Witten ready for move to third base despite preseason injury

CONWAY -- The Coastal Carolina baseball team got a real scare early in preseason practice when senior Rich Witten tweaked his throwing shoulder after crossing paths with a teammate during a bunt fielding drill.

Witten dismissed the injury as “just a little soreness in my shoulder,” but it nonetheless kept him out of intrasquad games and limited him for two and a half weeks.

That didn’t afford the veteran – one of the Chanticleers’ few proven commodities – much time this month to refine his transition from first base to third base, but regardless, he’ll be in the lineup for the season opener Friday.

And CCU coach Gary Gilmore is thankful for that as Witten is perhaps as valuable as any player on the roster this season – and a keystone of sorts to fitting the pieces of the puzzle together for the Chants.

“We were terrified it tore all kinds of stuff in there,” Gilmore said of the mishap. “But he’s had anti-inflammatories, had a cortisone shot. At least as of Monday he was throwing, and at least his comment to me was it’s not bothering him. He’s a real tough kid, so you’ll be able to tell by how his throwing motion is whether or not its bothering him or not. ..

“That will be a huge shot in the arm if he can hold that spot down.”

Witten, who hurt the shoulder when his fingers caught a teammate’s hip and stopped his arm as he was throwing, was the Chants’ starting first baseman last season and is the only returning player to hit .300 for the team in 2011 as he finished right at that mark with six home runs and 51 RBIs.

Voted one of three team captains this season, Gilmore is counting on Witten’s versatility as a key to maximizing the Chants’ offensive potential with newcomers Sloan Gilliam and Bryce Dial set to fill the first base and designated hitter roles, respectively.

“To put the best team on the field I can put on the field, Witten needs to be able to play third base,” Gilmore said. “That gives us the opportunity to maximize the strength that we have. At the end of the day, if it doesn’t work out, that really creates an issue at first and DH for us. I don’t have all the answers to that piece. I’m hoping and praying he can do it.”

When senior catcher Tucker Frawley was ailing earlier in the preseason, there was talk of sliding Witten behind the plate, and he’s just fine with filling any need the Chants have.

As for third base, he played the position in high school and through his first year at Coastal and doesn’t expect the transition to be a problem despite the loss of practice time this month.

“I don’t think it’s going to affect me at all, really,” he said. “It was a minor bump in the road, but I feel real comfortable with third base and my health is good to go. I’m just really excited for [Friday].”

Herb gets Opening Day nod

Sophomore right-hander Tyler Herb was thrust into the spotlight early as a rookie last season, starting the Chants’ second game of the season.

He would end up making only one more start, though, while also spending time in the bullpen on the way to posting a 4.33 earned-run average.

And as the Chants begin anew Friday, so does Herb. He’ll start the season opener, and he says he’s prepared for a bigger role this spring.

“I feel like I have a little bit more confidence this year,” Herb said. “Definitely a year of experience, it’s a big help. I stayed here over the summer and worked on the weights a little bit. We worked on my mechanics and everything, so we’ve got a lot of things smoothed out and I feel really confident right now.”

Gilmore is hoping the 6-foot-2 sophomore – who tallied an impressive 126 strikeouts as a senior at Williams Valley High School in Pennsylvania – can play a key role on a mostly unproven pitching staff.

“It’s a big opportunity for Herb as we try to figure out can he move out of that small-town atmosphere he grew up in and show the world he’s a big-time arm,” Gilmore said. “I think that’s a challenge that personally he needs to take on because he surely has the ability to do it.”

Connolly hurt

The Chants’ most proven bullpen arm is expected to be unavailable for the start of the season after junior right-hander Ryan Connolly took a line drive off his non-throwing arm earlier this week.

Gilmore said there were initial fears he might have broken the arm, but tests came back negative and he is likely to miss a couple weeks.

“He’s probably the one guy back there in that piece of the puzzle that is very difficult to replace at this point in time,” Gilmore said.

Connolly had a 2.79 ERA in 32 appearances last season.