2025 Spring Preview: Baseball Set for Exciting Season Ahead

2/27/2025 4:14:00 PM | By: Jack Stephens, Staff Writer

The Blue Streaks, including some of the team's seniors pictured here, are hoping to go out on top of the OAC

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS — It is hard to believe that the spring season is right around the corner, but with that comes baseball season.

The John Carroll Blue Streaks look to rebound in 2025 with an experienced roster that looks to reclaim the Ohio Athletic Conference Championship in their final year.

It was an up-and-down season for the Blue Streaks last year, finishing 15-24 and on the outside looking in on the OAC Tournament. However, there were big victories sprinkled throughout the schedule, including a 5-game winning streak in April against Capital, Oberlin and Heidelberg. Additionally, the Blue Streaks won their penultimate game of the year against eventual conference champions Baldwin Wallace in dominant fashion, 10-2.

A massive bright spot for this upcoming season is the Blue Streaks are returning all four starting infielders from a year ago, a majority of their outfield, and multiple starting pitchers. Many of these returners were also a part of the 2023 OAC Championship squad.

Manning the middle of the outfield is graduate student Erik Daugenti. The Saint Ignatius product one is of the most experienced players in Blue Streak history, appearing in 135 games and starting 122 in his career. The veteran is coming off of the best statistical year of his tenure in the Blue and Gold. The Cleveland native tallied a .419 batting average on 54 hits, 18 extra base hits and an OPS of 1.034.

On the left side of the infield, both third baseman Connor Mayle and shortstop Michael Persichetti run it back for one more year in University Heights. Mayle is as sure handed as they come on the hot corner, but he had a big year in the box last season. The veteran notched a career high .362 batting average and a team-high 19 extra base hits. Persichetti was tasked with filling the shoes of Joe Olsavsky, who is in the Atlanta Braves minor league system. After moving from second base to shortstop, all he did was produce, hitting for a .340 average and drawing 16 walks while driving in 21.

On the other side, Jack Harmon returns to command the first base position. Harmon hit .298 a year ago and drove in a team-high 32 RBIs last season. The Evergreen Park, Illinois native had career numbers offensively and is prepared for another leap this spring.

Second base could be a two man show between players who both had outstanding freshman seasons in 2024. George Haracz and Thomas Bates both hit over .340 and combined for 23 RBIs and 41 hits. So, keep an eye out for the sophomore duo this season.

With the departure of Luke Chlystek and Bryce Holt, Head Coach Bobby Bell will turn to other upperclassmen to fill the gaps in the corner outfield positions. The time will most likely be split amongst junior Jordan Suvak, and seniors Sean Connolly, Sean Fritinger and St. Peter's transfer Michael Pollard.

Along with their offense, the Blue Streaks return two key starting pitchers from a year ago. Junior Frank Freeman and senior Austin Miller bring the most innings back for JCU. Freeman broke out last season with a team-high 35 strikeouts in 9 starts, going at least 6 innings in four of his last five starts. Miller tallied 19 strikeouts over the course of the season and will be leaned on this year to lead the pitching staff.

Out of the bullpen, lefty specialist Owen Gerba got huge outs in big spots a year ago and will anchor the Blue Streaks relievers. The Westlake native was Coach Bell's first call out of the pen and he delivered all year, giving up only two earned runs and five hits all season. Plenty of other arms will contribute, such as Jake Corll and Roger Simon, who both pitched 14 innings last season..

The John Carroll baseball team begin their season over spring break in Winter Haven, Florida. Their first home game is Tuesday March 18 against Bethany College on the new-look, fully turfed Schweickert Field.

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