Last seasons record of 21-16 was enough to earn Mercer’s baseball team a number two seeding in their regions post-season tournament, and after beating number one ranked Burlington (9-5) and number four ranked Sussex (6-5), their season was cut short with back to back losses to Lackawanna (3-0, 3-0) in the championship round.
During the off-season former Mercer pitcher James Pugliese was drafted 549 overall in the nineteenth round by the Chicago Cubs in the 50 round amature draft. Pugliese spent this past season in Mesa, Arizona playing rookie ball, before being moved to Boise, Idaho to play for the Short Season Single-A organization.
Mercer players who transfered to four year universities last year include; Joe Leone (#18), Ryan Byrzenski (#30), and Anthony Gambino (#27) who are all now at Rowan University. Matt Robinson (#22) is playing with Alvernia, a divison-three program in Pennsylvania, and Joe Quinores is at Kean University.
To compensate for the number of outgoing players on the team Mercer Head Coch, Matt Wolski, has been looking at prospect freshmen like outfielder Dan Detton of Council Rock, Pennsylvania, and catcher Darren Heissey of Neshiminay, Pennsylvania, to pair with key returners infielder Rich Mclaughlin (#12), outfielder Ian Moyer (#14) and infielder Mike Constantani (#1).
“The hard part is getting them to practice the way I want,”said coach Wolsiki. “But we’re progressing fairly quickly,” he added.
The men will play their first game in late February.
