2008 Baseball Season Preview

Mar 6, 2008

MEADVILLE, Pa. - Having lost only one senior to graduation, the Allegheny baseball team returns a veteran squad in 2008 consisting of seven starting position players, a full rotation of pitchers, and 14 letterwinners from a squad that finished second in the North Coast Athletic Conference’s eastern division last season.

In 2007, the Gator schedule brought forth a difficult slate of games against some of the toughest competition in the nation, including #1 ranked Otterbein, #15 Wooster, and four other opponents that reached postseason play last spring. After going winless in 13 games to open the year, Allegheny bounced back with a 14-10 record over the team’s final 24 games, including a 9-7 mark in conference play to earn a spot in the NCAC tournament as the #2 seed in the league’s eastern division.

“Obviously, we got off to a rough start last year,” said Gator Head Coach Mike Ferris, who enters his tenth season at the helm of the Allegheny baseball program. “We had some key guys out and had to rely on a lot of inexperienced players in our lineup. The good thing was that no one dwelled on our record; Instead, we continued to plug away and got things turned around.”

This season, the Allegheny pitching staff will be led by senior Colt Viehdorfer (Morrisdale, Pa./West Branch), who was named an honorable mention All-NCAC selection in 2007. Viehdorfer led the Blue and Gold in all major pitching categories last year, compiling a 4-5 record with a 4.82 ERA, 34 strikeouts, and only eight walks in 56.0 innings pitched.

The Gators also return six other pitchers who logged at least 20 innings last year including senior Pete Obourn (Farmington, N.Y./Victor), junior Aaron Skalko (Edinboro, Pa./General McLane), and sophomores Justin Abbott (Pittsburgh, Pa./Seton-La Salle), Matt Dishong (Venetia, Pa./Ringgold), J.R. Hess (Pittsburgh, Pa./Central Catholic), and Mike Pereslucha (Pittsburgh, Pa./Kiski).

Obourn went 2-2 last year and finished second on the team with 32.2 innings pitched while Skalko posted a 2-4 record and struck out 18 in 28.1 innings of work. Abbott had the team’s second best ERA (4.88), Dishong tossed 21.1 innings in only five appearances, Hess picked up two wins and finished second on the team with 26 strikeouts, and Pereslucha posted a 3-0 record in seven appearances.

“We will be able to put four quality starters on the mound during conference weekends and also have good enough arms coming back during the week in non-conference games to be competitive. If we get consistent performances from our staff, I believe we have enough talent to compete for an NCAC title and vastly improve our overall record.”

At the plate, Allegheny’s infield will be paced by junior catcher Alex Hernnberger (Eighty Four, Pa./Canon McMillan), who batted a team-best .348 with two homeruns and 17 RBI. He is joined by Obourn who splits time at first base and pitcher, batting .276 last year while tying for the team lead with four homers and 20 RBI.

The middle infield is led by seniors Matt Young (State College, Pa./State College) and Brian Schmidt (Utica, Pa./Franklin). Young hit .298 with a homer and six RBI after missing most of the year due to injury while Scmidt drove in 19 runs and had 30 total bases. Young also batted .327 with team bests in homers (5) and RBI (30) during the 2006 campaign.

Pereslucha handled most of the work at third base last year and tied for the team lead with four homers while finishing second with 23 RBI.

Allegheny’s outfield will feature junior Zach Skowvron (Georgetown, Pa./South Side Beaver) and Hess. Skowvron homered and drove in 10 during 28 starts last year while Hess hit .327 with a homerun, 17 RBI, and four stolen bases.

“Offensively, we will have a pretty balanced line-up from top to bottom. We will be counting on everyone to contribute in some way to help produce runs. The guys with better speed will be utilized to put pressure on the defense, whether its with bunting, stealing, or hit-and-run situations. The guys with more ability to hit the long ball will be given their opportunity to drive in runs as well. We need to be confident and consistent in what we are trying to do. The physical talent is there, we have to develop the right mental approach to go along with it.”

Allegheny opens the season with their annual spring trip and will once again see a difficult slate of games in Port Charlotte, Florida including conference foe Wooster in NCAC action. Upon returning home, the Gators see several opponents from the Ohio Athletic Conference and the Presidents’ Athletic Conference before beginning a difficult stretch of conference matchups mixed with several more non-conference games.

“We expect the spring trip to be tough once again and we know it is a challenge to get off to a good start,” noted the head coach. “We have to be at our best early, especially when we open conference play against Wooster. Once the NCAC season gets into full swing we know anything can happen. Wooster will be the team to beat once again. After that, the rest of our division will be very competitive. The goal is to finish in the top two in order to qualify for the conference tournament. We were able to do that last year and hopefully that experience will help make us a better team this year.”

“There is good chemistry on this team and the guys have been a lot more diligent in their offseason training. We only graduated one senior from last year, and that was our designated hitter, so we will have all of our position players coming back. Hopefully, having the same group playing together again combined with the experience our guys gained last year, will lead to a much improved team in 2008.”

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