid a lot of attention to it,” Frady said. “In our early scrimmages, it’s paid dividends. It’s helped our pitching; we think our pitching is in a better place than it’s been.”
Frady said some of the defensive issues can be traced to the team’s lack of experience. The team started freshmen at catcher, third base and center field, all key defensive positions. First-year junior-college transfers manned shortstop and first base.
The coaching staff incorporated various high-pressure defensive drills to help players adjust to those situations in games. First baseman Nic Wilson said he thinks the extra work has paid off.
“Less time on defense means more time on offense,” he said.
Potentially benefiting from that improved defense will be a starting pitching staff that returns its core. Sophomore right-hander Nathan Bates (2-1, 2.98 ERA last season) will be the Friday starter. Frady said the 6-foot-7 Bates was the most consistent pitcher in the offseason. Left-hander Andrew Fessler (6-2, 3.04) will start Saturdays, and right-hander Matt Rose (3-2, 2.55) will go on Sundays.
The midweek starters will be left-handers, newcomer Kenny Anderson and returning sophomore Garrett Ford (4-4, 6.03). Right-hander Kevin Burgee, a transfer from Gordon State, will be the closer.
“We think our pitching is in a better place than it’s been,” Frady said.
Hitting, which carried the team to 35 wins last season, will be the strength again for the Panthers in their first season in the Sun Belt Conference.
The Panthers’ 432 runs were the fourth-most in Division I last season, and they return three All-Americans — designated hitter Chase Raffield (.382 average, 10 home runs, 51 RBIs), shortstop Chad Prain (.394, team-high 89 hits) and Rose (.283).
Frady said he will use a platoon of players to try to replace the production of Josh Merrigan (.353, 12 stolen bases), who transferred to a junior college so that he can be eligible for the major league draft.
Frady said the Friday lineup likely will consist of Prain, Caden Bailey (.353), Rose, Wilson (.247, eight homers), Raffield, Chris Triplett (.313), Joey Roach (.296), the platoon of players batting eighth, and Greg Bowder (.349).
Frady said the goal, as always, is to make it to Omaha and the College World Series. The Panthers were picked to finish seventh by the league’s coaches in a preseason poll. If Georgia State can’t win the Sun Belt tournament and earn an automatic berth, Frady hopes they can earn an at-large bid.
It will be tough. The Sun Belt sent a record-tying four teams to NCAA regionals last season.
“We understand that it is a long season and that there’s so much that can happen and will happen before then,” Frady said. “If we play well every day, we will have a chance. That’s all you can ask for.”
