Future of UA Baseball

[soup]

Some of you know me from the Siena board. Anyway, I've had a bit of a vested interest in th UA baseball program the last few years. My brother signed with UA four years ago - and would have just wrapped up his senior year. However, he only played one year and decided not to play after that - for a variety of reasons that I don't need to go into.

 

Anyway, the class he came in with (Vallone, Farley, Lamb, Delaney etc) was supposed to be the class that really put UA on the map. They had a fantastic year last year - which I figured they would have followed-up with a league title this year - or at the very least, would have been well above .500 in the league.

 

You can't help but notice that there has been significant turnover in the baseball roster the last few years and very few players, especially from the senior class that just graduated, showed improvement. Lamb and Vallone both had outstanding freshman and sophomore years - but certainly tailed off their last two years.

 

It certainly seems that McElroy has been proactive in his attempt to turn UA into an athletic powerhouse in the America East - given some coaching changes that have been made and the efforts made to rehabilitate the facilities - especially the outdoor facilities.

 

I know a lot of the kids that just graduated and that are still with the program - and this was the year that everyone was pointing to three and four years ago. Certainly a disappointing season for the program.

 

Anyone think Mueller's seat is getting a little warm?

[reeder]

I think he bought himself some time with his performance last year. That said, one of their best players missed the AE tournament last year for an undisclosed reason.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if he was on the hotseat if they didn't perform next year. Especially given the success of the other Spring sports

[Dane Pound]

This is a baseball question and it's totally out of left field. I don't see how things set-up for a conference championship this year. Schoonmaker was the Player of the Year last year and he graduated along with a couple of Albany's best pitchers, one of who was drafted.

[AlbanyObserver]

I definitely think Mueller is on the hot seat after this mediocre season. McElroy bases success on post-season tournament appearances and wins in the postseason. I believe they have only made the AE Tourney once over the past four years. Coupled with the great recent seasons by Binghamton and Stony Brook, the odds don't look good. If Mueller is retained for next year, he will need to make the conference tourney and win two games there. The fact that Northeastern is leaving for the CAA might make this goal more realistic. The good fortunes of men's lax, softball and volleyball place even more pressure on the baseball program.