More info than you'll ever need to know on the 2012 Virginia Tech Baseball Team

As basketball season winds down, and before football season starts up, lets focus on HokieBall.  The 2011 Hokie baseball team finished 30-25, 11-19 in ACC play, 5th out of 6 in the Coastal (ahead of Duke) and 9th overall in the ACC.  The Hokies look to improve upon last season, and will do so behind a much more experienced pitching staff.

The 2012 squad is 7-2 with wins over Bradley (2), Kennesaw State, West Virginia, Coastal Carolina, Iowa and High Point.  The 2 losses were to Kennesaw State and George Mason (c'mon guys).  Through the first 9 games the pitching staff has carried the team with a 2.62 ERA.  The bats and gloves need to wake up in order to improve upon last year's record.  Stars Andrew Rash and Ronnie Shaban have returned, and players such as Chad Pinder and Tyler Horan look to be primed for breakout years.

I have yet to see the team play and am only going off of box scores, but I'll breakdown the roster to get everyone a little more familiar with the personel.  The team seems to have solid starters at Catcher, 2nd, 3rd, SS and the outfield and appears to be rotating a few guys at the 1B and DH positions.  Also, when looking at the home towns of the 2012 Hokies it is obvious Pete Hughes has used his northern connections in putting this team together.  

Catcher 

Chad Morgan - r-Sophmore - Springfield, VA - #33 has appeared in 8 games (7 starts) and is hitting a cool .130 with 1 RBI to start the year.  Chad started 38 games in 2011 and hit .245 with 2 homers and 24 rbi's

Mark Zagunis - Freshman - Cinnaminson, NJ - #2 has appeared in 3 games (2 starts) and is hitting .400 with 3 RBIs.  Mark was a 2011 Louisville Slugger High School All-American

2 other players listed on the hokiesports.com roster but yet to see action so far are:

Ryan Burns - Freshman - Miami, FL - #16

Jake Conway - Freshman - Haymarket, VA - #23

1st Base and Designated Hitter

Ronnie Shaban(L) - Senior - Moseley, VA - #29  has made 4 starts at 1B, 4 starts at DH and has made 4 relief appearances.  Ronnie is hitting .333 with 4 RBIs.  He also has 3 Saves and 4 K's in 3 Innings.  It looks like Ronnie is the 2012 closer.  In 2011, Ronnie hit .292 with 5 homers and 52 rbi's and had a 4.66 ERA in 17 appearances.  Ronnie was a 49th round pick of the Baltimore Orioles in 2011.

Gabe Ortiz - Senior - Panama City, Panama - #7 has made 2 starts at 1B and 1 start at DH, while also appearing in 5 other games.  Gabe is hitting .111 to start the season.  In 2011 he appeared in 39 games(mostly in the outfield) and hit .276 with 3 HRs and 13 RBIs.  Gabe played for Vanderbilt in 2008-2009 and Daytona State College in 2010.  

Sean Keselica(L) - Freshman - Glen Gardner, NJ - #25 has made 2 starts at 1B and 1 start at DH and has appeared in 2 other games.  Sean is hitting .417 with 2 RBIs in 12 at-bats.  He is also listed as a Pitcher on Hokiesports.com

Brendon Hayden(L) - Freshman - Twin Lakes, Wisconsin - #34 has made 1 start at 1B and 2 startsat DH and also appeared in 2 other games.  Brendon is 2 for 10 with 2 RBIs to start his VT career.  He is also listed as a Pitcher on the Hokiesports website.  Brendon was a 36th round pick of the Philadelphia Phillies out of High School in 2011.

2nd Base

Alex Perez(L) - Freshman - Miami, FL - #8 has made 9 starts at 2B and is hitting .233 with 6 RBIs.  He has also committed 3 errors on the young season.

Shortstop

Johnny Morales - Senior - Bellflower, CA - #15 has made 9 starts at SS and is hitting .273 with 5 RBIs and has committed 3 errors so far.  Johnny was the primary starting 3B in 2011 and hit .253 with 1 HR and 20 RBIs.  Johnny played at Cyprus College in 2009 and 2010.

Third Base

Chad Pinder - Sophmore - Poquoson, VA - #5 has made 9 starts at 3B and is hitting a scorching .385 with 7 RBIs and has made 3 errors in the field so far.  In 2011, Chad appeared in 37 games and hit .317 with 3 HRs and 14 RBIs.  Was one of 3 current Hokies(Atwell, Scoggin) to play for the Peninsula Pilots of the Coastal Plain League last summer.

Outfield

LF - Tyler Horan(L) - r-Sophmore - Middleboro, MA - #27 has started all 9 games in the outfield.  7 in LF, 2 in RF and is hitting .233 with 2 HRs and 3 RBIs to start the season.  He is the current Hokies Home Run Leader.  Tyler hit .396 in 48 at bats last season with 3 Home Runs.

CF - Andrew Rash - r-Junior - Anderson, SC - #20 has started all 9 games, 7 in CF, 2 in LF and is hitting .216 with 1 HR and 4 RBIs.  In 2011, Andrew hit .335 with 18 HRs and 53 RBIs.  Andrew was a 2012 Preseason 3rd team All-American by Louisville Slugger and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.  Andrew was also a 36th round pick of the Philadelphia Phillies in 2011.

