10/29/2008 - Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. – GoDuke.com sat down with fourth-year head baseball coach Sean McNally, who just finished leading the Blue Devils through their fall practice session. The Blue Devils return 22 letterwinners from last year’s squad, including seven starting position players and eight pitchers who were heavy contributors in 2008. Additonally, McNally and his staff have brought in seven freshmen who also have the opportunity to work their way into the lineup in 2009. Read on to find out McNally’s impressions of fall practice, what he sees as his team’s strengths this season and who in particular stood out during the fall.

GoDuke.com: What were your overall impressions of how the team performed during fall practice?
Sean McNally: I thought fall practice was really productive. We got a lot accomplished – we set out to teach our system to the freshmen and review it for the returning players.  We also wanted to have numerous competitive intrasquad games to get an idea of how our group will perform under game pressure.  Like any other practice period, we’re further ahead in some areas than we thought we would be, and we’ve got a lot of work to do in other areas. I thought our energy, effort, and tempo was outstanding for the duration and, on the whole, the results were positive.

GD: What were some of the more noticeable areas of improvement you saw from the beginning to the end of the fall session?
SM: I think our pitchers got better each time out, especially with their ability to command the fastball and hit spots.  That progression was a plus, as was the plate discipline of our hitters across the board.  We had some uneven play at different times this fall defensively, but I really thought we put it together defensively at the end of the period.

GD: Of the returning players, who in particular stood out from a development standpoint?
SM: We were interested to see how Andrew Wolcott (Senior, Pitcher) would come back after taking the summer off to participate with DukeEngage, and he came back great. His strength and velocity was a little bit down at the beginning, but he steadily got better and looked terrific at the end of the fall. I thought Matt Williams (Senior, Catcher) had a great fall, as well. He just looked better in all aspects. Offensively, Jeremy Gould and Nate Freiman (Senior, First Baseman/Catcher), who we’re very fortunate to have back for his senior season, had good falls. Gabriel Saade (Junior, Second Baseman) also did a good job growing and developing as a hitter and as a vocal presence on the field.

GD: Last season, pitching and defense were the strengths of the team. Is Duke going to have a similar look again this year?
SM: Pitching and defense will always be critical to our success here at Duke. With most of our pitching back and a lot of our defenders back, we are confident that we will again be strong in those areas. One thing that will be really important in taking that next step is our diversity on offense. We’ll have more ways to score runs – we’ll hit some balls out of the park and we’ll be able to run a little more and be able to play small ball. That’s really key when you get into ACC play where a lot of the teams are really closely bunched from a talent standpoint, and having different ways to create a margin is so important.

GD: Are you any closer to putting together a starting lineup and a starting pitching rotation?
SM: Because there’s so much teaching that goes on, especially with the younger guys, evaluating everyone really comes in that lead-up period when we practice in the spring. It’s really about teaching them and seeing how they react in the fall, so I think it’s too early to put together a starting lineup. I think our returning guys that played a lot last year did a good job of reaffirming their spots, but definitely we have a lot of newcomers that are going to find their way onto the field. Where the pieces fit though, I’m not yet certain, but I feel really good about what we did in the fall. The different combinations we have to choose from are exciting.

GD: You and your staff brought in a lot of highly-touted players with your most recent recruiting class. How have they done in the fall?
SM: Eric Pfisterer swung the bat very well this fall. Brian Litwin and Williams Piwnica-Worms showed that they can play defense at this level and will be in the outfield mix. They made their mark there. Ben Grisz has a power arm, which he displayed this fall. Each guy came in at a different stage of development, but all showed signs of improvement.  Without question, our freshmen have raised the talent level in our baseball program and have exciting futures here at Duke.

GD: Were you able to gauge the improvement of some of the guys who were reserves last season?
SM: Yes, we were able to move a lot of guys around in order to get a good feel of where they can help us this year.  Dennis O'Grady stood out with his ability to play three infield spots and was solid on the mound.  Ben Condon continued his good play in the infield and showed the ability to adapt to catching as well.

GD: What’s next for Duke baseball now that the fall period has ended?
SM: We go into our individual period right now, which is a specialized period of development. We evaluate the limitations of each player as a staff and target these limitations during this time.  It is small group instruction with less time spent on the field. Our focus will shift to strength and conditioning aspects during this period as it is very important that we use this time to prepare for the season physically over the next two months. We will also do a number of community outreach projects during this time as well.  We are really looking forward to the 2009 season and know that this segment of the year is very important to our improvement, both individually and collectively.

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