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| Luke Fournier returns for Arcadia. | Photo: Arcadia Athletics |
Trevor Mattson put together an outstanding senior season last year for Arcadia and was honored with All-Region honors from numerous publications. His absence could be a significant blow for the Knights as they open the 2022 season on Saturday.
"It's a big loss, sure, but we're pretty optimistic," said Knights head coach Bryan Torresani. "We return a lot of pieces from last year, minus one big one, of course. We added some new faces too, and this is the year we've been building for, to be honest."
The Knights posted a 21-12 record a year ago and return eight players from the starting lineup, Mattson being the lone non-returner. The club also brings back some exciting hurlers that could keep the Knights in the hunt for a run at a MAC Championship.
Luke Fournier was the MAC Freedom Pitcher of the Year last season. The senior right-hander posted a 3.93 ERA over 36 2/3 innings while collecting 31 strikeouts. He'll enter the year as the premier arm on the Knights' staff.
Hunter Curley is another arm that'll be in Arcadia's rotation. He went 2-2 last year while pitching to a 3.70 ERA.
Combined, the pitching staff posted a 4.31 ERA last season, the fourth-best mark in the MAC. But what about the offense?
How do you replace a guy in Mattson that hit .436 last year while posting a 1.377 OPS with seven dingers and 27 RBI's?
"It'll have to be a couple of guys stepping up," Torresani said. "We have a handful of juniors that will be starting, but particularly guys like Justin Massielo, Alex Madera, and Trey Obarowski, I expect them to make another jump for us. Beyond them, I think it's going to be a joint effort."
Madera hit .389 last season and posted a .933 OPS. He also stole 25 bases and led a Knights team that stole a total of 107 bases on the season, the eighth-most in the nation at the Division 3 level.
Another guy to keep an eye on is Archbishop Wood graduate Matt Donchez.
"He's a left-handed hitter and can play all three outfield positions," Torresani said. "He's shown the ability in our indoor practices to have some power, so he may be someone that we can platoon with him and see what happens. I do think he's a guy that's going to make an impact because he's going to get some at-bats. Tools-wise, he has the stuff to eventually be one of the better players in the conference."
Arcadia opens their schedule on Saturday with a doubleheader at the Diamond Invitational in Fayetteville with games against Methodist and Messiah. The club returns to open the home portion of their schedule on March 5 against Penn State Harrisburg.
"It's a challenging schedule, for sure," Torresani said. "Our conference continues to improve, but also there's just so many good programs in the area that we face in non-conference play. That's saying something about this area and the quality of college baseball."
