2026 #15 Diamond Dawgs (0-0, 0-0) | Game 1: Wright St - Feb 13, 3PM

Season is about a month away so I figured I'd get this thing started back up.

Another bizarre schedule but can't argue the results as we've been a national seed the past 2 years.

No Clemson, no Mercer, no Ga Southern. Only 1 game against Tech in Truist (though still likely not going to have TV coverage).

We only play 4 road games before April (only 16 true road games total all year). Wes making it a point to play and win inside our own park.

Conference schedule is once again a murderers row. We avoid Texas and Vandy on the schedule but catch every other preseason ranked SEC squad (LSU, Tennessee, Arkansas, MSU, Auburn, & Florida) plus Ole Miss and A&M which will ikely end up ranked at some point (South Carolina and Mizzou are the only two that may reliably suck).

The team is once again full of a lot of new faces. Branch, Phelps, and Jackson all return which is a big deal but, otherwise, we've got a fresh group of portal names to learn - albeit some good ones:
1. Kenny Ishikawa will likely be our leadoff man and could be a midweek starter or bullpen arm, depending on how Wes wants to use him
2. Phelps likely going to be the 2 or 4 hole, depending on matchups
3. Branch may be a solid 3 or 5. 3rd year in the SEC and his final year in college, I expect him to mash
4. Bryce Calloway is already garnering some preseason all-american buzz, start at 1B and can pitch righty as well
5. Jackson could honestly bat anywhere from the 2-5 spot, he knocked the cover off the ball in cape cod and looked friggin great in Fall ball. He'll play C and OF
6. Jack Arcamone is likely going to end up an outfield starter, platooning with Jackson at C. Experienced bat with rare speed on the bases for a Catcher
7-9. Could see a mix of guys in these spots, especially early on: Ryan Black, Ryan Wynn, TL Saxon, Jordy Oriach, Scott Newman, Cole Johnson, Brennan Hudson, Cole Koniarsky, Michael O'Shaugnessy. Lot of options.

Around the horn, I'd guess:

Catcher: Jackson, Arcamone, Hudson
1B: Calloway, Oriach, Hudson
2B: Black, Wynn
SS: Branch, Lujo
3B: Phelps, O'Shaugnessy
LF: Arcamone, Johnson
CF: Ishikawa, Newman
RF: Koniarsky, Johnson
DH: Oriach, Hudson

Pitching will be almost completely new. In addition to Ishikawa, odds on starters are likely to be Joey Volchko and Matt Scott from Stanford, Caden Aoki from USC, maybe Justin Byrd from last year (though he could also be our primary middle relief arm). Would wager Jordan Stephens is our closer, assuming he has his control issues from last year in check. All in all, should be a bit of a front end upgrade at least in experience and stuff. Too, we have a bit better split between Lefty/Right arms - 6 Lefties to 17 Righties. Last year we went a while with only 1 available lefty in Alton Davis after Goldstein went down.

Hard to gauge what this team will ultimately do at this point but fair to set expectations around a host spot again and modify as we gather information. From fall ball, the offensive makeup at least seems to be a lot more reliant on putting balls in play and good base running than just mashing and hoping to out gorilla the other team (and our arms).

Thank you for this.