The Red Hawks baseball team will take the field this Saturday as the preseason ranked 18th best team in NJCAA DII baseball. They Red Hawks will open their season at home facing DI foe USC Lancaster at Hinkel Alley Field on Legion Fairgrounds. The Red Hawks will play the Lancers of USC Lancaster in a 4 game series playing two double headers on Saturday and Sunday with both starting at 12:00pm.
"It is going to be really nice to start the season at home," said Head Coach Paul Rozzelle, "Last year we started on the road and stayed on the road." In 2016 the Red Hawks played 31 games away while only playing 20 at home. This is compared to a 2017 schedule which has 34 games at home and 22 on the road. "Our teams have always played well at home and we look to continue the trend this year," stated Rozzelle, whose Red Hawk team was 16-4 in his 20 games at home last season.
The Red Hawks finished the 2016 season with a 30-25 record and fell in the Southeast District quarterfinals to Patrick Henry 7-5 to be eliminated from the post season. With the 30 wins, the Red Hawks continued their streak of winning 30 games or more in all seven years of the programs existence.
"Last year was an up and down year," said Rozzelle. "We were coming off a World Series run and had a lot of turnover in our program. This forced freshman into keys rolls for our program. There were a lot of growing pains, but I believe this adversity is going to make our team even stronger this season."
This season the Red Hawks will return twelve sophomores who saw ample action last year. The group is led by Channing Painton, Walker Smith, Chandler Jenkins, Austin Adams and Chris Wright. Painton will be the anchor of the team at the shortstop position. This second year starter had the most at bats of any returner this upcoming year. Posting a .299 batting average, Painton hit 11 doubles and 4 homeruns. Smith who also had a good season in 2016 will look to build off a strong fall season where he hit 6 homeruns.
On the mound the Red Hawks returns some sophomores who saw action including Omar Bautista, Charles Hall, Kaidyn Hamilton, and Andrew Tilghman. Hall and Bautista return as starters from the 2016 season. Hall pitched the most innings for the Red Hawks last season throwing 55.1 innings while Bautista threw 39.1. Tilghman will be the primary closer for the Red Hawks this season replacing Jacob Breakfield who is at Western Carolina.
The Red Hawks will also have some new faces who will make an immediate impact. UNC Asheville transfer, sophomore catcher Riley Smith and St. Johns transfer, sophomore pitcher Cole Whitney will be added for some NCAA DI experience. Redshirt freshman Graham Mitchell who transferred from Charleston Southern and Cory Watt a Spartanburg Methodist transfer will also help the Red Hawks, while true freshman outfielder Jordan Jeter, outfielder, David Graves, middle infielder Kody Trujillo, pitcher Matthew Dailey and pitcher Thomas Walden will also have an immediate impact on the success of the Red Hawks in 2017.
The 2016 schedule was one of the toughest schedules the Red Hawks have faced in their history, however 2017 will be just as difficult, is not even a little tougher. The Red Hawks will play five NJCAA DI teams in a total of 19 games. This includes a four game series against Spartanburg Methodist who was ranked 15th in the DI preseason polls and a three game series against Walters State who was ranked 13th in the polls. The Red Hawks will also have a 4 game series against USC Sumter who is listed as a top 50 NJCAA team by Perfect Game.
The conference schedule will be just as difficult this season facing the #9 ranked Patrick Henry in a three game series at Patrick Henry. The Red Hawks will also have to travel to face last year's Southeast district champions Brunswick and the longtime successful program Pitt who just moved down to DII from DI this past season.
"We are very excited to get on the field and play a game," said Rozzelle. "I love the group we have this year. They are focused and all have the desire to pursue another trip to the World Series. Our coaching staff is going to enjoy coming to work every day and working with this exceptional group of young men."
For complete information on CVCC Baseball visit our website at GoCVCC.com and follow the baseball team at @CVCCBaseball.