MD JUCO Preview: CCBC Essex

February 18, 2019
Kyle Campbell
Maryland Scouting Director

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JUCO programs across the state of Maryland began preseason practices back in early January. As the calendar quickly turns and with several teams getting ready to open up their 2019 campaigns in the next few weeks, we begin our coverage of the Maryland JUCO Conference with a preseason preview of all fourteen schools. In each preview, we will take a look back at the 2018 season, examine key players that have moved on or left the program, look at some new faces and key players for the upcoming season, and finally take a sneak peak at whats ahead for the 2019 season. We continue our preseason previews with a look at the CCBC Essex Knights.

CCBC Essex 2019 SEASON PREVIEW

Head Coach: Mike Carter (9th Season)
Mascot: Knights
2018 Record: 30-26
2018 MD JUCO Finish: 5th Place
2018 DII Region XX Finish: Champions
2018 DII Northeast District Finish: Champions
2018 DII World Series Finish: 7th Place
Twitter Handle: @Essex_Baseball_
CLICK HERE to view the CCBC Essex Baseball Website
CLICK HERE to view the CCBC Essex 2019 Baseball Schedule
CLICK HERE to view the CCBC Essex 2019 Baseball Roster

2019 PBR JUCO NATIONAL PRESEASON RANK: NR

Returning Players with 2018 Postseason Honors

Nelson Laviosa: All-Maryland JUCO - Second Team / NJCAA All-Region XX DII - First Team / NJCAA All-Northeast District

Returning Starters: 3

PLAYER	POS	GP	AVG	OBP	SLG	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB
Nelson Laviosa	RF	55	.360	.414	.513	41	71	14	2	4	54	16
Robbie Leon	OF/2B	36	.231	.380	.260	20	24	3	0	0	10	2
Nolan Watson	C	42	.209	.312	.246	25	28	3	1	0	8	0

Returning Pitchers: 1

PLAYER	POS	APP	W	L	S	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA
Kale Hynes	RHP	10	1	1	0	22.1	22	12	9	7	21	3.63

Key Losses

PLAYER	POS	GP	AVG	OBP	SLG	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB
Julio Creazzola	SS	54	.266	.318	.338	41	55	7	4	0	19	39
Mitch Fyffe	OF	53	.271	.361	.436	45	49	14	2	4	25	7
Luke Shaffer	1B	44	.331	.444	.554	32	46	8	1	7	30	1
PLAYER	POS	APP	W	L	S	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA
Adam Biss	LHP	11	3	3	0	58.0	51	44	27	54	62	4.19
Chris Otero	RHP	10	4	6	0	57.1	47	36	23	25	67	3.61
Caleb Smith	RHP	20	8	2	3	78.0	61	32	20	19	56	2.31
Franco Velasquez	RHP	11	3	3	1	35.2	29	27	20	21	30	5.05

Adam Biss (Emmanuel College)
Julio Creazzola (Point Park University)
Mitch Fyffe (Frostburg State University)
Jimmy Husar (Wilson College)
JC Llaser (LSU Shreveport)
Luke Schaffer (Shenandoah University)
Caleb Smith (Frostburg State University)
Franco Velasquez (Frostburg State University)

Top Newcomers

Pat Barrett RHP Southern Regional (NJ) / Rowan Burlington CC
Kiani Marquez RHP Puerto Rico / Kashaskia College
Luke Nakich SS Archbishop Curley (MD)
Gage Shaffer RHP/1B Frankfort (WV)

Key Players for 2019

Pat Barrett (Fr.) RHP Southern Regional (NJ) / Rowan Burlington CC
Nelson Laviosa (So.) RF Ronald Reagan (FL)
Robbie Leon (So.) OF/2B Parkville (MD)
Kiani Marquez (So.) RHP Puerto Rico / Kashaskia College
Luke Nakich SS (So.) Archbiship Curley (MD)
Gage Shaffer RHP/1B (Fr.) Frankfort (WV)
Nolan Watson (So.) C Southern Regional (NJ)

2019 Committed Players

None at this time.

2019 Season Snapshot

The 2018 NJCAA DII Region XX and Northeast District champions will look to defend those titles this year under 9th year head coach Mike Carter. The Knights went undefeated in the Region XX Tournament last season knocking off top seed Frederick CC and took two one-run ballgames from perennial Region XIX powerhouse Mercer County (NJ) in the Northeast District best-of-three series to advance to the school's first trip to the World Series in over 25 years. CCBC Essex opened in Enid, Oklahoma at the NJCAA DII World Series with a win against Scottsdale CC (AZ), before falling in a heart-breaker to #2 national seed Parkland College (IL) 6-5, and Scottsdale CC (AZ) thereafter in the consolation bracket.

With two DII Region XX titles (2006 and 2008) in the past three years, CCBC Essex has asserted themselves as one of the top programs in the Maryland JUCO Conference. 2019's team will look to continue the Knights recent run of success but will need to do so without some key pieces from last year's squad. Eight sophomores off last year's roster have moved on to play at four-year colleges / universities highlighted by Adam Biss (Emmanuel College), Julio Creazzola (Point Park University), Mitch Fyffe (Frostburg State University), Luke Schaffer (Shenandoah University), Caleb Smith (Frostburg State University), and Franco Velasquez (Frostburg State University).

Sophomore Kale Hynes is the lone returning arm for the Knights but he will be joined by a solid group of newcomers to help get it done on the mound in 2019. Sophomore transfer RHP Kiani Marquez and freshman RHP Pat Barrett, RHP Gage Shaffer, LHP Jeff Young, and RHP Carson Coffey will be leaned on heavily to keep them in games while All-Maryland JUCO Second Team selection and NJCAA DII Region XX First Team member Nelson Laviosa returns to anchor the offense. Sophomore returners Robbie Leon, Luke Nakich, Nolan Watson and the previously mentioned freshman two-way RHP/1B Shaffer will look to bolster the lineup.

CCBC Essex will head south to kick off their 2019 season with a 4-game set at USC Lancaster before returning home to open up Maryland JUCO Conference play and a tough early portion of their schedule. Expect to see this young group of Knights grow throughout the season under Coach Carter's leadership and once again be in contention to defend that NJCAA DII Region XX title come playoff time.