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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Schmitz Previews 2014 Season
February 11, 2014 | Baseball
The 24-year veteran coach sat down with BGSUFalcons.com
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - With first pitch just three days away, head baseball coach Danny Schmitz took some time to preview the upcoming 2014 season. Schmitz, who enters his 24th season as the head coach of the Falcons, has a career record of 612-581-5. The Falcons are coming off a 2013 season which saw them claim the MAC Tournament championship and advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1999.
BGSUFalcons.com: Let's look back to last season first, a season which saw your Falcons win the MAC Tournament and reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1999. How has the 2014 team carried that momentum into this season?
Danny Schmitz: Well, I thought it was a great shot in the arm for the program. There is no doubt about that, especially the way we got into the tournament. With the walkoff triple by Pat Lancaster to score Matt Pitzulo, that was really something. That moment is something I'll never forget, and I've been here for 24 years. And obviously that gave us great confidence going into the tournament, and to win that and go on to the NCAA Tournament was special. That's only the fourth team in school history to go to the NCAA Tournament, that was some very exciting stuff.
You have 12 seniors on this year's team. How important is their leadership to the team?
DS: Well, there's no doubt about how important it is. If you looked last year, with only four seniors on the roster, we were very young. And now it's the opposite this year with 12 seniors. These guys are going to be the nuts and bolts of the program this year. Expectations should be high, and they are high. And our three captains - Cody Apthorpe, T.J. Losby, and Jeremy Shay - are very important to that leadership.
You return T.J. Losby and Jeremy Shay who were both All-MAC players last season. How does their leadership and experience play a role on this year's team?
DS: Well we expect all of our captains to act in a great manner both on the field and off the field. The positions that both Jeremy and T.J. play are very important to us. With those guys being versatile, we can rotate them between catching and playing first base. And obviously that catching position, we call that the quarterback position. They are the guys that are running the show so it's extremely important to get leadership out of those two guys.
Cody Apthorpe joins Losby and Shay as a tri-captain in 2014. Apthorpe is just the second player in school history to be a three-time captain. How important is he as a leader and tone-setter for your team?
DS: Cody is our guy that is the leader of the pitching staff. That has to be one of our strengths this year. It was one of our strengths last year, and Cody has been and will continue to be a great leader. This is the first player in my 24 seasons that has been elected a captain three times. He's always involved in the game, whether he's pitching or in the dugout preparing for his next outing. Talk to any coach in the conference, and they'll tell you it's extremely important to have that set-the-tone guy. That makes a difference in whether you have a great weekend or a not-so-good weekend. Having a guy with Cody's experience and leadership can be a great benefit to us.
Talk about your lineup and how the competition has been at each position during practice.
DS: Well, I think the guys have really been working hard and the enthusiasm has been really good. T.J. will be our top catcher and Jeremy will be our No. 2. Also, Trey Keegan has come back from surgery and looks like he is back to near 100-percent. That will give us good back up there, as well as Tyler Greiner who was redshirted there last season. Over at first base, our top two will be Jeremy and T.J. We also moved Matt Smith in from the outfield, and he will see some playing time over there as well as at DH. Second base we have Brandon Howard and Aaron Loconsole battling it out to see who will win that spot. Brian Bien will return as our starting shortstop. Then over at third base, we have Logan Walker and Greg Basalyga. I thought Greg had a very nice fall, and Logan is a senior who we expect a lot of leadership from him. Outfield, we feel that's a very strong spot for us. In left field we have Andrew Kubuski and Jake Thomas over there. Jake might also see some action over in right. Pat Lancaster will be the centerfielder. In right field we have Jesse Rait and we may see Jake over there, too. Jake is really versatile and he can play any of the three positions out there. Then we have Addison Rospert who we've converted from an infielder to an outfielder and we expect him to contribute out there as well.
Your pitching rotation will once again be deep and experienced. Who do you expect to be the leaders on the mound in 2014, and who has stood out the most?
DS: Coach Blanc (pitching coach) and I talk about this frequently, and he has it all set right now. He's looking at Cody Apthorpe being the No. 1 (Friday) guy, followed by Mike Frank on Saturdays. Then on Sunday he's looking at Andrew Lacinak, who has missed the past 22 months after Tommy John surgery during his freshman season. He looks to be 100-percent healthy and those will probably be our three guys to start the year. Then you've got Ben Singer, Ethan McKenney, and Jason Link who are going to be the top three guys out of the bullpen right now. Then you've got Trevor Blaylock who has a tremendous arm, also. You also have Devin Daugherty and Brett Fitzwater who got some good experience last season. And, we are hoping to get our freshman some good experience in a traditional freshman role.
