2021 VCU BASEBALL PREVIEW
By Quinn Hull
 
Baseball season is set to begin, and the Rams are looking to hit the ground running. Last year VCU posted 9-8 mark, including 6-2 at home, before COVID-19 brought the year to a halt.  
 
While short, the 2020 campaign showed the VCU offense was dangerous as ever and the Rams will look to carry that into the 2021 campaign. 
 
This season VCU is set to return much of its hitting firepower. Included in the Rams plethora of offensive options are 2020 standouts Brandon Henson and Steven Carpenter. In just a 17-game campaign, Henson jacked six home runs and drove in 17 while Carpenter led the team in with an average of .393 to go with his 16 RBIs. Hogan Brown also returns after batting .275 last season.
 
Liam Hibbits is a player to keep an eye out for this year. Hibbits burst onto the scene in 2019; a season in which he established himself as the Rams' most efficient hitter. During the campaign, Hibbits led the team with a .366 batting average while crushing six home runs and driving in 60. Though he never quite found his groove before an abrupt ending to the 2020 season, look for the infielder to regain his midseason form in his junior season. 
 
Sophomore Third Baseman Tyler Locklear will also look to establish himself as a key player in the Rams order. Locklear started his career with a promising campaign in which he ripped off five extra-base hits and maintained a steady batting average of .259. 
 
"I think the lineup is going to be anchored by Tyler Locklear. I don't think many people understand the talent and ability he has. He has as much power and hitting ability as anyone I have ever coached," said Head Coach Shawn Stiffler. 
 
On the mound, the starting pitching rotation remains intact. Righthander Justin Sorokowski returns after posting a 1.29 ERA last season, while right-handed pitcher Michael Dailey is back for his sixth year in the black and gold. After three injury marred seasons, Dailey appeared to regain the form that made him the 2016 Atlantic 10 Conference Rookie of the Year award. In six starts last season, Dailey crafted a 2.28 ERA across 23.2 innings. He struck out 21 and walked just six. In addition to what they register on the box score, both starting pitchers will serve as experienced leaders and will help to guide a Rams that features a larger-than-usual roster.
 
VCU will return 14 position players, but a challenge the team will face in the new season will be to fill the holes in the middle-infield left by Brett Norwood and Paul Witt, who signed professional contracts over the summer. Both provided a strong defensive presence at the shortstop and second base positions respectively. There are multiple candidates that could be tabbed as replacements, one of whom is senior Andrew Puglielli, who has often taken the role of a utility player in the infield. Another that may fill the role of shortstop this season is Michael Haydak, a sophomore junior-college transfer. 
 
Stiffler, entering his ninth season as head coach, believes the Rams' depth, due in part to the return of several seniors granted an additional year of eligibility due to the cancelation of the 2020 campaign, will be a source of strength. 
 
"There is competition all over the field, and young guys who are very talented. Iron sharpens iron, the better the competition is on your team, the better you will be," said Stiffler. "It's not one of those lineups where you say here is the clear-cut leadoff hitter. It is one of those lineups where one through eight or nine you really have somebody that you're going to have to compete very hard with to get out." 
 
VCU Baseball opens its season with a three-game series starting Saturday, Feb. 20 against UNC Wilmington in Wilmington, N.C.  It will be the first series of its non-conference schedule that is highlighted by home and away contests with Virginia, and a three-game series with A-Sun favorites Liberty.