Baseball will defend C-USA championship with rebuilt roster

By Joel Delgado ’12 MS ’17 

The FIU baseball team that will take the field on Friday night at Ole Miss will look very different from the team that brought home the conference championship last season.

Infielder Edwin Rios, who led the team in the power department with 18 home runs and 56 runs batted in, was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Pitcher Danny Dopico, the team’s reliable closer with 10 saves in 2015, was also taken in the MLB Draft by the Chicago White Sox.

Third baseman Josh Anderson (2015 Conference USA tournament MVP); outfielder Brian Portelli (led the team with a .346 batting average in 2015); and shortstop Julius Gaines were all seniors and are gone, too.

All were instrumental in helping the Panthers make a late surge last season that propelled them to their first ever Conference USA title and an appearance in the Coral Gables NCAA Regional, and they left the team with some big holes to fill.

Head Coach Turtle Thomas is hoping that this year’s team – with 20 new players, many of them coming in with junior college experience – will be able to fill in those gaps right away.

MIX & MATCH

The batting order is pretty much set with sophomore outfielder Jack Schaff taking over the leadoff spot and new shortstop Irving Lopez expected to hit No. 2 in the lineup. The middle of the order, however, is far from settled.

J.C. Escarra is one of the few starters from last year’s lineup returning for 2016. Photo courtesy of FIU Athletics.

“We have those pieces of the puzzle, but now it is matter of figuring out where they fit,” Thomas says. “The lineup is going to look different as we go through the season and see how guys hit and how guys develop. That will be a bit of a work in progress along the way.”

One of those key pieces will be junior catcher J.C. Escarra, one of the team’s key returners from a year ago. With many of his teammates from last year gone, he has taken up the mantle and is eager to leave a mark in the heart of the batting order.

“Last year we had some heavy hitters and now it’s my role to fill in those shoes,” says Escarra, who batted .271 and drove in 33 runs last season.

Escarra is also confident that this year’s team has what it takes to pick up where they left off. After all, last year’s team had a similar makeup going into the season and got off to a rocky start before everything gelled when it mattered most.

“This year there’s nothing that we don’t have. We have everything we need to go all the way,” Escarra says. “We just have to come together as a team. That’s the only thing we’re missing.”

STRONG ARMS

There is one area where the Panthers will enjoy the benefits of plenty of experience and continuity: the starting rotation.

All three of the Panthers’ projected weekend starting pitchers – Andres Nunez, Chris Mourelle and Garrett Cave – were on the team last year and come back with ample experience.

Pitcher Chris Mourelle will be the team’s Saturday starter this upcoming season. Photo courtesy of FIU Athletics.

“I’ve learned how to win in tough situations and I think most of our teams does as well,” Mourelle says.

Cody Crouse, who started on most Saturday nights for the team in 2015 and is recovering from an elbow injury, will begin the season as a starter for the team’s mid-week games.

Nunez, who led the team last year with 79 strikeouts, takes over as the team’s Friday night starter and will take the mound in the season opener against Ole Miss Friday, Feb. 19, to kick off a three-game series.

The opportunity to go up against a Southeastern Conference (SEC) opponent to begin the season will immediately put the Panthers’ new-look team to the test.

“Going up there and playing three big games with three good crowds to open the season, that will be good for us,” Thomas says. “To get used to that atmosphere, to play against one of the best teams we will play against all year, that can’t be anything but good for us one way or the other.”

After this weekend, the team will return home for 16 straight home games, beginning with a pair of mid-week games at FIU Baseball Stadium against St. Thomas (Feb. 23) and Missouri (Feb. 24).

For more information on FIU Baseball, go to FIUSports.com.