By
Pete Pelegrin
Twitter: @Petepelegrin
Three weeks from today FIU opens the 2017 college baseball season at home against Jacksonville State, however until February 17, the Panthers have some work to do before the first pitch.
The Panthers opened practice for the new season Friday at the FIU ballpark. FIU had its first full-squad practice with new coach
Mervyl Melendez under an abundance of sunshine, which the Panthers hope portends to their 2017 season.
"I'm extremely excited about today," said Melendez, who begins his first season at the helm of FIU after winning a combined 12 conference titles in 17 seasons at Bethune-Cookman and Alabama State. "You are one day closer to starting the season. We do know that ahead of us we have a little work to do as a team. We have to continue to learn the system and polish our skills as baseball players."
One area the Panthers have to address in the next 21 days is their weekend starting rotation. The lone regular returning weekend starter is senior
Chris Mourelle, who led FIU with six wins last season. Mourelle -- who is tied with former FIU right-hander Edwin Franco for fifth on the FIU career wins list with 22 -- is expected to anchor the rotation.
Three left-handers (
Dominic LoBrutto,
Alex Demchak and
Andrew George) and three right-handers (
Michael Agis,
Tyler Myrick and
Nick MacDonald) are expected to compete for the other starting spots in the rotation.
"We have five or six guys that are fighting for three or four spots in the starting rotation," Melendez said. "These next two to three weeks will tell us a lot. Actually, probably in two weeks we will decide who those guys are. It's a very close race and only because they have all done a good job.
"
Chris Mourelle has a very good chance. LoBrutto, Demchak,
Andrew George, Agis those guys right now as far as starting is concerned we're looking for them to lead the way. We have a couple of freshmen in
Tyler Myrick and
Nick MacDonald who are in the mix as well."
FIU will also need to figure out the bullpen before February 17. Last year's closer
Williams Durruthy, who had nine of the 14 FIU saves, was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks and is in their minor league system. LoBrutto and Demchak, who combined for four saves last season, are vying for the starting rotation therefore the Panthers expect to have a different cast of relievers.
"I'm actually excited about our bullpen too," Melendez said. "Our bullpen is going to be tremendous. There is a lot of competition in the pitching department. [Myrick and MacDonald] can transition into bullpen guys.
Chandler Raiden,
Willy Fabra have done a good job.
Franklin Van Gurp has done a really good job. Everyone that does not pitch on the weekend is going to have a chance to be a bullpen type of guy."
FIU finished third in hitting in Conference USA with a .291 team batting average in 2016. The Panthers are looking to build on that as the first pitch draws near.
"As an offensive team we have gotten so much better," Melendez said. "They are understanding their pitch selection a lot better, meaning in batting practice they are doing more with the pitches that they should be able to handle. We have had some live situation-type of drills that they have done a lot better than three months ago when we first got started. They are learning what we want them to do."