RF - Jake Atwell(L) - Senior - El Dorado, Ark - #17 has started all 9 games, 7 in RF, 2 in CF and is hitting .257 with 1 HR and 6 RBIs.  Jake hit .304 in 44 games last season.  He also takes the mound for the Hokies, pitching in 2 games in 2011 and recording 1 save.

Kyle Wernecki - Freshman - Skillman, NJ - #4 has appeared in 6 games, mostly as a defensive replacement/pinch runner and is 0-4 on the season.

Carson Helms - Freshman - Farmington, CT - #40 has appeared in 3 games, with 1 start at DH and is 1 for 6 on the young season.  

3 other Hokies listed on the roster but yet to see action are:

Logan Bible(L) - Freshman - Raleigh, NC - #6 - For the football fans reading this, Logan is the son of NC State Offensive Coordinator Dana Bible.

Kyle Prats(L) - Freshman - Miami, FL - #9

Gary Schneider(L) - Junior - Germantown, MD - #32 - Transfer from University of Maryland where he played in 2010-2011.  Listed as a Utility Player.  I would think he would have to sit out the 2012 season.  

Starting Pitchers

Manny Martir - r-Senior - Jacksonville, FL - #22 - Started 2 games for the Hokies and has a 0.82 ERA with 13 strikeouts in 11 innings.  Looks to be the Friday Night Starter(Ace).  In 2011, mostly in relief(1 start) Manny compiled a 3.71 ERA in 51 innings.  Played at Indian River State College in 2008 and 2009.

Jake Mantiply(L) - Junior - Danville, VA - #14 - Started 2 games and has a 0.71 ERA with 10 K's in 12 2/3 innings.  In 2011, Joe started 14 games with an ERA of 4.36 in 84 2/3 innings.  

Marc Zecchino - r-Senior - Hazlet, NJ - #11 - Started 2 games and has a 3.97 ERA in 11 1/3 innings.  In 2011, Marc started 14 games with an ERA of 4.66 in 85 innings. 

Patrick Scoggin - Junior - Richmond, VA - #37 - Started 2 games and has a 1.69 ERA in 10 K's in 10 2/3 innings.  In 2011 Patrick pitched 39 1/3 innings with an ERA of 3.66 and 41 Strikeouts.  

Relief Pitchers

Clark Labitan - r-Junior - San Diego, CA - #3 - Clark has appeared in 6 games (5 2/3 IP) and has a 4.76 ERA and looks to be the workhorse out of the pen in 2012.   Only appeared in 1 game in 2011.

Jake Joyce - Junior - Collinsville, VA - #12 - Jake has appeared in 5 games (3 2/3 IP) and has yet to allow an earned run.  Pitched in 23 games in 2011 and looks to improve upon his stats from last year.  

Ronnie Shaban - Senior - Moseley, VA - #29 - Closer - 3 Saves

Andrew Aizenstadt - r-Senior - Norwell, MA - #18 - Andrew has appeared in 3 games, 1 start(at High Point) and has a 2.79 ERA in 9 2/3 innings.  Andrew is a transfer from Bobson College, where he played from 2008-2011.

Eddie Campbell (L)- Sophmore - Bridgewater, MA - #26 - Eddie has appeared in 3 games and has a 1.59 ERA in 5/23 innings.  Eddie pitched 28 1/3 innings in 2011.

Jake Atwell(L) - Senior - El Dorado, Ark - #17

Colin O'Keefe(L) - Sophmore -  Bridgewater, MA - #21 - Colin has appeared in 2 games in 2012 and pitched 4 1/3 innings in 2011.

Tanner McIntyre - Junior - Corning, CA - #28 - Tanner has appeared in 2 games in 2012 and is a transfer from Butte College where he played from 2010 and 2011. 

Ricky Hodges - r-Freshman - Darien, CT - #24 - Darien has appeared in 1 game for the Hokies and did not record an out.  

Other pitchers on the roster but have yet to pitch:

Matt Snyder(L) - Freshman - Albany, NY - #31

Isaac Sterman(L) - Freshman - Stamford, CT - #36

Devin Burke - r-Sophmore - Darien, CT - #13 - played at Duke in 2010

Coaching Staff

Pete Hughes - Head Coach - #19 - 6th season.  155-133 record at Virginia Tech.  457-344-2 career record.  Coach Hughes is signed through 2014.

Patrick Mason - Pitching Game Coordinator & Recruiting Coordinator - #39 - 2nd season at Virginia Tech.  Spent the prevous 5 seasons at Northeastern.

Mike Kunigonis - Assistant Coach - #42 - 2nd season as an Assistant Coach, spent the previous 2 seasons as a Volunteer assistant.  Also, previously worked at Radford(Volunteer), Canisius and Niagara.

Ryan Connolly - Volunteer Coach - #10 - 2nd season as Volunteer Coach.  Was a 2-time captain at Notre Dame during his playing days(2007-2010).

The Hokies are in action this weekend at English Field at 1 PM on Saturday for a doubleheader and again at 1 PM on Sunday.  English field is sporting brand new turf that is quite, quite green.  

Thanks to HokieSports.com for providing the information.

DISCLAIMER: Blog posts may not have been written or edited by The Key Play staff.