Maryland JUCO Team Preview: Chesapeake Skipjacks

February 18, 2021
Kyle Campbell
Maryland Scouting Director

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JUCO programs across the state of Maryland are eager to get back on the field after their season's were cut short by Covid-19 in 2020. As the calendar quickly turns and teams begin to ramp up for their season's to begin in early March, we begin our coverage of the Maryland JUCO Conference with a preseason preview of all fourteen schools. In each preview, we will take a look back at the shortened 2020 season, examine key players that return and those that have moved on or left the program, look at new faces, and finally take a sneak peak at whats ahead for the 2021 season. Today we continue our preseason previews with a look at the Chesapeake College Skipjacks.

CHesapeake College 2021 SEASON PREVIEW

Head Coach: Frank Szymanski (22nd Season)
Mascot: Skipjacks
2020 Record: 9-2
2020 MD JUCO Finish: N/A
2020 DI Region XX Finish: N/A
Twitter Handle: @peakebaseball
CLICK HERE to view the Chesapeake College Baseball Website
CLICK HERE to view the Chesapeake College 2021 Baseball Schedule
CLICK HERE to view the Chesapeake College 2021 Baseball Roster

Returning Starters: 4

PLAYER	POS	GP	AVG	OBP	SLG	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB
Andrew Brady	OF	11	.308	.537	.538	11	8	1	1	1	6	8
Juan Contreras	INF/OF	8	.278	.435	.500	6	5	1	0	1	3	4
Matt Ferony	INF	10	.348	.500	.435	8	8	2	0	0	6	2
Will Pope	UTL	9	.310	.459	.448	9	9	2	1	0	5	1

Returning Pitchers: 5

PLAYER	POS	APP	W	L	S	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA
Sal Biondollo	RHP	3	0	1	0	5.0	4	4	2	5	5	3.60
Nick Gatton	RHP	3	1	0	0	8.2	10	8	5	2	10	5.19
Danny Leo	RHP	4	1	0	0	12.1	8	3	3	2	11	2.19
Devin McClendon	LHP	2	1	1	1	9.0	7	7	7	1	4	7.00
Dylan Young	RHP	2	0	0	0	3.1	6	4	4	2	1	10.80

Key Losses

PLAYER

POS

AVG

OBP

SLG

RBI

None Listed.

PLAYER

POS

APP

ERA

None Listed.

2020 Skipjacks Moving On

*List of players from last year's team that are playing a 4-year schools this season.

Garrett Nepert (Lock Haven University)

Top Newcomers

Kyle Waters INF (Fr.) Southern-AA (MD)
Wilfredo Mendez (Fr.) LHP/OF Caesar Rodney (DE)
Keaton Goetzger C Transfer from Radford University

Committed Players on Current Roster

None at this time.

2021 Season Snapshot

The Skipjacks entered last season with and extremely young roster returning just one arm from a 2019 team that went 30-14-1 before being upset by Garrett College 5-3 in the play-in game to the NJCAA Region XX D2 weekend Final Four. With Covid-19 shutting down the season early, 22nd year head coach Frank Szymanski begins this year's campaign with a similar young and inexperienced roster.

On the mound, Coach Szymanski will lean heavily on their five returners headlined by a pair of righties in Danny Leo and Nick Gatton. Former Chesapeake-AA standout Dylan Young figures to be another key peice on the bump alongside fellow returners in lefty Devin McClendon and righty Sal Biondollo. Freshman Wilfredo Mendez from Caesar Rodney (DE) could provide a huge boost in the rotation at some point as well.

Offensively, Andrew Brady, Juan Contreras, Matt Ferony, and Will Pope will look to provide consistency with several younger guys getting an opportunity early to earn roles in the everyday lineup. Aforementioned Young and Mendez will both pull double duty this year in the infield and outfield respectively with Radford transfer Keaton Goetzger adding some much needed pop to the middle of the order.

Similar to all of the other Maryland JUCO Conference schools this year, Chesapeake will not travel south to Myrtle Beach, SC as they have several times in the past due to Covid-19 restrictions. Instead the Skipjacks will travel to Cecil College on March 13th to open with a double header and run through five conference opponents in the opening month.