The Saint Joseph's baseball team will open its 2026 season on Friday at High Point.  Prior to the start of the campaign, head coach Fritz Hamburg, now in his 18th season on Hawk Hill, shared his insights into what fans can expect from this year's squad.
 
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Last season you had 23 new players joining the team; this season, that number is significantly lower.  Was there a different vibe among the team going into and coming out of the fall than there was last season?  Do you think jelling as a squad was easier this year?
 
Fritz Hamburg: I do, on a couple fronts. One, we're older, so we've had guys that have been in college, so they know the deal.  Two, you have older guys that are very eager for their opportunities; not to take away anything from the younger guys, but it's just them being around the college game, being in the weight room, just living college life, that I feel naturally ups the focus. On top of that, we've got a handful of guys that have transferred in that are friends with guys that were on the team last year, so they bonded really well. They live off campus, so they're all together. They cook together, they're in prayer group together…they've kind of really gravitated toward each other.
 
You can feel a sense of togetherness. I thought we did a good job with that last year, but it was different because of all the young guys we had; 15 freshmen last season compared to six this year. At the same time, it was good to see, to go through both. But this one definitely has a different feel, a more mature feel, a more focused feel.
 
That said, there are a lot of at bats and innings to be had; what have the newcomers brought to the competition for playing time throughout the fall and preseason?
 
FH: Positionally, we have Jason Janesko and Richard Beggy that transferred in, and the rest of the transfers are pitchers. And then we've got the six freshmen.  I think that we've kind of plugged some holes; we had to replace our whole rotation, so that was our focus in the portal. I think we're seeing across the board, I think the days of the big freshman classes are probably in the past. You kind of can't afford it with all the dynamics of the portal and NIL and those two things alone are, so to speak, upsetting the apple cart. And not to say that we necessarily love that, but if we're going to compete, we need to have guys that are going to be further down the road, physically mature.
 
You look at last year and I really was proud of the way we played. Where we finished in the conference with the group that we had, I honestly thought they did a really good job. The A-10 tournament didn't go as well as we wanted, but I think the opportunity to continue to get there, to have that experience, and if anything, we got to leave there with a bad taste in our mouth for what that was and how it ended. If we don't get to the A-10 tournament, we don't get to feel that disappointment of how we played in those games. We get to learn from that experience, which provides more motivation for this season.
 
We needed to go get guys that we felt could start and it worked out well and we're excited about who ended up coming into the program. And I think from the positional end, we do return Alex Kelsey, Tim Dickinson, Carson Applegate, and Blake Primrose. I mean, that's big that we returned that in the middle of the field.
 
Having that experience back in those roles is key. And then we fill in; Beggy's bat, we think is going to play and he'll hit down the bottom half the order. Janesko played a little bit his freshman year at East Carolina; he didn't play last year, but I think Jason's going to come on and do a good job. He's going to play right field and he's a good athlete and he can really run, and I think more so than anything, he just needs the at-bats to get himself going, but he has a pretty good upside. 
 
The past handful of years, the weather has been more cooperative in regards to getting outside before the games begin.  This year, not as much; how has the team adjusted?
 
FH: We can talk through concepts, but there's nothing like being on the field and running through them and executing them in real time. We've basically had snow on the field since the second day back here, and so I think from that standpoint, it may take us a little bit to get in rhythm. We did spend a good bit of time and focus in the fall on many areas of the game. I'm looking forward to seeing how we connect the dots in the first few weeks in this regard. 
 
Our indoor facility, for as nice as it is, it's not spacious enough to run through some of our defensive team concepts. That will be something that hopefully we'll cover when we get out on the field and practice. And those are things that we'll be doing in our practices leading up to the series so that we can at least get that flow back and grab a hold of what that looks and feels like.
 
Ultimately, it is what it is. We play in the Northeast. We have to adapt to the conditions and adjust as we go. There's no sense in focusing on what isn't; there's an opportunity to get stronger in other areas.
 
The pitching staff brings back just 11 of 52 starts from last season; who gets the ball opening weekend down in North Carolina?  Who do you see being the most likely candidates for the starting rotation over the course of the season?  Who are the guys you envision being your shutdown arms at the back of the bullpen?
 
FH: There are four guys that we're focusing on. Duke McCarron will pitch on Friday, Cole Fehrman on Saturday, and Luke Parise on Sunday.  Christian Coppola is a guy who started at Rutgers; his stuff is really good as well, and he's more than capable of starting.
 
So those four guys, we're just going to see how it plays out.  We've also got to find another starting pitcher for Tuesdays, and I would say that we're looking at Peter Bashore and Matt Speicher; Carson Magill has been slowed this preseason with some injuries and setbacks but he's coming around and is certainly more than in the mix for that role. They're also in line to pitch on the weekend; as you know, the weekend is the priority but it's been a while since we've had any consistency winning Tuesday games, and that's very important for many reasons.
 
As for the bullpen, we feel  Andrew Gaines is a guy [who will pitch at the back end]. Jackson Campbell, we're trying to get him to be there as well.
 
