Starters Returning (1) - Jordan Jones (Jr.): 6-4, 3.98, 18 GS, 104 IP, 83 K, 19 BB.
Other Top Returners - Stevie Emanuels (So.): 8-2, 4.37, 34 G, 45.1 IP, 32 K, 28 BB; Dylan Lamb (So.): 1-0, 3.95, 18 G, 27.1 IP, 22 K, 10 BB; Josh Burgmann (So.): 2-2, 3.19, 16 G, 31.0 IP, 21 K, 13 BB; Leo Nierenberg (Jr.): 0-3, 6.75, 15 G; Chris Micheles (Jr.): 0-2, 9.25, 13 G; Jack DeCooman (So.): 0-1, 3.38, 9 G; Jack Enger (So.): 0-0, 4.76, 2 G.
Key Losses - Joe DeMers: 7-3, 2.42, 3 SV, 130.1 IP, 94 K, All-Pac-12; Alex Hardy: 5-4, 2.80, 8 SV, 61.0 IP, 37 G, All-Pac-12; Lucas Knowles: 6-5, 4.35, 23 G/15 GS, 89.0 IP, 67 K, 21 BB.
Coach Meggs on the pitchers: Not in any particular order, Jack DeCooman, Jordan Jones, Josh Burgmann, Stevie Emanuels and David Rhodes are all candidates to start. Burgmann and Jordan Jones will for sure be involved in the weekend when we head to Irvine. We’ve got four games that weekend, so you’re likely to see Jack DeCooman start one of those days and you may see David Rhodes start a game if Stevie Emanuels has a prominent role out of the bullpen.
That’s the wild card for us. Stevie’s been so good that you could literally start him on Friday night. He’s been 95 miles per hour with a really improved slider. We really like him potentially at the back of the bullpen. It would be great to keep him there, because having him, Leo (Nierenberg), Chris Micheles and Jack Enger at the back of the bullpen, I think would be as good of a bullpen we have had. Now do we have a Troy Rallings, someone that has established himself, or an Alex Hardy in the closing role? We don’t. But Jack Enger had an outstanding fall in that role, and Stevie certainly could do it.
It’s going to be a little trial and error in the beginning but by the time Pac-12 play starts we’ll have three starters that I’m sure we feel really comfortable with, we’ll have a midweek guy – which could be somebody like David Rhodes. Then you’re going to have Stevie as a swing man with a potential spot start and some setup and closing stuff, with Jack Enger also getting some closing.