VCU baseball will use Canadian ties in search of successful season
RICHMOND, Va. (BVM) – After a strong season a year ago where the team went 38-16 and won the Atlantic 10 championship, the Virginia Commonwealth University baseball team will turn to its players from north of the border to help them repeat. The Rams currently have six Canadian born players on their roster, the third most Canadian players on a collegiate roster in the country trailing only Niagara and Canisius. The six players are redshirt juniors Evan Chenier and Jaden Griffin, sophomores Campbell Ellis and Justin Humenay and freshmen Brendan Wilkinson and Virot Siharath.
“We just thought we could create a competitive advantage,” VCU pitching coach Seth Cutler-Voltz said. “There’s plenty of good players in this area don’t get me wrong, but [we] could get a guy who would maybe normally go to a Power 5, but because of a lack of exposure that they had, we could get them out of Canada and get those guys here.”
The most experienced of the group, in both age and appearances, is Chenier. The right-handed relief pitcher from Georgetown, Ontario and Christ the King Secondary School has appeared in 49 games for the Rams, where he has recorded a 10-1 record and a 4.08 ERA through his career. Last year, Chenier went 3-0 for the Rams in 18 appearances where he recorded a 4.07 ERA, a .278 batting average against and six saves.
“Chenier is more of the tough guy,” Cutler-Voltz said. “I feel that Canadian ‘I’m gonna drink a beer, spit some dip and push you into the boards and hey man watch this’ type of guy.”
The other redshirt junior Canadian, Griffin, unsurprisingly has the second most appearances during his time with the Rams. The left-handed pitcher from Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia and Vauxhall High School has made 40 appearances where he’s recorded a 5-1 record. Pitching 68.2 innings over his first four seasons, Griffin has posted a 5.64 ERA, a .256 batting average against and one save so far in his career.
“I think Jaden acts as a mentor,” Cutler-Voltz said. “He’s a little more soft spoken. He’s got a good feel of what he’s doing. You can see him have little conversations on the side and behind the scenes. I feel like every time I talk to a younger guy they’re like, ‘I was talking to Griffin.’ That just keeps coming up.”
The two redshirt juniors have been able to build themselves as leaders on the team and two players that the other Canadian arms can look up to.
“Individually they are actually very different, though they get along very well…They’re different but they both have good leadership roles,” Cutler-Voltz said.
Ellis is another left-handed starting pitcher for the Rams who was a former high school teammate of Chenier at Christ the King Secondary School. Like his high school teammate, Ellis has found himself an important role with the Rams over his first two seasons. So far in his career, Ellis has a 6-3 record in 21 appearances with a 3.38 ERA. During his appearances, he has pitched 45.1 innings giving up a .272 batting average against and has recorded six starts in his career.
“Campbell hit the ground running last year,” Cutler-Voltz said. “He’s a very confident, aggressive person based on the way he works and takes care of himself that allows that, but I think he also gets that from Chenier. I think Chenier has that mentality, he’s proven it so I think that allows Ellis to say, ‘OK yeah I can do that no problem this guy is literally from my high school and he’s doing it too.’ So I think that shined off on him.”
Fellow sophomore Humenay has not made as many appearances as Ellis, but has made his way onto the field as a freshman. During his seven appearances, Humenay pitched 6.1 innings while recording nine strikeouts, including two in his only appearance this season where he has appeared for two-thirds of an inning. While he has been unable to record a win, loss or save, this means he was able to do his job by not giving up too many runs to lose while not being the pitcher called on to win the game at the end–a solid reliever role.
“Justin’s going to be a big piece, he’s going to be a really big piece and I don’t say that lightly,” Cutler-Votlz said. “He’s very, very talented and some of the skills that he lacks are catching up really quickly in the background. I know it’s not been on the game end right now, but we all have certain skills we try to refine and his are catching up quickly while he’s waiting.”
The two freshmen, Wilkinson and Siharath, are both right-handed pitchers with Wilkinson coming from Milton, Ontario and Craig Kielburger Secondary School while Siharath came from Keswick, Ontario and Bill Crothers Secondary School. Currently, Rams fans are not sure how these two will fit into the roster as neither has seen the field early in the year, but that’s expected as the team has played some of its tougher opponents to start the season.
“Wilkinson has dealt with not being as healthy as we’d like him to so it’s kind of tough when you’re young and missing time. But, Wilkinson’s very athletic, he has a clean, quick arm and throws a lot of strikes so I think once his off-speed pitches catch up to our level he has a chance to be very effective for us,” Cutler-Voltz said. “Virot is on the other side of it, kind of on the other side of it more in the Humenay world. He’s a very talented arm and has a very special slider, he throws a Gyro slider that not a lot of people throw, so hitters don’t see it a lot and he throws it very hard and that’s a good thing. Once he catches up from a pitchability standpoint, that’s where he will find a role once he develops his strengths.”
Unsurprisingly, the Canadian pitchers have been able to connect on a deep level with each other as compared to other teammates. Their comradery has allowed them to become one of the team’s most impactful units over their time with the program.
“All those guys are kind of connected by class and then they’re connected again because I think they feel like they have something to prove and have something in common,” Cutler-Voltz said. “They have a good bond for sure.”
Cutler-Voltz certainly can see a trend of continuing to add Canadian prospects to Division I rosters, specifically at VCU where he said they will look everywhere to get top talent.
“Canada, while they may not have as many players, they do a great job of coming down and getting exposure,” Cutler-Voltz said. “They have very talented guys who are good at showing their best hand when they’re down here. You never know, we could sign everybody from Florida or everybody from Arizona next year who knows, but I anticipate that we will continue to go after the best players we can recruit and it seems like we’ve done a good job getting players out of Canada.”
With their stable of Canadian arms, VCU will look to once again make a deep run in the Atlantic 10 tournament and hopefully another appearance in an NCAA Regional tournament. Given the abilities and success of their Canadian pitchers, another strong season will likely be on the way.
