Winter may have come late, but Mother Nature is sure making the most of her time.
Chestnut Hill already has enough snow to bury three-fourths of the Boston College men’s basketball team. (After this coming weekend, even Dennis Clifford might not be safe.) But, believe it or not, Hoth has yet to escape the confines of George Lucas’ imagination. Ignore whatever that little rodent in Punxsutawney, Penn. said a couple weeks ago and wake up: it’s baseball season.
BC baseball has already left Boston for its first trip of 2015: a four-game series in Spartanburg, S.C. The team will take on Wofford College on Friday night, play a doubleheader against Xavier and USC Upstate on Saturday, and finish with another game against Xavier on Sunday morning.
Coming off a year with a very young roster, the core of BC’s squad won’t look much different this season, with one glaring exception: Andrew Chin, who signed with the New York Yankees after being selected in the 15th round of the MLB Draft. In losing Chin, the Eagles are stripped of their 2014 ace, who led Birdball with a 3.10 ERA and a .214 opponent batting average. The lefty had some of his best performances against the ACC’s best teams last season, including a complete game, two-hitter against No. 25 Clemson and seven-inning, two-run, three-hit performance against No. 1 Florida St.
Yet, even after losing such a strong starter, BC head coach Mike Gambino isn’t hanging around to mourn. He had a rotation ready to go before the week began, headlined by BC’s No. 2 man from last season: John Gorman.
“Johnny Gorman is a very good ACC, Friday night starter,” Gambino said earlier this week. “He’s tough, he’s competitive, he can really pitch. His stuff is good enough. He’s not afraid of anything, he can handle Friday nights in the ACC, they’re kind of a different animal … It’s a different atmosphere, and Gorman can handle that. He loves that, it doesn’t faze him at all.”
Gorman will get his first test run as BC’s ace Friday night against Wofford. Jeff Burke, BC’s third returning starter from last season, and Jesse Adams will take the starts on Saturday, with Nick Poore wrapping up the weekend on Sunday. While Gorman and Adams each posted a 3.86 ERA last season (Gorman starting, Adams in relief), Burke and Poore each had ERAs over five.
Though the faces on the mound haven’t changed, one who will go out to visit them has. Scott Friedholm, the recruiting coordinator and pitching coach for BC in the past four seasons, left the Heights to assume the head coaching role at UNC-Asheville. To replace him, BC hired former Rhode Island head coach Jim Foster, who will serve as associate head coach and pitching coach for the Eagles.
“To add Jim Foster to the staff, I would say—Jim Foster is the best baseball coach in New England.” Gambino said. “Not even close. To be able to get him on our staff, working with our pitchers, is unbelievable.”
Gambino has already seen the progress his pitchers have made working inside the bubble, but to him, they ain’t seen nothing yet. Come actual game situations, his players will experience Foster at his best. “I don’t think there’s anyone in the country that’s better at attacking hitters and learning how to get hitters out,” Gambino said.
Of course, this couldn’t be a BC baseball preview without mentioning at least one more guy: Chris Shaw, the man who led the Eagles in pretty much every main offensive category as a sophomore in 2014: batting average (.329), slugging percentage (.502), hits (68), RBIs (45), doubles (18), home runs (6), total bases (104), sacrifice flies (6), multiple-RBI games (10), and two-out RBIs (13). He earned All-ACC First-Team honors and was named to the Perfect Game USA’s Preseason All-America First Team. (Exhale.)
Teams already began to recognize the threat he poses at the end of last season, pitching around him and even giving him intentional free passes in late-game situations. All signs point to that continuing into this year.
“Teams are going to do everything they can to make sure he doesn’t have a chance,” Gambino said. “The game plan is, don’t let him beat you.”
One of the major reasons for BC’s disappointing 2014 was the inability of anyone to complement Shaw’s herculean effort. Third baseman Joe Cronin ranked second on BC in batting average, finishing the year at .291, 38 points below Shaw. No one else on the squad hit above .270.
Looking at recent history, however, may reassure some skeptical BC fans. There was a time—just two years ago—when Shaw batted well below the Mendoza line. He hit .165 and continued to start for Gambino his freshman year, fighting through a nasty slump that lasted the better part of two months. Now, his coach proudly stands by his decision.
“In a lot of ways, they weren’t ready,” Gamino said of his youngsters. “Not everybody agreed with it, and not everybody liked it, but I believed in these classes coming in so much, it was like, let’s let them grow up and see where they are in a couple years. All of a sudden … Chris Shaw’s in the conversation for the best player in the country, Joey Cronin might be the best third basemen in our conference.”
This season, Gambino is excited for more of his players to blossom. Players who didn’t have notable seasons but continued to get at bats—Blake Butera, Michael Strem, and Johnny Adams, to name a few—will look to support Shaw and make other teams pay if they try to avoid pitching to him.
Gambino, who is entering his fifth year as head coach, hasn’t had the best stretch record-wise. He’d be the first to admit it. Going 73-140 doesn’t look good on anyone’s resume, even in a conference as competitive as the ACC.
Looking beyond wins and loss from the first couple seasons, though, Gambino seems to have his team right where he wants it. The Eagles finished 8-7 in their last 15 ACC games in 2014, including a six-game win streak that put them back into playoff contention. The young guys from years past have grown up, and have seen that this team can win. A “doubt” that Gambino said plagued his players early last season is in the rear view mirror, and in its place is a tighter, more seasoned group of guys ready to go play some Birdball.
So, cheer up. Don’t let impending forecasts and mountains of ice get to your head. Go buy a roll of bubble tape and some sunflower seeds. Summer may seem a long way off, but baseball is already here.
Featured Image by Emily Fahey / Heights Senior Staff
