Season Preview
baseball looks for oscar-worthy performance

If the Muhlenberg baseball team enjoys a successful 2008 season, it should make sure to thank the Academy.

Every Monday and Wednesday since beginning

Carlo drove in 64 runs in his first three years.

practice on February 1, the Mules have trained at the Lehigh Valley Baseball Academy , a spacious facility in East Allentown that gives the team more opportunity for quality practice time than the on-campus John Deitrich Field House.

“I think it’s really beneficial,” said senior first baseman Joe Carlo. “We have a bunch of stations and an hour-and-a-half with nobody bothering us. We’ve been able to get in more at-bats against live pitching, and that will help us a lot when we go down south.”

Muhlenberg, coming off a 9-25 season, will bus to Florida for eight games in six days next week, beginning Sunday with a doubleheader against Aurora. The Mules are scheduled to add another game at St. Mary’s on the way back on Sunday, March 9.

In addition to moving off campus a couple of days a week, the coaching staff instituted a point system in which players are judged on how they perform in different hitting, pitching and fielding situations. Scores are posted in the locker room at the end of every week.

“It’s really worked out as a positive,” remarked Carlo. “It was done to get people to compete more, and I think [the coaches] like to hear us argue if it was a plus-1 or a minus-1. They want us to pay attention to how we’re doing compared to everyone else. It’s given a real sense of competition.”

Competition will be a season-long characteristic of the Mules, who have 39 players on their roster, including 19 freshmen. With only nine spots available at any one time, the battle for playing time will be as fierce as it has been in some time.

“We have a lot of quality players coming in, pushing the varsity people to do better. That’s what you need,” said Carlo. “In the past we had small freshman classes, and if you were one of four outfielders you didn’t have to work as hard because you knew you would play.”

Muhlenberg’s outfield, with more than four candidates,

Asip hit .329 with eight extra-base hits in 2006.

boasts the most experience on a squad that graduated nine seniors. Junior Christian Conti had a breakout 2007 season, starting in center and hitting .321, and Junior John Kalis batted .310 with 16 RBI and nine stolen bases. Junior Eric Hammond, back from injury, will try to return to his freshman form (.417 batting average), and junior Chris Costa has been a solid reserve the last two years.

The infield is young, even with Carlo, a career .337 hitter, moving to first base from the outfield. Sophomores Eric Pomroy (.324, 22 RBI) and Dan Fisher (.379) will man short and third, respectively, with a freshman getting the nod at second. Junior Edward Risener will back up Carlo.

Senior Danny Asip moves into the starting role behind the plate, catching a staff that followers of the program may not recognize.

“I strongly believe our strong point is going to be our pitching,” said Carlo – a remarkable statement considering the Mules’ team ERA has been around 7.00 for the last four years. But Muhlenberg has a new pitching coach who is “doing phenomenal things with the pitchers. They’re completely different.”

Sophomore Phil Cresta hopes to be at least somewhat the same after emerging as the team’s ace last year, going 3-3 with a 4.45 ERA. Senior Paul Faith is the veteran of the staff, while juniors Matthew Ordog, Brent Morris and Joseph Barrese have shown tremendous improvement. Junior Mike Misciagna returns to the bullpen for his third year, and a host of freshmen figure to see innings.

After returning from their southern swing, the Mules hope the weather cooperates enough to let them play their home opener as scheduled on Wednesday, March 12. Centennial Conference games begin March 25.