DURHAM, N.C. – The North Carolina Central University baseball team will open its season at home against Morehead State on Friday, Feb. 19 to open a three-game series at the Durham Athletic Park.
NCCU went 19-30 in the previous campaign and missed the 2015 MEAC Baseball Tournament in heartbreaking fashion on the final day of the season. This year it is looking to break through into the top three of the Southern Division. The Eagles were tabbed to finish fourth in the division by MEAC coaches and sports information directors, but with four All-Conference selections NCCU will be out to defy expectations.
Head coach
Jim Koerner returns for his fifth season at NCCU, along with many of the core players from 2015.
Preseason All-MEAC First Team selection
Devin Sweet (Greensboro, N.C.) will help to anchor the rotation after a standout freshman year. Sweet tied for the team lead with a 4-3 record and kept a team-best 2.93 ERA while racking up a freshman record 54 strikeouts as a Sunday starter last season.
Senior righty
Alex Dandridge (Arlington, Texas) took preseason All-MEAC Second Team honors after his 4-2 record last year as well. Dandridge opened the season 4-0 over his first nine starts and earned two complete games. NCCU as a pitching staff kept the second-best ERA in the league last season at 4.53 and issued the third-fewest walks with 167.
On the offensive side, the power duo of
Carlos Ortiz (Cleveland, Ohio) and
Christian Triplett (Wilkesboro, N.C.) are back to take residence in the middle of the lineup. Ortiz earned a spot on the preseason All-MEAC First Team after becoming the first Eagle to hit double-digit homers in the modern era with 11 last year. He also broke the single-season record for most total bases with 96 while batting .308 and slugging .558.
Triplett rounds out the preseason All-MEAC selections with a spot on the Second Team after a season with 14 doubles to tie the single-season record in the modern era. He knocked out six home runs including two over the Green Monster at Fenway Park during a series with Florida A&M in Boston. Triplett and Ortiz combined for 17 of NCCU's 30 homers, the second-most in the conference during the 2015 run.
Jacobi Harris (Pittsboro, N.C.) and
Trevor Theissen (Franklin, Wisc.) are back to anchor the middle infield, and outfielder
Mitchell McCrary (Mills Creek, N.C.) will provide speed at the top of the lineup. Expect
Conrad Kovalcik (Detroit, Mich.) and
James Dey (Charlotte, N.C.) to split time behind the plate to tandem with the Eagle pitchers.
The rotation will be filled out with
Cameron Scalzo (Rochester, N.Y.) and
Jonathan Figueroa (Chicago, Ill.), plus
Andrew Vernon (Raleigh, N.C.) returns to the bullpen to close games after collecting four saves last season.
Morehead State comes to Durham fresh off of an Ohio Valley Conference Tournament championship, its first since 1993. The Eagles also made their first NCAA Regional appearance since 1983 after a 38-22 campaign.
Preseason All-OVC selection Luke Humphreys (Dickson, Tenn.) will take the mound for the season opener and he earned a 7-3 mark in 2015 with a 4.77 ERA.
The Eagles were a power hitting team last season, but after players have graduated it remains to be seen how they will primarily produce runs in 2016.
NCCU will raise the curtain on 2016 with a 4:00 p.m. first pitch at the Durham Athletic Park on Friday, and admission is free. The weekend series will be carried live on the NCCU Sports Network, available at NCCUEaglePride.com.
