Cavs' Baseball Aims to Climb up the AAC Ranks

February 7, 2006

Wise, VA -- he Highland Cavaliers will aim to continue making strides on the diamond in both the win/loss column and up the Appalachian Athletic Conference ranks for the 2006 season.

The University of Virginia’s College at Wise baseball team will field a more experienced and what should be an overall better lineup heading into the new year.

“I feel this club will be better than the 2005 one,” explains tenth-year head coach Hank Banner. “We played a lot of freshmen last year and they all will have that experience as sophomores.”

Banner’s club compiled a 21-23 mark, an eight game improvement over 2004, and won its first AAC tournament contest before falling to the regular season champion, Tennessee Wesleyan, and tournament champion, Brevard, in the following contests.

The veteran coach can see a run at one of the top three spots in the AAC. The team finished 2005 in seventh place where they are predicted to the same place in this year’s pre-season poll. The key to the Cavs’ success will be the health of the team and keeping the hard-working drive the group has displayed.

UVa-Wise will rely upon a core of seven seniors - Brandon Bates, Clay Salyer and Keith Davis on the mound while Erik Lemley, Nathan Kiser, Carlos Ramos and Wil Childress in the field - to lead the way.

“The pitching staff should be the true strength of the team,” said Banner. “The quality will be better than last year and the group as a whole should be able to keep us in ball games.”

The trio of seniors - Salyer, Bates and Davis - are set to man the top three starting positions for the second year in a row. The experienced group has the diversity to give three different types of looks as pitchers to the opposing hitters. The looks will include a left hander at the top spot (Salyer), a bulldog of a second man (Bates) and an efficient strong consistent hurler (Davis) to round out the starters.

Salyer went 3-3 a year ago over a team-high 41.1 innings on the hill. The left hander finished fourth in opponent’s batting average (.215) and also in the top ten of the AAC in strikeouts with 3.4 per game.

Davis fanned 33 batters for almost one per frame (34.1 IP) on his way to three victories and a team-low 3.41 earned run average. Bates logged 20 innings and earned one victory in 2005.

Banner projects to have incoming freshman Josh Verts handle the fourth starting position heading into the year. Verts was a two-time all-state hurler at John Handley High in Winchester, Va.

The Cavs will possess 10-man pitching staff and accordingly to Banner there will plenty of innings to go around.

Sophomores David Jones and Brock Funk take on the roles of spot starter and long relievers. Jones was on the mound for 7.2 innings and fanned seven batters. Funk had more of impact last year. In 27.1 innings, he led the team with four victories, struck out 23 and had a 4.94 ERA.

Three other second-year players, Brandon Horton, Mike Elliott and Matt Begley along with newcomer Chris Codemo round out the bullpen for UVa-Wise.

Horton and Elliott both pitched 7.2 innings and combined to go 1-2 on the season. Elliott did have 12 strikeouts. Begley did not pitch two years ago so he and Codemo will be seeing their first collegiate time on the mound.

“We should have an improved defense with our returners and hope to have a better offense as well,” remarked Banner.

The Cavs’ offensive attack will be paced by the two big senior bats of Childress and Kiser. The two combined for 64 hits, 15 extra base hits and 28 runs batted in over the 2005 season.

Childress finished in the AAC top 10 in four offensive categories while leading the tema with a .422 batting average and 43 hits.

Kiser pounded three round-trippers and five doubles to highlight his effort. The first baseman will anchor an infield that will return in tact.

A good defensive first baseman, Funk will back up Kiser. He hit .244 with four doubles, two homers and 10 rbi last year.

Ramos will handle the second base duties where he lined eight doubles and two home runs in 2005.

Solid and steady defensive short stop Jorge LaBoy will man the position for his second season as a sophomore. He will look to improve offensively where he produced a .315 average, seven doubles and 16 runs batted in.

Edwin Naruarez, a freshman from Puerto Rico, brings a versatile player to the team and will back up both second and short stop positions.

Third base will have Andrew Anderson handle the ‘hot corner.’ After a slow start, Anderson finished the year hitting .302, four doubles and two homers in 53 at bats.

Along with working on the mound, Begley will backup Anderson at third base. He had six hits with a double in 15 at bats two years ago after being out last season.

Sophomore Matt Hall and senior Lemley will handle the team’s catching duties.

Hall caught the majority of the games last year. He is a good defensive catcher and knows how to handle a pitching staff. The second-year player will look to improve at the plate where he hit .197 in 61 at bats as he get stronger.

Lemley has come a long way offensively to where he hit .407 with 11 hits in 27 at bats with two doubles a homer.

Childress will be the take care of one of the corner outfield positions.

Two sophomores, Chris McReynolds and Jon Ryan Reed, will look to take over the other two open outfield spots.

McReynolds lined 16 hits with four extra base hits in 48 at bats. In 2004, Reed pounded 13 hits in 34 trips.

Freshmen Mike Lang and Bryan Pfeiffer along with sophomore Jeremy Wright will push strongly for playing time.

Lang, a two-time all-region player at Stafford HS, and Pfeiffer, an all-district player for Fairfax HS, are both good defensive outfielder and their playing time will depend on how they handle the bat.

Wright is more of a utility player who can play third and catcher and is making the transition to becoming an outfielder. He was an three-time all-district player at Virginia HS in Bristol.