For the first time, the assembled roster reflects more of Serrano's recruiting preferences than those of predecessor John Savage, now at UCLA.
To wit: Serrano said this year's lineup is as athletic as he has had. Six of the nine projected position-player starters (including the designated hitter), have excellent base-stealing capabilities, which will fuel a small-ball attack that produced 107 steals and 90 sacrifice hits last season, both school records.
"Speed never slumps," said Serrano, who learned his small-ball techniques as an assistant to George Horton at Cal State Fullerton. "From what we've seen in fall ball, we're going to be able to put a lot of pressure on our opponents' pitching staff and defense. It's going to be nonstop hit and run, steal, delayed steal, drag bunting and push bunting. We're going to be exciting on the bases and I think that will allow us to be consistently productive, offensively, even when we're not banging the ball around the ballpark."
The Anteaters, 36-24 last season — the second-best win total in the program's 18 Division I seasons — on their way to their second appearance in the NCAA regionals in three seasons, may have to score more to overcome a youthful pitching staff, particularly the starters.
Scott Gorgen, last year's Big West Freshman Pitcher of the Year and a member of several freshman All-American teams, returns to anchor the staff as the Friday starter.
"He's a very quality college pitcher," Serrano said of the 5-foot-10, 183-pounder, who did not pitch until his senior year of high school. "I'm not sure he could stack up as a Friday guy, with some of the other guys we're going to face around the country. But I'll stack him up against any of those [Friday starters] because he's so competitive."
