Junior Phil Andriola and sophomore David Morgan will platoon behind the plate. Andriola caught 30 games last year with a 97 fielding percentage, throwing out 18 of 47 runners and committing only five errors.
Morgan, in his first season as a backstop, improved his defense quickly while wielding a torrid bat. He hit .358 with a remarkable 34 RBI's in just 109 at-bats.
Durand's departure from centerfield should open the door for junior Juan Zarate, who batted .346 in limited action last year.
Mike "Thrill" Hill will patrol right field, where he is coming off an errorless season. Hill also hit .372 and led the team in stolen bases, with 10.
Depending on the lineup, DelVecchio, Morgan and Giardi will all share time in left.
Everyone knows that the offense is stacked. Anyone who has followed the Red Sox, however, knows that great hitting is simply not enough to win consistently.
Pitching will be the key, and with the starting four intact, the staff looks solid.
Senior lefthander Sean Johnston comes off of a perplexing season in which he won only one game in spite of a solid 3.31 ERA and the best hits-to-innings-pitched ratio on the team.
According to Hill, who played in the same summer league as Johnston, "[Sean] has added 3-4 miles an hour on his fastball and is looking good." Improved velocity should help him raise his team-high 36 Ks.
Senior Tom Hurley was 4-2 last season with a team leading 2.72 ERA. He also secured three saves out of the bullpen. Sophomore Jeff Mitchell is coming off an outstanding summer in the Jayhawk league, where he worked on a changeup to compliment his power game. Both he and junior Ray Desrocher turned in 3-1 records last season.
Mrowka said the staff has "a lot of talented pitchers." Senior Peter Rau will be counted on heavily in relief, as might junior Tony Lancette and sophomore Chris Kenaszchuk.
Freshman Jamie Irving looms as an unproven but intiguing prospect: He is ambidexterous.
Strong Tigers
The team's main competition within the EIBL will most likely come from Princeton.
Like Harvard, the Tigers return almost everyone from last year's titlewinning team.
There is league parity, however. Things don't always seem to happen the way they are supposed to.
"Anyone who knows baseball knows that it is one of the most difficult games to predict," Hogan said.