New things on horizon for Coppin State baseball

By Keith Henry

Coppin State Baseball has gone through a few changes in the last few months. The departing of Mike Scolinos, who last season led Coppin State back to the MEAC Tournament for the first time in five years and recorded 14 wins to help turn this program around. A new head coach in Sherman Reed, who served as an assistant for the previous CSU coaches in Harvey Lee and Scolinos, gets his shot at leading the Eagles to a MEAC championship.

Coach Reed learned a lot from Lee and Scolinos during his terms as the assistant coach. Reed said, “I find that I’m a little further ahead of the game and that 15 (players) is certainly better than 10 or 11. But in both situations, I learned how to go about a 45-50 game schedule with really not a full roster of ball players so to speak. So what we’ve been trying to do is to, whenever possible, rest our athletes and try to prevent injuries the best we can because one injury will handicap us.”

Coppin senior catcher Alex Black said about Coach Reed, “The biggest change I've noticed with Coach is the amount of effort he puts in to his job every day in order for us to have the best chance to succeed. He always has the player's best interest in mind. His door is always open and he is very receptive to our ideas and concerns.”

Reed learned of Black’s response and he was touched about it because it took him back to his playing days and he said, “Often, you’re around your coach with your mom and dad working. The kind of hours my dad worked as a trucker, we didn’t see him a lot. So it was very important that I was able to have a real good relationship with my head coach because often, that male has an influence in that 18 to 23 year old. So I’ve always told myself that I never would be too big to spend time, drop literally what I’m doing when one of my student athletes come tapping on my door.”

The Eagles have only 15 young men on their roster in which seven of them are seniors. Down from the 22 in 2010 that made a run to the MEAC Tournament for the first time in five years, where they lost to North Carolina A&T, eliminated UMES and were sent home by Delaware State. Black says about the roster, “It's true that our roster is thin this year, but the team has been working very hard in the off season with their training. I feel as though the program that Coach Allen designed for us both in and out of season will help to keep us in shape and ensure that we are healthy for the long haul.”

The core of the CSU pitching staff is back in seniors John Bergwall and Jim Vagnier. That is vital to the hopes of the Eagles in terms of reaching the MEAC Tournament. But the staff will have to take on another position in the infield due to the thin roster. Black said, “Three of our four starters are returning pitchers. I know Andrew (Kiessling), Bergwall, and Jim very well having spent an entire season with them last year. As far as Zack is concerned, as a senior I feel as though I have a lot that I can teach him. He is already a solid pitcher, and with a little experience I think he could have a huge impact on the season. With the smaller pitching staff it is easier for me to get to know them individually. I can learn their tendencies and what they like to do in game. If we can stay on the same page I feel as though we will be successful.”

Coach Reed added, “The key skill positions is catching and we really talk about up the middle which is the heart of a ballclub. So we’re fortunate in that we have a senior in the catching position that knows the returning pitchers real well. We have a very accomplished center fielder (sophomore Chris Kashangaki) that defensively, no one is better than. His bat has proved to be a big part of his game as well. Up the middle in the infield, we may struggle a little bit only because we have some guys from the pitching staff that’s athletic and gifted enough, with some repetition, will play up the middle. We have a couple of guys from our rotation that’ll act as infielders when they’re not pitching.”

Harry Williams will be missed at Coppin State. Even though he went through a lot in his years at CSU, Coach Reed stated, “Getting to know Harry for the last two to three years here at Coppin, you almost can’t replace a Harry Williams because he brings more to the table than just his sheer numbers he put up every year. Some of the hit records he holds for the university, some of the intangibles that harry brings to the table is leadership skills. How well he represents the university on and off the field. Those are things that’s going to be hard to replace.”

The challenges are daunting outside of the MEAC with a four game series at Atlantic-10 regular season champion Charlotte starting Friday, then the Eagles head to Richmond to play the Spiders three days later. Coppin also plays Navy, Longwood, Charleston Southern, new MEAC addition Savannah State, Georgetown, Marshall, and Temple and more in addition to the MEAC teams.

Reed stated, “One of the things with the non-conference schedule is we try to do the best we can with putting some top 40-45 caliber opponents in our schedule. It’s going to throw the kids to the wolves pretty early and we’re going to find out what kind of team we have right off the bat. And it’s only going to make us better when we get in conference play. Charlotte out of the Atlantic-10 was the regular season conference champions and they’re slated to runaway with that conference again.”

Bethune-Cookman is the standard in the MEAC until someone can step up and knock them off. Coppin was chosen to finish last in the MEAC this season and it didn’t sit well with Coach Reed or his team. Proving people wrong has been what CSU does best in the recent past. But they’re in position to have to make a run again. Black said, “We just need a total team commitment to be able to succeed. The program is used to being doubted and for the most part, I can't really blame people for being skeptical in the past. But this isn't the past. Our seniors and key young players fully intend to silence our critics again. We are going to play our game and I fully expect to be in Daytona in May.”

Reed said, “We have a chip on our shoulder because of that. We feel last year, even though we’ve lost a few ball players, the key nucleus of the team still remains. Coach Scolinos did a good job with the bounce back year from winning no games to winning 14 and qualifying for the MEAC Tournament for the first time in five years. We plan to be back in Daytona again. There’s no question about it. Even though we have some challenges with the amount of depth we have on the roster, our plans are to be back In the MEAC Championship.”