HUNTINGDON, Pa. – As he enters his second season as Juniata College's head baseball coach, Jesse Leonard will be looking to blend the young and the old as the Eagles go deeper into the 2013 season. Leonard welcomes a group of 14 freshmen to the roster, while six players who have been starters at one time or another in the last two years return including two starting pitchers.
Leading the way is senior outfielder Ben Mersky (Hershey,Pa./Hershey) who was an All-Landmark Conference selection last year. Mersky led the Eagles in hitting with a .452 average along with a team-high 35 RBIs. Also returning are juniors Brad Medellin (Lewisberry, Pa./Red Land) and Joe Sforza (Pittstown, N.J./Immaculata) who both split time in the infield and on the mound. Medellin went .340 at the plate while Sforza batted .267 and logged 38 innings for the Eagles.
Leonard will also be counting heavily on versatile junior Derek Heath (Huntingdon, Pa./Huntingdon) who was second on the squad last year with a .377 average. Leonard noted that Heath is "a solid utility player that brings a left handed bat and speed to the team."
After a 0-4 start this year, Leonard and the Eagles are anxious for their upcoming trip to Florida after dealing with the elements up north. "We played okay in the games at Bridgewater but the double header at Stevenson might have been as cold as I have ever been on the baseball field," said Leonard. "I am looking forward to the warmer weather so we have a chance to put some complete games together."
Juniata will kick things off on Saturday, March 9 at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational with a doubleheader against Dickinson starting at 4 p.m. The Eagles then face Franklin & Marshall in a doubleheader on Sunday at Warner University, in Lake Wales, Fla., at 1 p.m. Juniata takes on Medaille for a single game on Monday before finishing their southern swing with a doubleheader against Swarthmore on Wednesday, March 13.
The Eagles will return home next Saturday, March 16 when they open Landmark Conference play by hosting perennial contender Scranton University for a three game series over the weekend and Leonard is anxious to get things going. "We were picked to finish last in the conference and I think the kids feel they have something to prove," added Leonard. "We hope to be competitive and I think we can be in the mix."
He knows that his squad will have to improve over last year if they hope to be in that mix. "We have to throw more strikes and have our pitchers keep us in the game. That will be the key."
The Eagles finished 13-24 last year while compiling a 4-14 mark in the Landmark Conference. As a team Juniata had a respectable .304 batting average while scoring 231 runs. They went 7-8 in home contests but were 6-16 in road and neutral site contests. The pitching staff had a 8.13 earned run average and surrendered a .347 average with just one shutout.
If his pitching staff can hold their own Leonard knows that his team has the tools to be successful.
"We are a mostly left handed batting team," he said. "We have good speed on the bases and should be solid on defense and are very solid up the middle. But ultimately we will go as far as our pitching can take us."
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