'09 Baseball: An early look

The baseball team has 4 games under it's belt after splitting with Barton this past weekend. Now that all the pre-season speculation is aside and the games are underway, we can take a look at Coach Blum's depth chart to this point.

Batting Order:

1. Corey Buletza - The righty appears, as expected, to be the leadoff man. He started and led off all 4 games.

2. Mike Kacelowicz - Another righty, the veteran has started all 4 games at second

3. Chad Lightcap - PSAC standout and right handed hitting Lightcap has started all 4 games in left

4. Jared Frey - The first lefty, Frey has started all 4 games at first.

5. Shayne Houck - The right handed hitting freshman started all four games at third.

6. Mike Dugan - The sophomore righty has started 2 games at DH and 2 in right field

7. Catcher Spot - Matt Kulbacki (1 start), Dom Fantanarosa (2 starts), and rookie Johann Knee (1 start) appear to be 1-2-3 on the catching depth chart, respectively

8. Jeff Kistle (2 starts in right), Cody Montz (1 start at DH), and Brad Stoudt (1 start at DH) manned the 8 spot over the weekend

9. Brett Wigder (2 starts) and Mark Renda (2 starts) will split the shortstop duty and bat ninth.

Pitching Rotation:

1. Darin Gorski (LHP) - The ace will be drafted into the majors later this year
2. Mike Bucklin (RHP) - The right lasted 3+ in his first '09 start
3. Ryan Cassidy (LHP) - Was very effective in his first start of 2009
4. Kevin Morganti (RHP) - First start after missing 07 and 08 seasons

Bullpen:
Closer - Trent Mertz (RHP) - Already 3 apperances: 1 save, 1 blown save
Setup - Jason Herr (RHP) - 1 appearance
Setup - Jordan Smith (LHP) - 1 appearance
Setup - Adam Maini (RHP) - 1 appearance
Setup - Anthony Fegely (RHP) - 1 appearance
Setup - Matt Patterson (RHP) - 1 appearance

Obviously this only includes active players so far this season. A few guys who will see action are missing, with the most notable being 3B/DH James Quigley, who is suffering from mild back pain. Coach Blum is optimistic that it is not serious.