Brown Baseball Season Preview
2/24/2022
LEADING OFF
It has been nearly two full calendar years since their last game, but the long-anticipated start of the 2022 season for the Brown baseball team is here. When the Bears take the field to open the season on February 25 at Memphis, it will mark the end of a long 719-day layoff since their last game on March 8, 2020, before the pandemic forced the cancelation of the remainder of the 2020 and all of the 2021 seasons.
The 2022 Brown squad features a 26-man roster with seven seniors, and a six-member junior class that got 12 games under their belts as freshman prior to the 2020 shutdown. Joining them will be 13 underclassmen who have yet to see collegiate game action. The team boasts plenty of talent, athleticism and versatility.
“Our goal as a staff has been to prepare our players for a competitive environment every single day, regardless of having an opponent in the opposing dugout,” said eighth-year head coach Grant Achilles. “Our style and standard of play is not relative to who we are playing, it’s relative to what we’re capable of.”
“The expectation is a lot of nerves, a lot of excitement and energy. But, I’m confident with the way our team has been preparing. I’m just excited to see how we can do against what we are capable of.”
OUTFIELD
Brown features three upperclassmen who will provide a veteran presence in the outfield in junior Derian Morphew in center field, senior Jackson Hipp in right and senior Chris Lang seeing time as an outfielder/designated hitter. Newcomers Nate Brasher and Jared Johnson also project to play significant roles in the Bears’ outfield, providing a righthanded-lefthanded combination the coaching staff is excited about.
Lang appeared in eight games as a freshman in 2019, with Hipp totaling seven career appearances in his freshman and sophomore seasons.
INFIELD
Brown has two returners in the infield with juniors Ray Sass and Ryan Marra. Sass leads all Brown returners with 11 starts in 11 games during his freshman 2020 season, primarily as the team’s third baseman, while Marra made five starts over seven games. Sass will serve as Brown’s shortstop in 2022 with Marra slotting in at first base. Sophomores Charles Crawford and Reece Rappoli have spent the preseason battling it out for the second base job, while freshman Gunner Boree projects as the team’s third baseman. The Bears will have plenty of options with all five players capable of moving around the infield and playing multiple positions.
CATCHERS
Jacob Burley is currently lined up to be Brown’s opening day catcher. The junior made five appearances, including four starts in 2020. Joining Burley behind the plate will be sophomore Quinn Rooks and freshman Conor Cooke.
“Jacob’s done a great job in terms of managing our staff and working with Coach Tilton to get to know the pitchers and be the best version of themselves,’ Achilles said. “Quinn Rooks and Conor Cooke continue to show growth and maturity back there and look to provide us depth at both catcher and first base.”
PITCHERS
On the mound, the Bears have had six players battling for a spot in the starting rotation, and also have a number of arms vying for roles in the bullpen.
“On the weekends, every out is high leverage and when you’re looking to get 27, there isn’t a single out that doesn’t matter,” Achilles said.
Southpaw Zach Fogell is the lone senior who has been vying for a spot atop the rotation, last appearing in a game in as a freshman in 2019 when he made 15 appearances, 14 of which came in relief. Junior Tobey McDonough projects as a starter for the Bears in 2022. McDonough struck out the side in a scoreless innings of work against Kennesaw State in 2020 in his lone collegiate appearance to date. Freshman Santhosh Gottam from Dallas, Texas has impressed this preseason and figures to see time as a starter to begin the year.
Junior Bobby Olsen, along with sophomore Gauge Lockhart and freshman Jack Seppings are also in the mix to be a part of the rotation be relied upon for high leverage outs throughout the season.
“We have the fortunate ability to provide different looks out of the bullpen,” Achilles said. “Charlie Beilenson has been pretty successful in his limited outings. Paxton Meyers has been provided some really good opportunities from summer ball as well. Sam Duncan is going to be a go-to guy for us out of the pen, as well as lefty Jacob Young. We’re going to have to rely on all of our arms to get us into that competitive advantage and get us to where we want to be at the end of the season. Every single pitcher has been growing into a role and we expect them to continue to push each other. That goes back to the competitive setting where we create competition from within, that way when we play somebody else, we’ve already been trying to achieve at the highest level.”
“Our goal as an offense is to put be able to put pressure on the opposing team and force them to respond to us,” Achilles said. “We have some definite power threats in our lineup top to bottom, but if we try to live by the long ball, that’s probably not going to play well for us. Making consistent, solid contact and putting pressure is going to be our game. We do have a good bit of athleticism in our lineup with guys who can steal bases and push to take an extra base, so being able to really apply pressure with a multifaceted approach is how we’re going to look to score runs this year.”
SCHEDULE
The Bears 2022 schedule features 37 games, 12 of which will take place at home at Murray Stadium.
Brown will open the 2022 season with a three game series at Memphis starting on Friday, February 25. With two more southern trips to USF and Gardner Webb, Brown will play 11 games on the road before their home opener on Sunday, March 20 with a split doubleheader against Holy Cross and Northeastern.
Ivy League play open with three games at Dartmouth on March 26. The Bears will face Bryant (March 29), Holy Cross (April 6), Columbia (April 9-10), Princeton (April 30-May1), and Cornell (May 7-8) at home this season.
Click here to view the full schedule.
