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Ok, Folks Football Season is a Wrap and it's time for Baseball. It's time to find the picker, money for peanuts, and a good mechanical pencil for filling out the score card because in less than a month it's time to head to the ballpark for BASEBALL! The Virginia Tech Hokies take to the diamond for the first time in the 2016 season on February 19. They travel to Charleston, South Carolina to play the Citadel in a non-conference three game series. It's always tough to open on the road, and I bet it's going to be tougher this season since even a trip to South Carolina won't do much to help the very late arriving winter weather.
So, in an effort to cover other Virginia Tech sports with a more complete schedule of articles, we at Gobbler Country proudly introduce the GC Hokie Clubhouse. We are going to do our level best to cover our baseball team, and keep everyone updated on the goings on over at English Field. Who knows, by April or May we might have a regular presence in the stands.
Last season the Hokies experienced some real churning and learning at all of the positions. The 2015 effort resulted in an overall 27-27 record which in baseball isn't horrible. Of course "not horrible" isn't what Coach Mason would like to see. There will be a big additional challenge to face for the ball club; the Wahoos won the NCAA Division 1A College World Series in 2015. In order to even get close to that sort of excellence, the Hokies are going to have to play way above the "not horrible" level.
Record |
Overall |
Home |
Away |
Neutral |
All Games |
27-27 |
16-8 |
8-15 |
3-4 |
Conference |
13-16 |
9-5 |
4-11 |
0-0 |
Non-Conference |
14-11 |
7-3 |
4-4 |
3-4 |
So, in the spirit of new beginnings, and getting some detail work out of the way, let's take a look at Head Coach Patrick Mason's 2016 Hokie Baseball Roster:
No. |
Name |
Class |
B/T |
Pos. |
39 |
Joe Freiday, Jr. |
So. |
R/R |
C |
30 |
Andrew Mogg |
Sr. |
R/R |
C |
4 |
Grant Maiorana |
Fr. |
R/R |
C/OF |
19 |
Stephen Polansky |
Fr. |
R/L |
C/OF |
5 |
Matt Dauby |
Sr. |
R/R |
IF |
21 |
Sam Fragale |
r-So. |
R/R |
IF |
35 |
Chris Meador |
Fr. |
R/R |
IF |
2 |
Jack Owens |
So. |
R/R |
IF |
15 |
Phil Sciretta |
Sr. |
R/L |
IF |
14 |
Ryan Tufts |
Jr. |
R/R |
IF |
44 |
Stevie Mangrum |
Fr. |
R/R |
IF/OF |
3 |
Garrett Hudson |
r-So. |
R/R |
IF/P |
26 |
Nick Anderson |
r-So. |
R/R |
OF |
6 |
Logan Bible |
r-Sr. |
R/L |
OF |
24 |
Mac Caples |
Jr. |
R/R |
OF |
10 |
Rahiem Cooper |
r-Jr. |
R/R |
OF |
18 |
Saige Jenco |
r-Jr. |
L/L |
OF |
34 |
Max Ponzurick |
So. |
R/R |
OF |
12 |
Tom Stoffel |
r-So. |
L/L |
OF/P |
11 |
Luis Collazo |
Sr. |
L/L |
P |
27 |
Connor Coward |
So. |
R/R |
P |
29 |
Nic Enright |
Fr. |
R/R |
P |
13 |
Paul Hall, Jr. |
Fr. |
L/L |
P |
55 |
Payton Holdsworth |
Fr. |
R/R |
P |
37 |
Culver Hughes |
Fr. |
R/R |
P |
32 |
Cole Kragel |
Fr. |
R/R |
P |
8 |
Ryan Lauria |
r-So. |
R/R |
P |
33 |
Andrew McDonald |
r-So. |
R/R |
P |
31 |
Aaron McGarity |
Jr. |
R/R |
P |
42 |
Chris Monaco |
So. |
R/R |
P |
40 |
Packy Naughton |
So. |
R/L |
P |
16 |
Tim Salvadore |
Fr. |
R/R |
P |
9 |
Kit Scheetz |
r-Jr. |
L/L |
P |
17 |
Luke Scherzer |
Jr. |
R/R |
P |
36 |
Joey Sullivan |
So. |
L/R |
P |
23 |
Jon Woodcock |
r-Sr. |
R/L |
P |
41 |
Patrick Hall |
Fr. |
L/L |
P/1B |
As the season gets started and the roster "matures" a bit, we'll see who is playing and who is learning. Right now, it's always safe to think that a good number of the true freshmen listed will be redshirted but that's for the lineup cards.
When the season starts, we'll start looking at individual game performances, post up box scores and if we can catch a few games on the video stream or maybe on the off chance that we can get to English Field for a weekend game we'll do some live reporting. It will be fun and a great break from the grind of the gridiron.
The Hokies are going to have a big Baseball Night in Blacksburg 2016 on February 6th. The event costs some dough, but it goes to a worthy cause.
I'd queue up some "Boys of Summer" about now, but it wouldn't fit much especially for the first three game ACC series with Miami on March 11th... burr... might need snow shoes for that one.