NEW ORLEANS, La. – The New Orleans Privateers open the 2014 baseball season on Friday with a lot of new faces, but the most familiar face is back in the dugout:
Ron Maestri. Maestri returns to the school where he spent 14 seasons and guided the Privateers to two College World Series – one at the Division II level in 1974 and in again 1984 where they became the first Division I school from Louisiana to make it to the College World Series.
In that time, Maestri won nearly 68 percent of his games while guiding the Privateers to back-to-back Sun Belt championships in 1978-79. Maestri hopes to recapture that magic with a team that has 17 total newcomers.
The program has fallen under harder times as most have with the expected transition to Division II that never occurred. Last season, New Orleans won seven games which marked the second lowest total in a season in school history. Since earning back-to-back trips to the NCAA Regional in 2007-08, the Privateers have a cumulative record of 63-193.
Among the top returners is junior pitcher
Alex Smith who is slated to be a regular in the weekend rotation. Smith will get his first start of the season in the home opener against LSU at Zephyr Field on Saturday. Last season, Smith had a 3-9 record with a 4.50 ERA and hurled two complete games. He also led the team with 100.0 innings pitched.
Senior
Raymond Winter is tasked with opening the season against the second-ranked Tigers on Friday. Winter appeared in 20 games, all as a reliever for the Privateers last season. Winter had a 2.81 ERA in 2013, and picked up his first win in his longest outing, throwing 3.2 scoreless innings at McNeese. This will be Winter's first start of his collegiate career.
The Privateers will look to newcomer
Nick Halliday as their Sunday starter. A 6'8" junior, Halliday transferred over from Lamar Community College in Colorado where he went 7-2 with a 3.58 ERA last season in 18 appearances.
Leading the offense from the players returning will be junior
Zach Liberto who hit .280 in 44 games last season. Liberto will be looked to for his ability to get on base and his base running ability. Liberto led the team last season in walks and was second in on-base percentage.
Junior
Jonathan Coco brings experience to the corner infield defensively and will be the starting third baseman for Opening Day. Coco hit .274 last season and was tied for second on the team in runs scored (16). Coco also led the team with a .391 on-base percentage.
Of the newcomers in the field, Sam Capielano brings defense to the middle of the infield for Maestri's Privateers. A true freshman, Capielano was named Defensive Player of the Year as a junior and shared the same honor as a senior at nearby Holy Cross High School.
The coaching staff underwent a couple of changes to go along with Maestri's return to the dugout.
A.J. Battisto comes over as the Privateers' new pitching coach after spending seven seasons at the minor league level with the Marlins organization including parts of last season with the AAA New Orleans Zephyrs. Maestri got to know Battisto from his time in a Zephyr uniform.
Blake Dean is the Privateers' new volunteer assistant after having a decorated career as a player at LSU. Dean ranked in the top five in school history in RBIs, hits, total bases, home runs, doubles, and runs. In 2009, Dean was a vital part of LSU's last national championship team.
Maestri will be facing a familiar face to start the season at LSU. Head coach Paul Mainieri played under Maestri for two seasons (1978-79) with the Privateers. The two coaches faced each other once while Mainieri was at St. Thomas (Fla.), a game the Privateers won 9-4 on Mar. 2, 1985.
First pitch for the Privateers' opening game is slated for 7:00 p.m. on Friday. New Orleans will host their first game at Zephyr Field on Saturday with a first pitch of 2 p.m. where the '74 and '84 teams will be honored in a pre-game ceremony.
Friday and Saturday's contests will be televised on Cox Sports Television, while Sunday's contest will be available on MLB Network. Streaming video on Friday will be provided on LSUSports.net, and on ESPN3.com on Saturday. All three games will have live Audio free of charge on UNO Showcase with
Emmanuel Pepis.
