Foley leads experienced pitching staff as ace in 2014
Jordan Foley did not enter his sophomore season as the ace of the Central Michigan pitching staff, but he will be leading the baseball team this season.
A strong start in 2013 made Foley CMU's top arm, but he tapered at the end of season. In his first six games, Foley was 4-0 with a 1.12 earned run average. In his final eight games, he went 2-6 with an ERA of 4.48, finishing with a 3.08 ERA.
"(This season), I'm going in knowing what my role is going to be," Foley said. "Nothing has really changed, I still get the ball and, at the end of the day, I'm just going out to try to get my team a (win)."
Despite Foley's struggles at the end of the season, Baseball America picked Foley as the top prospect in the Mid-American Conference in 2014.
"In the first half, he was lights out and pitched pretty good," said CMU head coach Steve Jaksa. "Then things caught up to him and he tried to do a little too much. He lost a couple close ones and he thought he had to do it all. He just needs to do his job, which is keep us in the game and when he did that, he was good."
Many of last year's pitchers return this season including senior Pat Kaminska, who was the ace going into last season and received a medical redshirt after Foley's emergence. CMU did lose Dylan Rheault, who was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 2013 MLB Draft.
New to the staff is freshman left-hander Nick Deeg who has impressed the coaching staff enough to earn a role in the starting rotation.
"It's great to have (Pat Kaminska) back this year, (Sean) Renzi is going to be back as well, so it's great to have some guys back," Foley said. "Nick Deeg is going to be in the starting rotation opening weekend and he's going to be good for us."
Deeg was selected by the Detroit Tigers in the 37th round of the 2013 MLB Draft, but the Lake Orion High School-graduate turned down the offer to come to Mount Pleasant instead. Jaksa said he has enjoyed working with the fast-learning lefty.
"He's a big, strong lefty and he's starting to do some things that we thought he could this fall," Jaksa said. "He has been able to adapt and when (pitching) coach (Jeff) Opalewski asks him to work on something, he's able to pick it up quick and his demeanor seems to be good as he doesn't let things bother him."
Foley, Kaminska and Deeg hope to round out the starting rotation in 2014, with a plethora of experience between Foley and Kaminska to even out newcomer Deeg on the mound.
"I think depth and experience is all important," Jaksa said. "You've got to able to compete day in and day out and I think the guys we've got coming back will be able to compete"