The Falcons play a very strong non-conference schedule, playing at Belmont, Murray State, Georgia Tech (2013 NCAA Tournament team), and High Point all before the annual RussMatt Invitational during spring break. How does your schedule prepare you for Mid-American Conference play?
DS: With us having the experience that we do, we felt it was really important for us to play a great non-conference schedule. All of the teams that we play are top notch programs. We are excited to get it going because it has been a brutal winter in Bowling Green. We won't get outside before the first game down in Nashville to play Belmont. I don't know what to expect, but I do know the guys will be excited to play.
You won your 600th game last season and will coach in your 1200th career game during the series at Belmont this season. Talk about your career at BGSU and how special this place is.
DS: Well, I'll tell you what. Bowling Green State University has been just a truly special place for myself and my family. My wife Cindy, my son Spencer, and my daughter Jamie, it's hard to believe that we've been here for 24 years already. But, there is no place we'd rather be than right here. Obviously, you're talking about the number of games and the wins, but that's all becasue we've had great kids. I've been blessed to have so many great players and many tremendous assistants come through the program. I've had the pleasure to work with so many great people during my time at BGSU.
The university recently unveiled your program's first ever locker room. How exciting and rewarding is something like that for the program moving forward?
DS: Well, I'll tell you what. It's a dream come true. We've had to go through a lot where we would get a locker room to share for five weeks in the fall, and then not get back in a locker room until after the spring trip. The guys never had laundry done and never had a place to call home. And then, some years we would have to move out again when the ice show "Ice Horizons" would come in, and it seemed like we were usually at home during that time. To have this, not only is it a wonderful place. It's wonderful for the current players to enjoy, and for all the past players who have helped build the tradition. And also with future players, too. When a young man comes in and wants to learn more about Bowling Green State University baseball, we will have a place to take them. I mean, that's a big league locker room. They'll see all about the baseball tradition with all the trophies and championships in the trophy case. We not only want the current players to build upon the tradition, but we want the future players to do that as well. We are so excited and so thankful to all of the donors and to Chris Kingston (Director of Athletics) for coming in and making this happen. I knew if we got the go-ahead from him, that we would have alumni and friends of the program that would help make this dream become a reality. We tip our hat to them, and we owe them a lot.
BGSUFalcons.com: Let's look back to last season first, a season which saw your Falcons win the MAC Tournament and reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1999. How has the 2014 team carried that momentum into this season?
Danny Schmitz: Well, I thought it was a great shot in the arm for the program. There is no doubt about that, especially the way we got into the tournament. With the walkoff triple by Pat Lancaster to score Matt Pitzulo, that was really something. That moment is something I'll never forget, and I've been here for 24 years. And obviously that gave us great confidence going into the tournament, and to win that and go on to the NCAA Tournament was special. That's only the fourth team in school history to go to the NCAA Tournament, that was some very exciting stuff.
You have 12 seniors on this year's team. How important is their leadership to the team?
DS: Well, there's no doubt about how important it is. If you looked last year, with only four seniors on the roster, we were very young. And now it's the opposite this year with 12 seniors. These guys are going to be the nuts and bolts of the program this year. Expectations should be high, and they are high. And our three captains - Cody Apthorpe, T.J. Losby, and Jeremy Shay - are very important to that leadership.
You return T.J. Losby and Jeremy Shay who were both All-MAC players last season. How does their leadership and experience play a role on this year's team?
DS: Well we expect all of our captains to act in a great manner both on the field and off the field. The positions that both Jeremy and T.J. play are very important to us. With those guys being versatile, we can rotate them between catching and playing first base. And obviously that catching position, we call that the quarterback position. They are the guys that are running the show so it's extremely important to get leadership out of those two guys.
Cody Apthorpe joins Losby and Shay as a tri-captain in 2014. Apthorpe is just the second player in school history to be a three-time captain. How important is he as a leader and tone-setter for your team?
DS: Cody is our guy that is the leader of the pitching staff. That has to be one of our strengths this year. It was one of our strengths last year, and Cody has been and will continue to be a great leader. This is the first player in my 24 seasons that has been elected a captain three times. He's always involved in the game, whether he's pitching or in the dugout preparing for his next outing. Talk to any coach in the conference, and they'll tell you it's extremely important to have that set-the-tone guy. That makes a difference in whether you have a great weekend or a not-so-good weekend. Having a guy with Cody's experience and leadership can be a great benefit to us.
