Q&A With Randy Mazey
November 20, 2002 | Baseball
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What expectations do you have for the pitching staff?
"I'm thinking that our pitching will be our strength. We've got a lot of senior pitchers who are pretty well established and have won a lot of games in their careers. The mark of a championship team is usually an older team, and we've got some older, experienced pitchers. Going into this past fall, I was thinking that pitching was going to be our strength, but the hitters beat the pitchers in fall practice. We're still kinda up in the air. We still need some guys to step up because we lost Sam Narron and we still haven't replaced him. So Sam's innings and his wins are going to have to be divided among all those seniors and a couple of young guys."
Who is the team going to look toward for leadership on the mound?
"[Davey] Penny, [Neal] Sears, [Will] Brinson, and [Glenn] Tucker are the four seniors who you would like to think are going to pitch the majority of our innings. We've got some quality guys like Greg Bunn, who got some All-American honors as a freshman last year with seven saves -- we'd like to think he can continue to be our closer -- and somebody's going to have to step up between Scott Greene and maybe [Jason] Tourangeau, Matt Bishop, Kevin Rhodes, guys like that. Losing Phillip Powell, who broke his arm a couple weeks ago, didn't help us much. He was going to be able to pitch some innings for us. Without some of those guys, some guys that are unproven are going to have to prove themselves."
Any newcomers on the pitching staff that could make an immediate impact?
"Jason Neitz has a chance. We've got Nate Logan and Scott Andrews, both local guys, who are also left-handed and those three guys are really our only left-handed pitchers. Jason Neitz has thrown well this fall and he's going to get an opportunity to throw some innings for us."
What kind of hitting team can we expect?
"The idea this fall was to try and find someone to hit behind Darryl [Lawhorn]. I understand this team last year wasn't very potent offensively and really that was the weakness, but like I said, this fall, the hitters beat the pitchers. Some guys stepped up. I think offensively, we're going to be okay and will be able to score some runs. We're scrappy and we compete. One thing about these guys on this team, they overachieve a little bit. We went into this fall trying to take an aggressive approach and I think they really took to that well. We had quite a few home runs this fall and some guys had really good showings. Jason Tourangeau led the team in home runs this fall and he has yet to have an [official] at-bat here as a senior. Ryan Norwood has really swung the bat pretty well and showed some power. Mike Harrington had a real good fall. So I think we're going to be okay offensively."
Can Darryl Lawhorn have the same kind of success he had last year?
"It's going to be tough. People know who Darryl is now. So he's going to suffer a lot of the same fate that Barry Bonds does; people pitch around Barry all the time. If you don't have somebody hitting behind Darryl, that's going to happen to him a lot. It's going to be hard for him to do that. He's going to have to be very disciplined and wait for good pitches to hit and not get overanxious and frustrated that people aren't pitching to him. If he can do that, obviously he's a great talent. Mentally, he's going to have to be real sharp to repeat what he did this past year."
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"We've got some good kids that are going to add some depth. To say that we have another guy who can step in and hit .416 with 19 home runs, I don't see that happening. Mike DeJesus, a freshman from New Jersey, is going to be a good player for us. Mike Grace has tremendous power and he's going to hopefully see some time this year. Jake Smith, a freshman from up around Greensboro, is going to be a good player for us. We've got some guys who are going to add some depth, but I don't know if they're going to make quite the impact Darryl did."
What about defense?
"When you start talking about defense, you start with right up the middle [catcher, second base, shortstop, center field]. We've got some questions there. We're going to have new guys in three of the four middle spots. John Poppert throws as well as any catcher I've ever coached, so we're in pretty good shape there. [Luke] Cherry is coming back again as our senior shortstop and he's solid defensively. Kevin O'Sullivan had a great fall. He hasn't had much playing time in his career here, so between him and DeJesus at second, I think we'll have a good player there. Ryan Jones in center field is going to be pretty solid. We've got as good a defensive outfield as I've seen and it's deep, too. We could put five or six guys out there who can really run the ball down. That's going to be one of our strengths is outfield defense."
How has the transition for the team been in adjusting to the coaching change?
"I think it's been very smooth because Keith [LeClair] and I are very similar as far as our coaching styles and what we expect out of these guys. I don't think from a player's standpoint that things will change much at all. The thing that has changed, anytime you get a new coach, the guys who have been on the team that haven't played much in the past get a rebirth or a new opportunity to prove themselves and they really did that this fall. Guys like a Tourangeau, who hasn't hit here before, and Mike Harrington, who hasn't played much, or Kevin O'Sullivan -- those three guys were three of our better players this fall. Guys who needed a new opportunity and needed to be seen by some new eyes really took advantage of it."
Have the team's expectations changed any after a full season in Conference USA?
"I think they got a little bit of an awakening last year after finishing sixth in the league in the regular season. That's something they weren't used to around here. I think from the players' perspective and the fans' perspective, they see Conference USA as a good baseball conference, which it is. Hopefully one year of experience teaches guys how to get used to the grind of travel, having to get off an airplane on Sunday night and turn around and throw in the bullpen on Monday, as opposed to the Colonial, where you drive up and down the East Coast a little bit. I think the conference is very excited and I think the guys like being in it. You get to see a lot of different places and see a lot of different teams. Conference USA had a team in Omaha two years ago in Tulane, so everybody now knows this league is capable of sending people there. I'm excited; I can't wait to get started, and I think the guys feel the same way."
Will the enthusiasm generated by last year's strong finish carry over?
"That's kind of good and bad. Expectations are real high now. It's unusual for a number six seed to win it, and it helps to host it. But I think the fact that the team bonded around Keith really helped as far as Keith showing up at the tournament and the guys playing for Keith. The tournament's not in Kinston this year so we're going to have to win it on the road. It's good to have won the tournament in that this team, when they step on the field, they expect to win, regardless of who we're playing. We could show up against the Atlanta Braves and these guys would think they're going to win. You get used to winning and you get some confidence and, regardless of the difference in talent levels, if you think you can win, then you've got a chance. Our saying, if you see it on the back of our T-shirts, it says 'We're Going.' These guys really believe that we can go to Omaha. We're going to have to overcome a lot of things to get there, but half the battle of getting there is believing that you can get there. These guys and the community all believe we can make it, as do I. Everyday I wake up, I wonder what can we do today to help us get there. The work ethic's been great. These guys get out there in the weight room and on the field as good as any I've seen. They definitely overachieve. I don't think we're the most talented group in the world, so to beat a team with more talent, you've got to beat them with your heart sometimes and these guys do a good job of doing that."
