Coppin State’s baseball team opens the 2022 season this weekend when it heads across the country to take on California Baptist University in a three-game series on Feb. 18-20. All three games against the Lancers will be televised on ESPN+ and will feature live statistics that cane be found at www.coppinstatesports.com
Event Information
Teams: Coppin State Eagles at California Baptist Lancers
Dates: February 18-20, 2022
Times: Friday (9 pm); Saturday (8 pm); Sunday (3 pm)
Location: Riverside, Calif. (James W. Totman Stadium)
Game 1 TV: https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/b1d11454-1438-479d-9bc4-d40b255db68a
Game 2 TV: https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/d21ccd00-083c-4086-a9e8-6dc6e9d1f94c
Game 3 TV: https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/4ef1dd0d-c894-4909-a1f3-86cf0af8ef9c
Preseason Prognostics
Despite a league-high five players being named to the Preseason All-MEAC Team, the Eagles were picked to finish third of four teams in the MEAC Predicted Order of Finish. Mike Dorcean was selected at catcher, Sebastien Sarabia at first base, both Marcos Castillo and Darren Hagan in the outfield and Jordan Hamberg at utility. The Eagles were picked second in the conference by D1Baseball.com and Perfect Game selected Giovanni Canales to the All-MEAC
Position Outlook
Outfield
The outfield was Coppin’s strongest area last season with Hagan at centerfield with Wellington Balsley and Hamberg in the corners, and the position has gotten even stronger with the return of senior Marcos Castillo. Hagan was the only Eagle to play in every game last season as he hit .312 while leading the team in runs, hits, total bases, and sacrifice flies. Hagan won a league-high four Rookie of the Week awards last season and was selected to the MEAC Third Team. Balsley led the MEAC with a .406 batting average from the leadoff spot last year but did not qualify for the batting title due to number of at-bats as he accumulated a .539 on-base percentage with 12 walks while being plunked by a pitch eight times. Hamberg led all qualified hitters with a .382 clip, recording six extra-base hits.
Castillo has been one of Coppin’s most productive hitters in school history with a .331 career batting average. A native of Round Rock, Texas, Castillo has racked up 22 doubles, a school-record 12 triples, five home runs and 59 RBI in 89 career games. In 2020, Castillo hit .378 with four doubles, a ripple, three home runs and nine RBI in just 12 games before the season was cut short due to COVID.
Also returning to the outfield are veterans Matt Day and Justin Oakley, as well as sophomore Mario Cuevas. Day and Oakley provide speed and power to the lineup while Cuevas flashed late in the season which carried over into the fall season.
Infield
The infield will have a much different look this season with just Sarabia, Grant Williams, Toran Smith and Bruce Hilton returning. Sarabia split time at catcher, first base and designated hitter last season and sems poised to lock down first base after earning Second Team All-MEAC honors as a freshman last season. Williams received Third Team honors at the hot corner in 2021, hitting .283 with 12 RBI in MEAC play. Smith bounced around the infield last season but managed to still hit .272 with three doubles and ten RBI. Division I transfers Brian Nicolas and Corey Miley should see significant time while manning the middle of the infield and both can move to third base as well. Fellow newcomers Josh Hankins, Tyler Lloyd and Eimir Perez will also see time up the middle with Kevin Miranda-Castrodad and Mike Edwards able to handle the corners.
Catcher
Dorcean will se the bulk of the time behind the plate as he possesses a heavy bat and a strong arm which helped him to First Team All-MEAC honors in 2021. Dorcean hit .377 with five home runs and 23 RBI while leading the MEAC with a .524 on-base percentage and ranking second with a 1.134 OPS. Sarabia could spell him at catcher as will freshman Landen Argabright who is a polished hitter and showcases a quick catch-and-release behind the plate.
Pitching Staff
Now led by pitching coach Sean Repay, Coppin should see major improvement on the mound with Canales, Hamberg, Luke Baker, Nico Felber, John Neeld, Tyler Nichol, Matt Perkins, Rashad Ruff and Tim Ruffino all returning. Canales, Hamberg, Nichol and Ruffino are looked on as weekend starters while the others can throw multiple innings from the bullpen and see time as weekday starters. Joining them on the staff are freshmen Sam Batis, Marcos Herrand and Justin Johnson, as well as transfer Johan Freudenburg. All four newcomers should see significant time with Freudenburg showing the capability to work as both a weekend starter and in the bullpen. Batis, a Montgomery County Player of the Year, and Herrand, seemed poised for the bullpen and could see time as starters during the week. Johnson, who has gotten the most preseason publicity of the bunch as the Perfect Game Preseason Freshman of the Year, should see midweek starts and could see time in the bullpen during conference play.
About The Lancers
Cal Baptist finished 40-16 last season in a campaign that included a share of the Western Athletic Conference regular season title. The Lancers, who were picked third in the WAC West Division, received votes in the NCBWA Final Top 30 Poll and picked up votes in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Preseason Top 50 Poll. CJ Culpepper was named to the Preseason All-WAC Team as the team’s closer last season where he was the WAC Freshman of the Year, earned First Team honors and was a Third Team All-American.
Offense was key to CBU going on a 21-5 run at the end of last season, as its .295 team batting average ranked first in the WAC and top 31 in all of Division I in 2021. The Lancers return six players who hit .290 or better a season ago: Chad Castillo (.333), Mitchel Simon (.308), Harrison Spohn (.297), Connor Clift (.291), Garret Ostrander (.344) and Russell Stevenson (.340).
It will be a new-look pitching staff after CBU lost about 64 percent of its inning pitched from a season ago (304/475), including its top two starting pitchers in Chris Burica and Bryan Pope and primary relievers in Matt Amrhein and Jacob McCarvel. The Lancers will look to a few experienced returners to lead a group that will also heavily rely on true freshmen.
Up Next
Following the series at CBU, Coppin will play at Navy on February 23 before a seven-game homestand which features a four-game series against Saint Peter’s (Feb. 25-27) and three games against Cornell (March 5-6).