2020 Baseball recap
From D1 Baseball ...
2020 Conference Wrap: Colonial Athletic Association
Aaron Fitt - May 14, 2020
It’s still hard to believe the 2020 college baseball season is over after just four weeks of play. Most conferences didn’t even reach league play before the coronavirus halted the season, so it would be pointless to give out any legitimate awards or draw any sweeping conclusions from our meager sample size. With that in mind, we won’t be releasing a 2020 All-America team or naming a national Player of the Year or Freshman of the Year.
BEST TEAM
UNC Wilmington
College of Charleston (12-2) and Northeastern (10-5 with a nice road series win over Florida Atlantic) also got off to strong starts and notched some quality wins, and both appeared to be worthy contenders for the CAA title. But we’re going to stick with our preseason pick to win the league: UNC Wilmington, which got off to a good 11-5 start that was highlighted by a road sweep of Kentucky. The Wildcats weren’t exactly the class of the SEC, but they do have talent, and sweeping any SEC team on the road stands out. The Seahawks followed it up by stubbing their toes with a home series loss to Memphis, but they rebounded with a quality midweek win against East Carolina in their final game of the season.
I thought in the preseason that UNCW had the rotation arms to win a regional, and two of those starters — Landen Roupp (3-1, 2.00 with a league-best 30 strikeouts against seven walks in 27 IP) and Zarion Sharpe (2-1, 2.18) were off to very encouraging starts, while veteran Luke Gesell (3-0, 4.71) is a proven workhorse. The Seahawks had the best and deepest pitching staff in the CAA, as well as a nice core of quality veteran hitters like Cole Weiss (.305/.397/.441), Noah Bridges (.290/.371/.387, 8 SB) and Jackson Meadows. This team’s ceiling would ultimately be determined by how its talented young position players (like Trevor Marsh, Brooks Baldwin, Jac Croom, Matt Suggs and Ron Evans) developed. The early indications were certainly positive. As first-year head coach Randy Hood said in our UNCW Fall Report:
“So we’ve got some pieces and got some depth, got some left/right type matchups. It’s just a matter of plugging in the right guys and finding the right mix as we go. I like our team. They’ve been loose all fall, they’ve done what we’ve asked them to, and hopefully, they’ll keep getting better.”
MOST SURPRISING TEAM
College of Charleston
We expected 2020 to be a transition year for the very young Cougars, and we picked them to finish sixth in our CAA preview, writing: The Cougars must replace a host of departed mainstays from last year’s second-place club, leaving just three returning players who logged more than 100 at-bats last year, and none who registered 160 at-bats.
So coach Chad Holbrook’s club caught our eye by racing out to a 12-2 start, highlighted by an 11-2 midweek blowout of Clemson on the road. The Cougars had yet to prove themselves against high-caliber weekend competition, but they certainly made a nice early impression. Offensively, CofC got the big bounceback it needed from senior first baseman Ari Sechopoulos (.360/.475/.680, 20 RBI) and a big step forward from fellow senior Harrison Hawkins (.333/.365/.483) in his second year in the program. Spark plug freshman shortstop Trotter Harlan (.321/.390/.491) has the look of a future star — Holbrook thinks he has a chance to be a special player over the next few years. And physical outfielder Donald Hansis (.289/.358/.667, 5 HR, 14 RBI) ranked as the most impactful junior-college transfer in the CAA, helping Charleston’s new-look lineup hit the ground running.
But the Cougars were even better on the mound, ranking seventh in the nation with a 2.13 staff ERA. Seniors Jordan Carr (1-0, 3.60, 24-8 K-BB in 25 IP) plus freshmen Caswell Smith (3-0, 1.45) and CJ Czerwinski (3.38 ERA in 13.1 IP) formed a strong weekend rotation, and the Cougars got contributions from a host of different arms in the bullpen — eight different pitchers on the staff posted 0.00 ERAs in at least one inning of work, led by Zach Williams (1-0, 0.00 in seven appearances over 11 IP).
MOST IMPRESSIVE HITTER
Austin Gauthier, Hofstra
This one is a slam dunk. Gauthier was a force of nature in the 14 games he played, leading all CAA hitters in batting (.411), OBP (.515), slugging (.714), and of course OPS (1.229). He hit six doubles and three home runs — exceeding his entire 2019 season total (two homers in 171 at-bats). Gauthier was an everyday player as a freshman in 2018 and as a sophomore last year, but he made a gradual step forward, improving his OPS from .618 in ’18 to .747 in ’19. He made another quantum leap as a junior, learning into some of the sneaky pop he had flashed at times earlier in his career. The best athlete on the Hofstra roster, Gauthier stands out for his range and arm strength at shortstop, and he’s a smart baserunner. As the Pride’s shortstop and leadoff man, Gauthier was the engine that made the offense go and also the glue of the defense.
