This season will be all about newness for the Lincoln University baseball team.
It starts at the top, as first-year head coach Mike DeMilia takes over the reins of the team, starting with three games this weekend in Magnolia, Ark.
It continues to the roster, where just nine returning players suited up for the Blue Tigers last year, and just four of those nine saw any significant action.
The newness is reinforced when it comes to the starting pitching, as DeMilia said he plans on trotting out three freshmen starting pitchers for the games today and Sunday.
"We only have two seniors on the whole team, so we're very young," DeMilia said. "And we only have 23 players, so we don't have a lot of options. I don't have a problem with two-way guys (who pitch and also play a position), but we've got way too many. I think if you have one or two, that's fine, but we've got about six. We have a lot of guys who are wearing multiple hats."
DeMilia added the team had productive fall workouts, only to lose some players to attrition. That necessitated bringing in six new faces during the break between semesters.
"So even though we went through the whole fall, we lost some guys who we had in our plans," he said. "Now you bring in six guys and I'll be honest, we're still trying to figure things out. We'll learn a lot this weekend."
The big thing they'll learn is how the freshman pitchers adjust to college ball. Trevor Schnieders in the staff's No. 1 right now and will start the season opener against Central Missouri. Jordan Barrett and Kolton Clark will then get starts against host school Southern Arkansas, with one game today and the other Sunday.
"Pitching-wise, I really don't have a ton of answers because I won't know until we see it," DeMilia said. "I think those three are our best, but who knows once bullets start flying."
Ryan Simpson, a junior who made nine starts while appearing in 11 games last year, is also in the mix as a starter, as are another freshman, Tyler Roberts, and sophomore Gus Goodnight, who appeared in 12 games last year.
"As thin as we are in pitching, those six are going to throw a lot of innings," DeMilia said. "We'll have plenty of pitching for this weekend, but once you get into the four-game series weekends, it gets a little tougher."
Players in the bullpen include sophomore transfer Daniel Castillo, junior transfer Caleb Thomas and senior Dalton Goings, who pitched in six games last year and also picked up 15 at-bats.
"Those are three guys I'm looking at as late-inning or short relief guys," DeMilia said. "If we can't win with those nine, we're in trouble."
Adam Stegeman and Jameson Mahan, both sophomores, and freshman Cameron Massman could also see time on the mound.
"I'm an offensive guy, but at the end of the day, you know you can't win without pitching," DeMilia said. "I've talked to the guys and told them, "It doesn't matter how we hit, because if we can't pitch, it won't matter.'"
DeMilia, who said he would like his teams in the future to have a little more speed, said the offense appears to be the team's strength.
"In the (Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association), which has a lot of smaller parks, we need some guys who can hit the ball out of the yard," he said. "I want to have five or six guys in the lineup who can run and at least two or three guys who can hit home runs and mix and match that way.
"The one thing we're lacking now is power. We don't have that home-run guy. We do have a little bit of speed and we've got some guys who I think can put good at-bats together.
"We're not going to play for one run, we're not going to bunt in the first inning. We're going to play for big innings. We're going to be the offense where we may get shut down for four innings and then in the fifth inning, we'll put six hits together and score five runs.
"And we're going to run the bases. We're going to steal, we're going to put pressure on people. We might run ourselves out of stuff sometimes, but we're also going to make some stuff happen here and there."
DeMilia said defensively, the team has a couple shaky spots, but is solid up the middle, starting with catcher Christian Bunch.
"Christian is our catcher and he might start 50 games there this year," DeMilia said. "I like Christian calling pitches. I'm not big on the coach calling pitches - I like the catchers and pitchers to do that. Certainly I'll have input, but I trust Chrstian back and there and the pitchers trust him."
Nick Lovell, a junior who is one of the four regulars back for the Blue Tigers, will play shortstop.
"He's really good defensively, and that will be huge for us," DeMilia said.
Dillon Walker, a junior second baseman, last played for Rose State Community College two years ago.
"He's been awesome for us," DeMilia said. "He hasn't played a baseball game in two years, but I think he's going to be a really good player for us."
The corner infielders are sophomore transfer Dylan Koehler at third baseman and sophomore Kaleb Davis, another returning starter, at first base.
"Kaleb has looked very good and he's been through the MIAA once, so he's learned a lot," DeMilia said.
Castillo will be the regular center fielder, with Schnieders sliding over from right field when Castillo pitches. When Schnieders pitches, Clark will play in right field.
Left field is a bit unsettled, with junior transfers Alex Ludwick and B.J. Nesbitt in the mix with sophomore Zach Moore, who played in eight games last season. DeMilia said each has different strengths they bring to the table.
"It might be one of those cases where B.J. starts, Zach finishes and Alex plays here and there," he said.
DeMilia said he's excited to get the season started to see how things will play out.
"My biggest thing is my teams will compete hard," he said. "My guys will sprint on and off the field. You will see that we will hustle more than every team we play. ... I'm big on guys doing the right thing and playing hard."