Baseball | 3/2/2017 11:53:00 AM

ROCHESTER, NY – The 2017 RIT baseball team is primed for a deep Liberty League Tournament run. RIT returns 20 players, including six starters and is hungry for a league title and its first berth in the NCAA Tournament.
 
"I think we are in a good spot as a program," said RIT head coach Rob Grow, who is entering his 25th season in 2016. "We have a lot of talent and more depth than we've ever had. If we stay healthy and win close games, we will be in the top four and challenge for a Liberty League Championship."
 
Seniors Will Gorman (Nassau, NY/Columbia), Brett Kajganich (North Royalton, OH/Holy Name), and Mike Myers (Hamlin, NY/Brockport) will serve as captains in 2017. All three players have been key contributors since setting foot on campus and Grow is confident each one will serve as excellent leaders in different ways.
 
"When your best players are your leaders and captains, that's a good thing," said Grow, who enters the season having won 428 games at the university. "They have a great work ethic, want to bring the team together and do all the right things. What's nice is that we have a group of 8-10 underclassmen who are becoming leaders.
 
Gorman will be counted on to carry the load once again offensively after a record breaking 2016 season. A 2017 D3Baseball.com Preseason All-American, Gorman rewrote the single-season record book at RIT in 2016. He set single-season school marks with 61 hits, 166 at-bats, eight home runs, 52 runs batted in, and 107 total bases, while stealing eight bases, batting .367, and slugging .645. That earned Gorman 2016 D3Baseball.com and Rawlings American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) All-New York Region First Team honors and was an All-Liberty League first team selection for the second consecutive season. He enters 2017 second all-time at the university with 17 career home runs and 112 RBIs and third with a .624 career slugging percentage.
 
Kajganich is a captain for the second straight season and was on his way to an excellent performance in 2016 before suffering a season-ending injury just five games in. In 2015, Kajganich batted .309 with a home run and 15 RBIs, while drawing 21 walks for an excellent .438 on-base percentage. Myers has excellent power and threw out four would be base stealers behind the plate in 2016. He will also be counted on to help guide a young, but talented pitching staff.
 
Senior Phil Sammon (Ridgefield, CT/Ridgefield), along with junior Benjamin Terzini (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool), and sophomore Daniel Zeglen (Scotia, NY/Scotia-Glenville) will see ample time at first base in 2017. Sammon hit .293 last season and has nine career home runs. Terzini, who may also see time at second base, hit .315 as a freshman in 2015. Zeglen, who served as RIT's shortstop for most of last year, enjoyed an excellent rookie season, hitting .296 with 13 extra base hits and 21 RBIs. All three could also see time at designated hitter.
 
Myers will be expected to shoulder most of the load behind the plate, while junior Dalton Murray (Savannah, NY/Clyde-Savannah) and sophomore Patrick Mylott (Aurora, OH/Western Reserve Academy) will also be counted on to see time as backstops as well. Mylott was third on the team with a .316 batting average and led RIT with a .466 on-base percentage in 2016.
 
Sophomore Jason Schulz (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) earned All-Liberty League honors, while emerging as the starter at third base last season, hitting .330, while getting on base at a .450 clip. Up the middle, RIT will have to replace four-year starters Taylor Hogan (Rochester, NY/Brighton) and Zach Zabel (Clarence, NY/Clarence). Grow feels that junior Gage Blasi (Baldwinsville, NY/C.W. Baker), along with freshmen Mike Drag (Hollywood, FL/Chaminade Madonna), Navada Waterman (Coudersport, PA/Coudersport), and Daniel Capra (North Salem, NY/North Salem) will be able to step in. Terzini will also see time at second base. Redshirt freshman Joey Mylott (Aurora, OH/Western Reserve Academy) and classmate Kyle Terzini (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) will look to contribute at corner infield spots.
 
"There is a lot of depth and opportunity, as we have to replace two starting four-year middle infielders in Taylor Hogan (Rochester, NY/Brighton) and Zach Zabel (Clarence, NY/Clarence), but there are a lot of guys who can step up and do that," said Grow "We also have a lot of options at first base and have three catchers who can all play."
 
Junior Dom Scialabba (North Brunswick, NJ/North Brunswick), who can also play second base, will patrol center field, while Kajganich and Gorman are fixtures in both corner outfield spots. Scialabba has tremendous range and hit .289 with 13 extra base hits, while appearing in all 40 games last season.
 
