Sunny days, peanuts in the stands, and flying baseballs during weekdays are closer than the current weather would suggest.
16 coaches of the Northeast-10 Conference picked the Setters to finish third in the Southwest Division. In 2011-2012 Pace’s baseball team finished with a record of 29-19 overall with a record of 19-10 in the NE-10. Pace won the Southwest Division last year before getting eliminated in a single game playoff against the University of New Haven.
The biggest strength of the Setters last season was pitching and they will need their hurlers to throw well again in 2013. The Setters will get their ace senior criminal justice major Michael Tamburino back for one final year. In 2012, Tamburino went 7-2 with an earned run average of 1.48 and was named to the NE-10 Second Team.
Another big time pitcher to watch for Pace was also named to the NE-10 Second Team last year was senior communications major Neil Pezzullo. During 2012 Pezzullo went 6-2 on the year with an earned run average of 1.90 and recorded 63 strikeouts.
The pitching staff as a whole last year only allowed 215 total runs while striking out a total of 305 batters. Pace’s team earned run average was a strong 3.37 and allowed just 18 home runs to their opponents throughout the season.
While the pitching should be good again for the Setters their biggest challenge will be to generate enough offense to win games. Still there is reason to believe that an offense that hit .262 as a team last year will be even better in 2013.
Junior education major James Pjura was the Setters most complete offensive player a year ago and he looks to build on a strong 2012 season. A year ago Pjura hit .317 with 46 hits, three home runs, 27 runs batted in, and had an on base percentage of .401. Those numbers were good enough for Pjura to be named to the NE-10 third team.
Another key contributor to the Setters offense should be senior criminal justice major Joe Solomeno. It was the catcher for Pace who had 43 hits on the season and hit .279. Yet Solomeno’s biggest contribution to Pace a year ago was behind the dish. Solomeno threw out 48 percent of would be base stealers last season and was rewarded by being selected to Rawlings Gold Glove East Region First Team.
For Pace to get back into the playoffs and advance further this year they need to cut down on their strikeouts. The team struck out a total of 275 times last season and three Setters broke the 30-strikeout threshold.
The baseball team will start their season by leaving the snow capped campus of Pace and take on the University of Tampa Bay in Florida on Feb. 22.