Despite injuries, Merced College baseball still OK in arms race

Chris Pedretti firmly believed pitching depth was going to be his team’s biggest strength heading into the 2016 season.

The Merced College baseball coach never envisioned having to test the theory so quickly.

A couple weeks ago, the Blue Devils had a bevy of proven arms at their disposal. With sophomore Nate McGhee suffering a possible season-ending injury and right-hander Trevor Chaney dealing with soreness, that list has dwindled heading into Thursday afternoon’s season opener at Cañada of Redwood City.

Merced still has sophomore right-handers Ryan Sanchez and Blake Cederlind ready to build upon very good freshman campaigns in the rotation and closer Brandon Adame out of the bullpen, but Pedretti is going to need some of his unproven pitchers to step up right away.

“We felt like pitching depth was our biggest strength coming into the season, and hopefully, that proves to be the case,” Pedretti said.“Are we as well off as we were a month ago? No. But we certainly have guys that are capable of stepping up filling the holes.

“Evan Estes, from Sonora, is going to get the first shot at replacing McGhee in the rotation, but we have a lot of guys that are going to play big roles for us. Everybody is going to get to see what they can do early on.”

With a freshman pitching class that includes Zach Wichman, Nicholas Gonzales and Mark Ackerman, Pedretti has a versatile staff that can start or provide innings out of the pen.

“I think we’re a unit that’s definitely learned to attack more and feed our defense,” said Sanchez, who tossed a team-high 76 1/3 innings last year. “We’re excited to see who steps up into Nate’s spot. The coaches added a bunch of talented guys; it’s just going to be who has the confidence to go out and do it.

“I think we’re going to have a little more offense than last year, so it’s not all going to be on the pitching staff’s shoulders. We’ve got a really good defense behind us, so we just need to let them work.”

Merced starts the season ranked No. 7 in Northern California, thanks in part to returning starters Darren Trainor (catcher ), Curtis Kellogg (first baseman ), David Vidauri (shortsop) and outfielders Dalton Beatty and Daniel Hermosillo. The bulk of the group hit in the top half of the order as freshmen and are expected to do some damage after a productive 2015.

Freshmen Ricky Mena (third base) and Asaka Hashimoto (second base) will round out the infield, and Lawrence Anderson will take over in center.

Pedretti said the team’s main concern entering the season is positional depth, particularly in the infield.

“Here’s hoping we don’t see any real injuries, but if we do, guys like myself and Daniel have a background in the infield before we came to Merced,” Trainor said. “You hope you never have to use it, but at least we know we have some versatility if we have to move some guys around.

“I think we learned a lot from last year’s first-round playoff exit, mainly that we want to kind of pattern ourselves off of (San Mateo). They weren’t necessarily any more talented, but their attention to detail was amazing. They made no mistakes, and that’s something we’re striving for.”

Softball

Suzanne McGhee wasn’t shy about addressing her team’s needs. The She-Devils’ offense was lackluster at best in 2015, hitting .252 and scoring 152 runs in 39 games. It was good for 3.9 runs per game and set the tone in an 11-28 season.

McGhee went out and recruited the top hitters from Madera South (Elizabeth Cuevas), Delhi (Brianna Lopez) and Hilmar (Marta Mitchell), and added Merced sluggers Shelbee Ward and Katelynn Gietler, and Buhach Colony star Jennifer Moreno.

Throw in the return of redshirt sophomore Jessica Arias, who hit .412 with a home run and 16 RBIs two years ago, and McGhee looks to have one of the more formidable lineups during her seven-year tenure.

Arias and Lopez will share pitching duties, and with a number of good athletes in the field, Merced should be a better defensive team in 2016.

Swimming

Scott McCall enters the season with his smallest team in more than a decade.

While winning an eighth Bay Valley Conference title in nine years may prove difficult without the depth of some of its opponents, McCall’s eight-man roster is still loaded with talent.

Jordan Salcido and Kyle Sugimoto were state qualifiers last year, and Caleb Rogers and Taylor Heckathorn are excellent swimmers who will play water polo at four-year schools next fall.

The women’s swim team, which took second at last year’s BVC championships, will have 12 on the roster for the second straight year.

Brontae Gomes and Rebekah Groteguth will try to duplicate their All-America performances from water polo season, while freshmen Nicole Goodnight and Kim Canisso come in with impressive high school résumés.

This story was originally published February 2, 2016 at 4:14 PM with the headline "Despite injuries, Merced College baseball still OK in arms race."