Both Mylott twins and Zeglen, along with freshmen Gianfranco Gentile (San Pedro, CA/Mary Star of the Sea), Tommy Amuso (Webster, NY/McQuaid), and Josh Henderson (Livonia, NY/Livonia) will look for playing time in what could turn out to be a very strong RIT outfield.
 
"We have so many athletic outfielders, who can cover a lot of ground, and do great things offensively," said Grow. "Obviously Will Gorman (Nassau, NY/Columbia) is the known commodity offensively, but he is a very talented defensive outfielder. Dom (Scialabba) played centerfield last season and covers a ton of ground. We have so many different guys who are really athletic and can play anywhere in the outfield, so there are a lot of options."
 
On the mound, junior Brian Reed (Rochester, NY/Penfield) will be counted on to be the number one starter after recording 44 strikeouts in 50 innings pitched over eight starts to earn All-Liberty League honorable mention accolades. Grow has a bevy of young arms looking to step in and earn a rotation spot. Sophomore Jameson Moran (Geneseo, NY/Geneseo) made 13 appearances, including three starts a year ago, while Zeglen excelled in limited action on the bump.
 
In the bullpen, senior Tom Dillon (Oswego, NY/Oswego), along with juniors Brett Bouchard (Fairport, NY/Fairport), Kyle Povlock (Fairport, NY/Fairport) and Nick Claver (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool), and sophomores Michael Campbell (Honeoye Falls, NY/McQuaid Jesuit), Ben Clough (Tolland, CT/Tolland), Mark Nozzi (Rochester, NY/McQuaid Jesuit), Michael Campbell (Honeoye Falls, NY/McQuaid Jesuit), in addition to freshmen Connor Ewing (Fairport, NY/Fairport), Stevie Branche (New Paltz, NY/New Paltz), Capra, and Waterman will all be called upon to get key outs as the season progresses. Grow will be looking for a few of the relievers to possibly emerge as starters as well.
 
"We will have to replace two four-year starters in Brandon Cohall (Cortlandt Manor, NY/Walter Panas) and Rory Little (Burnt Hills, NY/Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake), both All-Liberty League guys" said Grow. "Brian Reed (Rochester, NY/Penfield) is a legitimate number one starter, who can go against any team's No. 1 and get a win. There are a lot of guys stepping up, so we are going to have seven guys who are competing the four starting spots.
 
We have 12 games before we hit conference play, so we will put our relievers in a lot of different situations and there are bullpen guys who we are counting on to step up."
 
RIT opens the season on March 5 with a doubleheader at Arcadia University at La Salle University in Philadelphia, Pa. RIT will also play a single contest at Houghton on March 8 before embarking on its annual Spring trip to the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational from March 12-16. The Tigers will play contests against Salve Regina University, Farleigh Dickinson-Florham, Suffolk University, Fredonia State University, and Cornell College out of Iowa.
 
The Tigers return home to host a doubleheader against 2016 NCAA Tournament participant, No. 18 Oswego State on March 25 from Tiger Stadium. Four days later, RIT plays at The College of Brockport for the first of two meetings between the schools in 12 days. RIT will also play a pair of non-conference games against 2016 NCAA World Series participant, No. 10 St. John Fisher College (April 5 at home and May 3 away) and a road contest at Keuka College on April 18.
 
"We will be tested plenty out of conference and have time to figure out roles," said Grow.
 
RIT is scheduled to play 24 of its 40 regular season games against Liberty League foes and opens conference play with back-to-back road doubleheaders at 2015 Champion Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on April 1-2. The Tigers also travel to face Skidmore for four games on April 22-23 and close out the regular season with a quartet against Bard on May 6-7.
 
The Tigers play their first home league games against Vassar College on April 8-9 and also host St. Lawrence University for four contests on April 29-30. RIT also plays a home-and-home series against the University of Rochester, first at Tiger Stadium on April 14 and at Towers Field right down the road on Rochester's campus the next day.
 
"The league as a whole is very solid, every weekend is a battle, four games in two days is very difficult, so we will need our depth to come through," said Grow
 
The Liberty League Tournament will take place on May 11-13 at the highest seed. The top four teams in regular season play make the league tournament and play a double elimination format. The Liberty League Champion will earn an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.
 
"This team is the most cohesive we have had in a long time and they are very serious about winning," said Grow. "The goal is to compete in the Liberty League Tournament, ideally win it and make the NCAA Tournament. Every game matters."