courtesy thesoutherner.com
CARTERVILLE Illinois - Jerry Halstead's John A. Logan Volunteers open their baseball season this weekend in central Alabama, weather permitting. Logan is scheduled to play Saturday and Sunday and will return south next week to take on Meridian, Miss., as well as Southern Union and Calhoun, Ala.
"Some of those schools down south have already played eight to 10 games while we've been stuck in a gym the last few weeks," Halstead said. "But that's fine. We're ready to go. We want to play good competition right off the bat to kind of gauge our talent and see what we need to work on in the weeks ahead."
Logan finished 31-21 last spring, a down year by Halstead's standards. The influx of 17 freshmen and a handful of sophomore transfers enabled the Vols to post an 11-2 mark in an abbreviated fall session .
"I feel we have the talent to get the job done this spring," Halstead said. "We can pitch it. We can catch it and I think we can slug it out toe-to-toe with people and also play small ball and win, too."
Only five sophomores return from last year's team. They are: outfielder Derek Mattea; catcher Marco DiRoma; infielders Derek Locascio and Adam Velocci; and starting pitcher Cale Wine (Coulterville).
Mattea led the team in home runs and runs batted in last year.
"He also hit over .400 in the fall and proved that he can deliver with men on base," Halstead said. "Derek just needs to get a little more consistent. If he can do that, he should have a heck of a spring for us."
Halstead also praised DiRoma's leadership skills.
"Marco is very solid back there. He does a great job of handling the pitchers," Halstead said. "They have confidence in him. Any offense he provides, and he is more than capable, is icing on the cake."
Halstead said Locascio can play an assortment of infield positions and hit well during the fall. He said Velocci provides depth at the corner infield positions and can hit for power. Wine is dealing with a strained elbow on his pitching arm and will not likely be worked into the rotation for a couple of weeks.
"It's the same elbow that required surgery when he was a junior in high school, so we're going to take it slow with Cale," Halstead said. "If healthy, we expect him to be a front-of-the-rotation starter for us and give us a lot of innings."
Sophomores who transferred into the program include: outfielder Lucas Hileman (Anna-Jonesboro) via Baylor University; first baseman Derek Trovillion (Vienna) from Rend Lake College; right-handed pitcher Tyler Newhart from Wright State and left-handed pitcher Mike Guinane from Dayton.
"Luke hit nearly .400 last spring in a platoon role with Baylor," Halstead said. "He hits from the left side, has speed and should be a disruptive force to the opposition when on the bases. Derek has been through the wars in the GRAC (Great Rivers Athletic Conference) with Rend Lake last year. He will fit in nicely in our everyday lineup. Tyler beat Georgia at Georgia last year when they were ranked the No. 1 team in the nation and then followed that up with a really strong summer in the Great Lakes League. Mike gives us an experienced lefty arm."
Freshmen transfers are Casey Rautenstrach (Goreville) via Eastern Illinois University and Eric Shannahan (University of Arkansas).
Other freshmen on the roster include: outfielders Brandon Alexander, Michael Kane and Zach McCarthy; infielders Ryan Richardson, Chase Greenwell, Mike Kozlowski and Cody Poole; catchers Mike Fitzgerald and Javier Aponte; and pitchers Pat Kaminska, Lucas Shearrow, Jayden Pobst, Aaron Gregory and Carterville's Brad Drust.
