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Game Notes

RICHMOND, Ky. – A new era of Eastern Kentucky University baseball will begin Friday when new head coach Edwin Thompson and the Colonels face Lipscomb in Nashville, Tennessee.
 
First pitch for the series-opener is scheduled for 5 p.m. 
 
Thompson's team will face a tough test right out of the gate.  Lipscomb was 39-20 last season and advanced to the NCAA regional.  The Bison will be led by Michael Gigliotti and Jeffrey Passantino.  Gigliotti is the top returning hitter.  He batted .332 as a freshman to go along with 78 hits, 51 runs, 28 RBIs and five home runs.  Passantino will look to build on a solid freshman campaign that saw the right-hander go 5-1 with a 2.69 ERA in 67 innings pitched.  Lipscomb also added senior Cody Glenn, a transfer from LSU.  The left-hander was a weekend starter for the Tigers as a sophomore.
 
EKU returns its entire starting line-up from the 2015 season, but must replace six pitchers that accounted for 220 and two thirds innings, and 12 wins.
 
"We have a bunch of seniors in the line-up that have played a lot of baseball," Thompson said.  "That gives us some comfort coming in as a new staff.  We're going to lean on them a lot.  Our team will do as well as our seniors do.  I'm sure some of the coaches in the OVC are tired of seeing these guys, but we're real glad to have them here in our first year." 
 
The offense will be anchored by the trio of senior outfielders Kyle Nowlin and TJ Alas, and senior third baseman Mandy Alvarez.  Nowlin has been chosen as a preseason All-American by four organizations and was picked as the Ohio Valley Conference Preseason Player of the Year by three organizations.  He led the nation in home runs per game, was a first team All-OVC honoree and was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 30th round of the Major League Baseball Draft in 2015.  Nowlin hit 19 home runs while batting .326 with a .690 slugging percentage, 45 RBIs, 49 runs scored and 18 stolen bases.
 
"Kyle has a very short, compact swing that allows him to put good swings on the ball," said Thompson.  "He has above average bat speed and has a good path to the baseball.  Kyle has an unbelievable work ethic and he's very strong and that translates into his swing.  He's very fun to watch and coach."
 
Alvarez batted .319 with a .565 slugging percentage. He also tallied a team-high 47 RBIs, tied for fifth in the OVC in home runs with 12, and had 15 doubles and 66 hits.
 
Perfect Game chose Nowlin as the fifth best senior in college baseball and had Alvarez ranked as the 59th best senior.
 
Alas has picked up preseason All-OVC honors by a pair of organizations.  He finished the 2015 season sixth in the OVC and 22nd in the NCAA with a .378 batting average.  His .628 slugging percentage ranked eighth in the league and 33rd in the nation.
 
The offense features far more than just those three.  Senior Doug Teegarden (.292, 20 runs) will start at shortstop.  Junior Ben Fisher (.275, 26 RBIs, 25 runs) is back at first base and junior Shea Sullivan (.263, 24 runs) returns in the outfield.
 
Junior Alex Hamilton is the lone returning regular weekend starter.  The left-hander went 4-5 with a 5.61 ERA last season.  He struck out 56 and walked only 40 in 77 innings of work.  Seniors Chris Cervantes and Luke McGee, and junior Brian Mroz are the only other three returning pitchers with starting experience.  That trio combined for 14 starts in 2015.  Mroz will likely fill the closer role this season.
 
Sophomore Hunter Dunn and senior Eric Nerl will step into starting roles in 2016.  Dunn was 2-1 last year and did not allow a run in seven of his final nine appearances.  Nerl was 0-0 with a 7.71 ERA.
 
"It doesn't matter what level you are at, experience matters," Thompson said.  "When you lose as many innings as we lost off last year's team, it's hard to replace that.  Right now we are very unproven on the mound.  That's going to be a challenge, but I think the guys that we have lined up to pitch a lot of our innings have improved.  Our staff has done a great job of getting them prepared for the season."  
 
Thompson spent the last three seasons at Georgia State University.  He served as the pitching coach for the Panthers in 2013 and 2014 before being promoted to recruiting coordinator/defensive coordinator before the 2015 season.  His 2015 recruiting class was ranked by Perfect Game as one of the top-100 recruiting classes in the country.  Thompson helped Georgia State to a pair of 30-win seasons in his three years on the staff.  The 2013 squad won 35 games, the third most in program history.
 
"The key is for us to stay healthy," Thompson said.  "If we stay healthy our line-up is going to be competitive but our depth is very thin so we'll have to manage that the best we can."