With the first year fully under his belt, Brescia University baseball head coach Jon Herbig is hoping to keep building and take the program to the next level.
The Bearcats largely matched their results from a season ago, finishing the 2018-19 campaign with an overall record of 12-32 and a River States Conference record of 7-20. Herbig said the record doesn’t tell the full story, as they were competitive in many of the games they lost.
“If you look closely you’ll see that we played a tough schedule and we were in some close games that could have easily gone one way or the other,” he said. “We had a hard time closing games out at times, and I attribute part of that to our youth in some cases.”
Though they had several seniors on the roster, there were only six juniors and one sophomore on a team otherwise ripe with freshmen. The first-year guys also comprised nearly the entire pitching rotation.
“We are graduating nine seniors, but the best part about it is every one of those seniors had to compete for a starting spot with freshmen who in most cases were arguably just as capable as the seniors ahead of them,” Herbig said. “The separating factor was ultimately just experience. The core of our pitching staff was made up of freshmen who gained valuable experience on the mound this year.”
Herbig said while they can feel somewhat good about keeping themselves in games, the Bearcats feel like there’s still something left on the table and it’s within their grasp.
“We came short of qualifying for the conference tournament, which doesn’t sit well with the guys,” he said. “We know we have areas to improve and it’s exciting to see the underclassmen stepping up to take over going forward. We have a strong recruiting class coming together going into this next fall and it’s going to be fun to see what we have come together with what we are adding.”
One of the key returners will be rising senior Zach Scheid, a catcher who was named to the All-RSC Second Team. Scheid hit .389 and slugged .602, hitting six of the team’s eight home runs this season. He was second in hits (43) and RBIs (23).
Leaving the Bearcats as a graduating senior is another All-RSC Second Team honoree, Yonnelle Firebrace. The center fielder batted .338 and slugged .400 with a team-high 44 hits. Another outgoing senior who will be missed is first baseman Alex Pennes, who finished with 39 hits along with team highs in RBIs (24) and steals (13).
Herbig said the last nine months have almost been a blur and he’s sad to see some of his guys go, but he’s excited for the future.
“This first year seems to have gone by so fast already,” he said. “I’m left wishing I had more time with the seniors who are already graduating, and we only just met for the first time back in August. Overall this first season has been a great experience, especially for myself and for the young guys on the roster who will be returning next year.”
