RedHawk roster update: New faces of Miami baseball

Through the summer offseason, the 2025 Mid-American Conference (MAC) champion Miami University RedHawks baseball team was focused on improving and maintaining its success as the roster experienced major changes.

Some of the biggest hits from the offseason came to the pitching room, especially with the loss of Cooper Katskee and Charlie Dieruf to the transfer portal and Hayden Cuthbertson to the Major League Baseball (MLB) draft.

Katskee made the move to the University of Nebraska, leaving behind a huge gap as the 2025 MAC Player of the Year. He was mostly used as a “Friday guy,” starting off weekend series’ strong with his composed experience on the mound.

Cuthbertson was another strong pitcher on the team, making a name for himself with midgame starts out of the bullpen. Most notably, he was a versatile arm and saw a lot of success on the mound, especially against left-handed hitters.

Other losses include Landen Looper, Ahmad Harajli and Nick Demonica, all of whom graduated in the spring following the end of the 2025 season. Some important returners include Clayton Burke, Carson Byers, Austin Berggren, Landon Fulk and Connor Preisel.

To make up for these exits, the coaching staff brought several players in from the transfer portal including Jake Tedesco, a senior transfer from Washington State University, and Zac Sohosky, a left-handed pitcher from the Division III Rhodes College.

The focus in the offseason was shaping up these new arms to fit into Miami’s team and work on improving to get up to the RedHawk standard that the coaches enforce.

“This fall has been a learning experience in terms of recognizing what the strengths and weaknesses of our staff is,” pitching coach Larry Scully said. “How do we maintain those strengths, and then work on the weaknesses and make the picture and staff more well rounded.”

During the fall season, a lot of the pitchers focused on improving upon their skills while maintaining a strong balance with their classes. The baseball team recorded its highest team grade point average of 3.51, enforcing the definition of being a student athlete.

Alex Gay is another strong transfer that came from a Division I program: the University of Louisville. He is a sophomore right-handed pitcher and improved to a 94.1 mph pitch velocity. He said with the help of the coaching staff, the off season was about having “room to fail.”

“[I] ended the fall on a bang and really started to seize the opportunity that I have and the potential that I have to be a great player,” Gay said. “It's just trusting yourself. It was a lot of failures this fall and over the last six months… but just training and staying dedicated.”

A lot of the losses from last year's team on the field were graduating seniors like Dillon Baker at shortstop, Blake Buzzeo at second base and Anthony Zarlingo in center field. All three were strong leaders on the team in addition to their both offensive and defensive assets.

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Another huge loss was David Novak at catcher, a pinnacle position player on every baseball team. Novak was also a strong leader, but with Carson Raether, the sophomore returning catcher, learning to play behind him, the team lays in good hands.

Matt Buffington is another experienced catcher that transferred in over the summer, previously playing at the University of South Florida for two years and Kansas City Community College for the previous two.

Some other new players include Marcus Dierks, a junior transfer who plays center field, and Diego Cruz, a freshman shortstop and second baseman from Puerto Rico.

A lot of the fielding players are returners that made strong names for themselves during last years’ season like Evan Appelwick, Tommy Harrison, Ryan Novak and Christopher Roa. These players help with strong leadership and enforcing the same goal as the year prior: a MAC championship title.

“[Last year’s team] kind of set the tone for future teams,” head coach Brian Smiley said. “I think although we lost a lot, we still return a whole lot as well, a lot of those guys that are going to be on the field this year were on the field last year.”

The RedHawks team is looking to repeat what they did last year and go even further. After making and losing an NCAA Regional in two losses, the goal is to make the same standard and win more games, hopefully even win the regional.

rosente2@miamioh.edu