Kurt Davidson

Feb. 15, 2006

AKRON, Ohio - The 2006 Akron baseball program is ready to begin its new era of winning. However, this season is not about change. The Akron Zips have been preparing and building a winning tradition in recent years, not only in regards to the baseball program, but also throughout the athletic department.

With three different teams winning Mid-American Conference championships in the fall, including the football program earning its first-ever Division I-A bowl game and the soccer team becoming the first-ever MAC school to be ranked No. 1 in any sport, the baseball program has seen that Akron is able to and knows how to produce winning programs.

New Zips head coach, Pat Bangtson, who comes to Akron from Ohio State where he spent 13 very successful seasons building and maintaining a championship caliber program as an assistant coach, has not come to Akron to change the way the program operates, but guide it to that championship level. "When I first arrived, we had our first team meeting and decided that we are going to strive to win a Mid-American Conference championship and get to an NCAA regional this season," Bangtson said. "We have a winning attitude, but now we need to be accountable for our actions and work hard everyday."

With Bangtson and his coaching staff getting a late start on the summer recruiting season due to his July hire date, the Zips, who were predicted to finish fourth in the MAC East Division, were able to bring in a tremendous amount of young talent that will utilize their individual talents to bring together a team that will be able to compete with anyone in the MAC.

Outfield

The outfield could be the Zips greatest strength and will be patrolled by a solid nucleus of talent that will provide depth and allow for a nice consistent rotation. "We are going to use the early part of the season to find out who is going to be an everyday player in the outfield, and who will provide depth late in games," Bangtson said.

Sophomore Scott Gunn (Toledo, Ohio/St. Francis de Sales HS), junior Charlie Lenhard (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington HS) and senior Marcus Geiselman (Canton, Ohio/Canton McKinley HS) will start the season as the primary outfield group, with sophomore-transfer Rashard Graves (Indianapolis, Ind./Lincoln Trail JC) and freshman Brett Savage (Massillon, Ohio/Perry) pushing them for playing time and at-bats.

"Gunn, Geiselman and Lenhard will be our leaders in the outfield this season," Bangtson said. "Graves showed us, when healthy in the fall, that he can add to the depth with his bat and Savage showed the competitive attitude we are looking for."

Infield

At third base, sophomore Vince Chiera (Akron, Ohio/Walsh), who started 38 games last season, is again penciled in to solidify the hot corner. Chiera recorded 37 hits in his first collegiate season. He will look to use that experience to help push the Zips scoring output. "Vince got some experience last season and played very solid," Bangtson said. "At the same time it is nice to have some competition over there with Frazee, who showed us his ability to play the field both at second and third. He will be one of our primary utility men."

Freshman Ryan Frazee (Gahanna, Ohio/Westerville HS) comes to Akron following a tremendous high school career at Westerville North, where he hit he hit .425 or better in his junior and senior seasons. The youth movement is a common theme throughout the Zips line-up. Highlighted by freshman Ryne Romick (Hannibal, Ohio/Hannibal HS), who will anchor the team defensively at shortstop, Akron expects go through a learning curve early in the season, but aims to finish the season strong and among the top teams in the MAC.

"(Romick) is very mature for his age and did a great job for us in fall practice," Bangtson said. "He is one of the better runners in terms of speed and has a very strong arm."

Romick, an all-state honoree, hit over .450 in his junior and senior seasons, while proving his arm strength with an ERA under 0.75.

Senior Brian Kimutis (Washington, Pa./Trinity HS), who was named captain for the 2006 squad, will provide veteran leadership in the infield and gives coach Bangtson the versatility needed to rest players when needed. Kimutis will move to shortstop to provide a break for Romick, while Frazee will then move to second. "Brian gives us the most experience in the infield and his ability to play short will be important if it is required of us to make a change," Bangtson said.

The competition at first is between a pair of sophomores, Doug McNulty (Homer City, Pa./Homer-Center HS) and Kurt Davidson (North Canton, Ohio/Hoover HS). However, the competition does not amount to one player sitting and the other getting all the at-bats. This competition depends more on the needs of the team from these two tremendous talents.