Talk about your lineup and how the competition has been at each position during practice.
DS: Well, I think the guys have really been working hard and the enthusiasm has been really good. T.J. will be our top catcher and Jeremy will be our No. 2. Also, Trey Keegan has come back from surgery and looks like he is back to near 100-percent. That will give us good back up there, as well as Tyler Greiner who was redshirted there last season. Over at first base, our top two will be Jeremy and T.J. We also moved Matt Smith in from the outfield, and he will see some playing time over there as well as at DH. Second base we have Brandon Howard and Aaron Loconsole battling it out to see who will win that spot. Brian Bien will return as our starting shortstop. Then over at third base, we have Logan Walker and Greg Basalyga. I thought Greg had a very nice fall, and Logan is a senior who we expect a lot of leadership from him. Outfield, we feel that's a very strong spot for us. In left field we have Andrew Kubuski and Jake Thomas over there. Jake might also see some action over in right. Pat Lancaster will be the centerfielder. In right field we have Jesse Rait and we may see Jake over there, too. Jake is really versatile and he can play any of the three positions out there. Then we have Addison Rospert who we've converted from an infielder to an outfielder and we expect him to contribute out there as well.
Your pitching rotation will once again be deep and experienced. Who do you expect to be the leaders on the mound in 2014, and who has stood out the most?
DS: Coach Blanc (pitching coach) and I talk about this frequently, and he has it all set right now. He's looking at Cody Apthorpe being the No. 1 (Friday) guy, followed by Mike Frank on Saturdays. Then on Sunday he's looking at Andrew Lacinak, who has missed the past 22 months after Tommy John surgery during his freshman season. He looks to be 100-percent healthy and those will probably be our three guys to start the year. Then you've got Ben Singer, Ethan McKenney, and Jason Link who are going to be the top three guys out of the bullpen right now. Then you've got Trevor Blaylock who has a tremendous arm, also. You also have Devin Daugherty and Brett Fitzwater who got some good experience last season. And, we are hoping to get our freshman some good experience in a traditional freshman role.
The Falcons play a very strong non-conference schedule, playing at Belmont, Murray State, Georgia Tech (2013 NCAA Tournament team), and High Point all before the annual RussMatt Invitational during spring break. How does your schedule prepare you for Mid-American Conference play?
DS: With us having the experience that we do, we felt it was really important for us to play a great non-conference schedule. All of the teams that we play are top notch programs. We are excited to get it going because it has been a brutal winter in Bowling Green. We won't get outside before the first game down in Nashville to play Belmont. I don't know what to expect, but I do know the guys will be excited to play.
You won your 600th game last season and will coach in your 1200th career game during the series at Belmont this season. Talk about your career at BGSU and how special this place is.
DS: Well, I'll tell you what. Bowling Green State University has been just a truly special place for myself and my family. My wife Cindy, my son Spencer, and my daughter Jamie, it's hard to believe that we've been here for 24 years already. But, there is no place we'd rather be than right here. Obviously, you're talking about the number of games and the wins, but that's all becasue we've had great kids. I've been blessed to have so many great players and many tremendous assistants come through the program. I've had the pleasure to work with so many great people during my time at BGSU.
The university recently unveiled your program's first ever locker room. How exciting and rewarding is something like that for the program moving forward?
DS: Well, I'll tell you what. It's a dream come true. We've had to go through a lot where we would get a locker room to share for five weeks in the fall, and then not get back in a locker room until after the spring trip. The guys never had laundry done and never had a place to call home. And then, some years we would have to move out again when the ice show "Ice Horizons" would come in, and it seemed like we were usually at home during that time. To have this, not only is it a wonderful place. It's wonderful for the current players to enjoy, and for all the past players who have helped build the tradition. And also with future players, too. When a young man comes in and wants to learn more about Bowling Green State University baseball, we will have a place to take them. I mean, that's a big league locker room. They'll see all about the baseball tradition with all the trophies and championships in the trophy case. We not only want the current players to build upon the tradition, but we want the future players to do that as well. We are so excited and so thankful to all of the donors and to Chris Kingston (Director of Athletics) for coming in and making this happen. I knew if we got the go-ahead from him, that we would have alumni and friends of the program that would help make this dream become a reality. We tip our hat to them, and we owe them a lot.
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