NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. – The Westminster College baseball team, under second-year Head Coach
Patrick Riley, returns 26 players from last year's team that held a record of 4-3 before the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We're definitely excited and ready to go." Riley said. "Obviously last year was difficult to work through and with everything going on in today's world, it's affected people in a lot of different ways. Obviously, it had a great impact on our season, not being able to play. To say the least, we're definitely excited, geared up, ready to play and have a spring season. And I know the guys are ready to go for that."
Highlighting the returning position players are graduate student
Frank Cinicola (Cranberry Township, PA / Seneca Valley), who was Westminster's lone All-PAC First Team selection from 2019, junior
Seth Schrader (Fredonia, NY / Fredonia), who had the highest batting average on the team in 2020 at .571 before the season was shut down and junior
Dawson Porter (Kittanning, PA / Armstrong), who led the team with 10 hits and eight RBIs in 2020 and was an All-PAC Honorable Mention in 2019. Other key returning position players include graduate student
Tyler Barnot (Pittsburgh, PA / Bethel Park), senior
Vincent Morelli (Ambridge, PA / Ambridge Area) and juniors
Brandon Cooper (Oakdale, PA / West Allegheny),
Matt Costello (New Castle, PA / Union Area),
Sean Davis (Sharpsville, PA / Sharpsville),
Ryan Jolin (Williamsport, PA / Williamsport Area),
Mike Grazier (Austintown, OH / Austintown Fitch) and
Austin Webb (Wadsworth, OH / Wadsworth).
"We're definitely going to need leadership from them (Team Captains
Frank Cinicola,
Tyler Barnot and
Vincent Morelli), but also from the big junior class (15 players) and we've got a lot of good players in there." Said Riley. "So, collectively as a group we think we are pretty good depth-wise, especially with position players. We're really going to need a team effort. To kind of give you the generic answer, that's something we've been preaching across to the guys and hopefully they're buying into that mindset. So, we're really looking for a lot of different guys to step up in a lot of different ways."
On the mound, the Titans will be under the tutelage of second-year Pitching Coach
Clay Martin, where their significant returning pitchers will be juniors
Logan Minch (Grove City, PA / Grove City Area),
Paul Midili (Spring Hill, FL / Bishop Mclaughlin Catholic) and
Zach Zeis (Gibsonia, PA / Pine-Richland) and sophomores
Hunter Stellato (Struthers, OH / Struthers) and
Mike Brilla (Burton, OH / Berkshire), with some new faces likely to be mixed in.
"We're excited to see what we have a little bit from these younger guys." Said Riley. "They're going to have to step up in some different fashions, especially on the mound. We're going to be leaning on some different guys early on to give us some innings and we've got some talented position players as well. So, it is a larger freshmen group and I know they're ready to go and embark on their college careers and we're excited for them."
Westminster will open its 2021 season on Saturday, March 13 at home vs. Franciscan in a doubleheader with the first pitch slated for 1 p.m., with an opening ceremony for the new ballpark to take place before the games.
"We're pumped! We're ready to go on the {new} field {and play}. We've been on it for the past few weeks {for practice}. We've been very fortunate with the weather. It's a great site, it's a beautiful setting and I know people have been excited to drive by and see what it's all about. So, our guys have enjoyed it, obviously, and it's a game-changer for the program in a lot of different ways."