"Kurt may end up doing some catching for us throughout the season behind Liggett," Bangtson said. "Kurt is one of our better hitters, so he will be in the line-up whether at first or behind the plate."

McNulty hit a solid .282 in 40 starts with a fielding percentage of .941, while Davidson hit .270 in 54 starts with a .985 fielding percentage. Both players, in their first collegiate season, recorded over 45 hits and 14 extra-base hits, including Davidson's team-high seven home runs.

Behind the plate, Akron has arguably the most depth they have had in school history. Entering the season, the Zips have five available catchers, led by junior transfer Chase Liggett (Malvern, Ohio/Florida Community College). Liggett comes to UA from Florida Community College, where he was a solid defensive catcher, controlled the pitching staff and was one of the team's best hitters.

Behind Liggett, Davidson will see some spot starts, with sophomore Jordan Tufts and three freshmen, Jeremy Goldizen (Perry, Ohio/Perry), Kyle Hallett (Orland Park, Ill./Carl Sandburg HS) and Jesse Zimmerman (Green, Ohio/Green), will provide emergency relief, while continuing to learn and improve.

Pitching Staff

The staff will be anchored by seniors Ross Liersemann (Mansfield, Ohio/Lexington HS) and Steve Williams, Jr. (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin East HS) and sophomore Tom Farmer (Berea, Ohio/Berea HS). The starters will be expected to accumulate a good amount of innings, setting things up for a solid bullpen.

"With the challenging schedule that we play, we are going to have depth to the pitching staff," Bangtson said. "Of course, that is one thing we are going to have to find out early in the season."

Last season, Liersemann pitched 95 1/3 innings, which tied him with Tim Dobos for the single-season record for innings pitched. Currently he ranks No. 6 in school history with 221 2/3 innings pitched. He also struck out a team-best 81 batters, while walking only 17. Farmer, who should be the third weekend starter this season, threw in 75 2/3 innings with a team-low 2.97 ERA.

Williams Jr., who saw action in 23 games last season out of the bullpen, will start the season as the Zips third starter, a position he has held only four times in his three seasons at Akron. Goldizen, freshman Frank Turocy (Canfield, Ohio/Canfield HS) and senior Pat Watt (Struthers, Ohio/Struthers) will be the main group of set-up men, while junior Pat Gliha (Euclid, Ohio/Villa Angela-St. Joseph HS) will begin the season as the closer.

He has big shoes to fill as he will replace the Zips all-time saves leader, Darek Stanfield. Gliha appeared in 19 games out of the bullpen and made five starts. He earned three victories, two of which came in relief. In 49 1/3 innings he struck out 30 batters, walking only 18.

Schedule

The Zips begin the season spending the first six weeks - 18 games - on the road through February and most of March. Akron will travel south and face the likes of Arkansas State, Morehead State, Eastern Kentucky, Tennessee, Murray State, Western Kentucky and Wisconsin-Milwaukee (in Bowling Green, Kentucky).

Akron will barely have time to adjust to its home-field as they have only one home game (Duquesne - March 21) before opening MAC play at home against Ball State on March 24. "It is a very challenging schedule that is very typical of a northern team, in the fact that we are going to hit the road a lot in the early part of the season," Bangtson said. "It puts a premium on the team to be organized both in the classroom and on the field."

When the conference season gets under-way, it will be all business for the Zips as every MAC game will be an important one. Akron will not be looking ahead at any point this season as every game is vital to building and preparing for a championship run. "You have to be ready every weekend, because if you are not, that will cost you a conference championship," Bangtson said. "You do not want to look back and say we did not play well this or that weekend and have it be the reason you are not in a position to win the conference championship."

Through the ups and downs this season, the only thing that will determine success for Akron is if the Zips can put themselves in a position to succeed once the MAC Tournament comes around. No one can predict what will happen, but regardless of the results, this team will make sure to take the necessary steps forward in preparing themselves for a bright future.