Privateer Baseball 2024 Preview: Starters

One of the constants in the pitching staff last season was Brandon Mitchell who saved his best for last. He won 11 games and racked up the honors last year. This season with Mitchell gone, it'll be a rotation that projects to have some new faces along with a few returners who can be tone setters when called upon.
 
"We have some depth," said Coach Blake Dean. "We're currently trying to overcome some adversity with injuries from the guys we have coming in prior to getting here but I think we have some options to fill roles and being consistent on the weekend."
 
Starting off, Chris Olivier is a Mandeville native who had a strong season at Delgado in 2023. He earned JUCO All-American Honorable Mention and won 12 games on the hill for the Dolphins. Cortez Dennis, who comes in from Pearl River, was a two-sport athlete (baseball and basketball) in high school who went undefeated on the mound last season (8-0).
 
"Olivier has really good stuff. He has a four-pitch mix that he can throw consistently for strikes. He can really help us get where we need to be. Cortez never lost in junior college. He competes and gets better each year."
 
Colton Mercer will be in his second season with the Privateers. The southpaw had 17 appearances and seven starts. One of his season highlights last year was keeping a potent LSU lineup silent into the fifth inning of a start in Baton Rouge. Mercer also set season marks in innings pitched and strikeouts in an outing against Northwestern State.
 
"Mercer has the ability and he came to us from a high end junior college in Chipola. Against LSU he looked fantastic against a national championship team. He just needs to limit the free passes and he's a guy who can go deeper into games for us."
 
There are a few options who can be used in spot start duty including Caleb Seroski, Trey Usey, Jack Williams and Ryan Delorbe. Though Seroski has been mainly used out of the pen, he has shown the ability to extend a few innings. Despite starting only one game, Seroski has thrown 109 innings in his Privateer career. Usey had a run of four straight scoreless appearances early in the '23 campaign.
 
Delorbe only gave up more than one hit in two of his last 14 outings in 2023. While he was mostly out of the pen, Delorbe did have a pair of spot starts. Jack Williams started five games in his 11 total appearances last season and has only walked 10 batters in 57.1 innings since coming to the Privateers.
 
"Seroski has been used in multiple roles and he's a jack of all trades. Trey has grown and improved since he came in here and he got some quality innings last year. Delorbe doesn't get hit hard and he has the potential to be a left-handed option for us. Jack has been a guy who can fill multiple roles and he's a strike thrower who doesn't beat himself."
 
New Orleans also has a couple of guys who bring either returning starting experience in Tyler LeBlanc or a number of starts in his previous stop with Kyrin Tyson-Long. LeBlanc is entering his senior year and has started 31 games in a Privateer uniform. He also earned All-Southland honors in 2022. Long pitched two years at Shelton State and started 11 games there. He also had 17 relief appearances.
 
The main buzz word around this pitching staff is that there are a lot of options to go to in different situations and that will be magnified even further when the rest of the pitching staff is previewed in the relievers section to come later this week.
 
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