MOST IMPRESSIVE PITCHER
Justin Showalter, James Madison
After posting a 7.24 ERA in nine relief appearances as a freshman in 2018, Showalter took a nice step forward as a sophomore in 2019, posting a 3.72 ERA in 36.1 innings over 10 appearances (nine starts). The Dukes predicted a big breakout junior year for him, saying in the preseason that his “upside is through the roof.” A physical 6-foot-4 right-hander with a 90-93 fastball, a legit slider and putaway changeup, Showalter simply needed to put the pieces all together. And that’s exactly what he did this spring, going 4-0, 0.68 in five appearances (four starts). His high walk rate held him back in 2019, but this spring he pounded the zone, posting a 21-4 K-BB mark in 26.2 IP, while also holding opponents to a .144 average.
BEST SENIOR
Brandon Raquet, William & Mary
Raquet has been a key bat in the Tribe lineup for four years, posting a .939 OPS as a freshman and then bouncing back from a sophomore slump to post a .933 OPS as a junior. But he was off to a torrid start to his senior year, hitting .328/.453/.705 for a 1.158 OPS that ranked second in the CAA. In just 61 at-bats, he smacked four homers, four triples and three doubles while driving in 11. A strong, compact 5-foot-10, 190-pound corner outfielder, Raquet’s power bat is his calling card, but he also runs well. Raquet has one of the best long-term track records of any CAA hitter, and he was having his best season yet before the pandemic shut everything down.
Honorable mention to the afore-mentioned Ari Sechopoulos and Jordan Carr (both of CofC), William & Mary RHP Chris Farrell (2-0, 0.42), Northeastern RHP Kyle Murphy (2-2, 3.00), Elon LHP Dean McCarthy (2-2, 3.92), and Delaware catcher Jack Goan (.333/.355/.596).
BEST FRESHMAN
Caswell Smith, College of Charleston
Listed as the league’s No. 3 Impact Freshmen in our CAA season preview, Smith managed to exceed even those high expectations, going 3-0, 1.35 with 20 strikeouts against eight walks in 20 innings over four starts. He held opponents to a .203 batting average. The power-armed 6-foot-3 right-hander has a very bright future, but and his debut was exciting, suggesting that he has a real chance to harness his full potential as his collegiate career unfolds. Here’s what we wrote about Smith in the season preview:
CofC coach Chad Holbrook said the super-talented Smith reminds him of major leaguer Matt Harvey when he was a freshman at North Carolina; he’s an excellent athlete with a clean arm action that can produce 92-95 heat with good sink. Holbrook thinks he has a chance to develop into the first Cougar to be drafted in the first round by the time his collegiate career is done.
Each of the top four players on our preseason Impact Freshmen list got off to strong starts. Honorable mention goes to the No. 1 player on that list, Northeastern RHP Sebastian Keane (3-1, 4.50, 24-6 K-BB in 20 IP); No. 2 Chase DeLauter of James Madison (.382/.455/.559); and No. 4 Trotter Harlan of Charleston (.321/.390/.491). Delaware third baseman Joey Loynd didn’t make the preseason list but also deserves honorable mention after hitting .342/.479/.605 with two homers in 38 at-bats.
BREAKOUT HITTER
Jared Dupere, Northeastern
Dupere got his feet with 90 at-bats as a freshman in 2019 and struggled mightily, hitting .156/.222/.311 with four homers. But the coaching staff predicted big things for him as a sophomore, telling us in the preseason that Dupere has “plus speed and power. Has a very good arm and can defend well. Contact needs to improve but he has all of the tools. Looking for a big jump from him this season.”
Dupere, an exciting lefthanded-hitting center fielder, did indeed make a big jump in 2020, hitting .359/.394/.578 with six doubles, two homers and 13 RBIs in 64 at-bats, playing a key role in Northeastern’s strong start, which included a road series sweep of South Florida and a road series win of Florida Atlantic. He still has room to improve his offensive approach, as he still struck out 23 times against five walks in 15 games, but he clearly improved the quality of his contact and showed why the Huskies are so excited about his future. Look for another step forward in 2021.
BREAKOUT PITCHER
Sam Jacobsak, Northeastern
A talented 6-foot-5, 200-pound junior right-hander, Jacobsak struggled with his control over his first two seasons in the Northeastern bullpen, walking 17 batters in 17 innings as a freshman (when he posted a 6.35 ERA), then walking 17 in 32 innings as a sophomore (5.34 ERA). But this spring he moved into the rotation and did a much better job pounding the strike zone, posting a 25-5 K-BB mark in 24.2 innings, which helped him go 2-1, 3.65. He also held opponents to a .207 batting average. Once again, the Northeastern coaching staff saw this emergence coming, telling us in the preseason that Jacobsak had made a jump physically and with the quality of his stuff. His fastball climbed into the 90-92 range and bumped 93, and his slider became a wipeout pitch, giving him draft potential in 2020. But the draft getting shortened to five rounds means there’s a good chance Jacobsak will be back in 2021 with a chance to really establish himself as a top-10-rounds prospect.
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