Sam Greer and Matt Fitzgibbon are two guys that will have significant responsibilities out of the pen. They can be extended or used for stop situations. Fitzy's best when he goes three or four innings and he gets into his groove, and Greer's got good stuff and his velocity is picking up. Those two guys I think are almost stopper, setup, middle-inning guys that can bridge you to get to the end. But if we had to use them at the end, we probably could as well. Certainly a plus for us. 
 
Another guy that's really coming around is Ethan Bowen; he certainly has good stuff and he works his tail off. If he's in the zone with his fastball, he can be really good.  Two other guys are Justin Sweeney and Patrick Veintimilla; they both went down the first weekend last year, and both of those guys are going to pitch this year.  Justin is a guy that doesn't care what his role is; he just wants to be part of it, which is awesome.  He's worked his tail off to get back and we all couldn't be prouder of his effort and his commitment to what he's doing. I think if we put him in the right spot, he's going to have a lot of success.
 
Veintimilla falls into the same category as Fitzgibbon and Greer, where he can go two, three innings, and he's a possibility to start on Tuesdays; I think he's a potential starter for us down the line.  And he works; he's conscientious and his work ethic is through the roof. I'm excited for him to be back out there.
 
Micah Wells will be another option for us out of the bullpen when he's ready to go, and we've also got Drew DeSanto from the right side and Logan Franks from the left.  They will have opportunities and when those opportunities come along, we'll need them to be consistent.
 
The Hawks have a good blend of youth and veteran experience in the lineup; if you were filling out a lineup card for a game today, who's trotting out to the field for that first inning?
 
FH: We mentioned the guys returning up the middle; Blake Primrose behind the plate, Tim Dickinson at second, Carson Applegate at short, and Alex Kelsey in center. Ben Peterson will back up Primrose, while Eric Cross and Augie Maslo could have some opportunities to see time in the middle infield and perhaps even at third.
 
Jack Saker and Alex Venezia will rotate at first base; both of them are inexperienced there, as is Max Forgione, so we'll see how that goes early on.  Third base obviously is a big question and I think overall it'll be a little bit of a revolving door early on. We'll have Richard Beggy and Frank Dasti. Tommy Kratz is at third as well and working to get healthy and back to playing form. We want to see who's going to jump in and really do their part for the team.
 
In the outfield, Alex Kelsey will man center, Joey Pagano will be in left field, and Janesko will be in right. Joey Gale's back but coming off an injury. He has a year and a half of experience now, and he'll be our designated hitter to start.  Ryan Price has improved and is probably our fourth outfielder right now; Forgione and Peterson can also play outfield as well.
 
This year's schedule sees the Hawks return to the West Coast in addition to trips to the Carolinas; what is the level of competition going to be like for the Hawks in the early-going?
 
FH: We open at High Point, who was picked to win the Big South. They return a decent nucleus and are coming off a trip to the NCAA Tournament. They'll certainly be a challenge for us right out of the chute, but I'm excited to see what we can do.
 
Sacramento State has been a really good program, and has been to the NCAA tournament out of the WAC. They're a California team that has had success, but regardless, we're excited to go out there and have the opportunity to do something different that we haven't done in a handful of years.
 
I think Wofford will be a great challenge for us, because Wofford is a team that offensively is very pressure-oriented. They're going to try to run, play 'small ball,' which we're going to see some of that once we get into the A-10 part of our schedule.
 
Last year was the first for the Atlantic 10's 30-game schedule; what kind of an impact do you think it had?  Will it affect your thinking over the course of the season in a different way now that you've seen it in action?
 
FH: I feel it's great! I think it absolutely cleared the cut, especially now, too, that we're moving to six teams instead of seven [qualifying for the postseason]. I think it's really important for the integrity of the league to get the best six teams to Tysons [Virginia, host of the Atlantic 10 Championship]. And when you're only playing eight weekends, the teams you miss really matter. We still miss one, and that's just the way it is, but I think overall, I love the format, and I also love the fact that you genuinely feel like you are in an Atlantic 10 season. Those two extra weekends make a difference for sure. So to be able to do that I think is a great decision, and I couldn't be more in favor of it.
 
I genuinely like playing the A-10 teams. Each weekend is a battle. We all know that when we get into conference play, the dial gets turned up a bit more.
 
To the other question, would there be any adjustments? I don't feel like you're necessarily adjusting anything. I think if anything, if you know going into the final week that you're in the tournament, you can set up your rotation for however you want to approach it. You start moving your guys back a day, up a day, whatever you need to do. And you usually can't do that six weeks into an eight-week season.
 
What do you think will be the most important key to the Hawks' success this season, i.e., at the end of the year, what is the thing that will play the biggest role in pushing the Hawks toward the A-10 title?
 
FH: I think our biggest shortcoming last season was our defense, so that area has to get better. And if we can pick the baseball up with the pitching that we have, then I think we'll definitely give ourselves a chance.
 
The way we hit last year, all things considered with the lack of experience that we had, was pretty impressive. I honestly expect us to be even more efficient offensively this year, so if you put all the pieces together, I think that we have the makings of something really special.
 
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Friday's season opener is set for 4:00 p.m. and will stream on ESPN+.