Hurricane Warning: Redskins Baseball to Play Host to Capital

This week my Daily Mail assignments include Hurricane vs. Capital baseball 7 p.m. Tuesday and St. Albans-Hurricane softball 5:30 p.m. Thursday.

The baseball game marks just my second of the season -- last week I watched Capital fall 8-0 at St. Albans, as Red Dragons pitcher Austin Harless combined with reliever Joey Doddrill to throw a one-hit shutout.

Tuesday's probables: (Hurricane) senior RHP Riley Metz vs. (Capital) junior RHP Seth Roadcap.

Hurricane returns as one of the strongest teams in the Kanawha Valley, so it doesn't appear things will be any easier for Capital this week.

Redskins coach Brian Sutphin returns many key players from last year's squad that finished 27-6. Among those players is Metz, a First-Team Kanawha Valley selection last year. Metz finished his junior year with a .390 batting average, 20 RBI and 19 walks. Metz will play for Lenoir-Rhyne University (N.C.), Sutphin  told me earlier in the season.

This year, Hurricane will also rely heavily upon newly anointed No. 1 arm Austin Hensley, with the graduation of former ace Drew Lawrence. Last year, Hensley was a Second-Team Kanawha Valley selection after he finished 6-0 with a 2.06 ERA and 40 strikeouts in 51 innings pitched.

Also in the rotation, sophomore J.T. Rogoszewski is expected to be a top contributor.

Thus far, it's been sophomore Tate Brock and senior catcher Connor Adams leading the way offensively for the Redskins.

Adams leads Hurricane in home runs (three), doubles (seven) and RBI (17). So far, Adams is hitting .367, 18-of-49. Meanwhile, Brock leads the Redskins in batting average at .417 on 20-of-48 hitting. He has two home runs and 11 RBI.

Look for my article in Wednesday's Daily Mail sports section to focus on these two hitters -- Brock and Adams -- as they carry the offensive load for Hurricane.

Others Redskins expected to make large impacts this season include: sophomore shortstop Trey Dawson and second baseman Alex Estep

For Capital, the Cougars return eight juniors from last year's squad that finished 11-22. In fact, this year's team does not include a single senior.

Roadcap and fellow junior Justin Palmer represent the team's leaders. Both will see plenty of time as pitchers, with Palmer playing shortstop when not on the mound and Roadcap at catcher.

At St. Albans, I watched Roadcap fall to 0-2 on the season as he struggled with his location against the Red Dragons lineup, walking five batters. An interesting note on Roadcap: his father is a veteran Major League Baseball scout. I hope to speak with Roadcap about his father's influence and develop a feature article that will run in The Daily Mail sometime in the next seven to 10 days, so be on the look out for that.

While Palmer did not pitch at St. Albans, he represents one of Capital's top arms, in addition to being an offensive threat. Last season, Palmer hit. 379 with 18 RBI as a Second-Team Kanawha Valley selection.

Beyond Palmer and Roadcap, Capital's other key contributors include: junior Austin Hupp, Anthony Gavin, Trenton Campbell, Jacob Williams, Kaleb Kinder, Jordan Bray and Jarod Gandy.

The potential lies within the Capital lineup to shock some teams this season, if the Cougars play to that potential. At this point in the season, though, I would expect Hurricane to handle Capital. The Redskins just return too many arms and too much experience that I think will be the difference. The great thing about baseball is anything can happen in one game, though. Whatever the outcome, I'm eagerly awaiting my first look at Hurricane and hope for a solid, competitive game.

Later in the week, I'll do my best to preview the Hurricane softball team's game at St. Albans Thursday.