HOME OF BULLDOG BASEBALL - 10 SCIAC Championships

2010 Preview: Bulldog Baseball Restocks Team with Young Talent

Throughout his tenure presiding over the University of Redlands baseball team, 11th-year Head Coach Scott Laverty has faced numerous challenges. Perhaps one of his greatest yet is to replace the winningest class in program history, which included six of the team's eight starting field players and its staff ace in Nolan Nicholson '09.

“I think, in my mind, we're not going to replace them,” Laverty said. “They've just had so much success.”

Although the void left by those decorated student-athletes is large, the team is restocked with ample talent.

“You're not going to find somebody to do the same things that [the graduated student-athletes] do, but you reload,” Laverty said. “That's the way that it's got to be. I think if you look at any successful program in college at any sport, you've got to reload. We looked at this as a way to do that.”

While the Bulldogs appear young, their roster features a number of familiar role players and a handful of transfers with collegiate playing experience.

“We're pretty young if you look at it overall,” Laverty said. “But we're not inexperienced. These players have had experience and have had at-bats.”

Infield

Senior Zack Braband (Alameda, CA) is the infield's lone returning starter. He led the team in assists last year as a shortstop and adds a sure glove to the lineup.

Four Bulldogs are battling for playing time at third base: sophomores Jon Cavender (Rancho Cucamonga, CA) and Ben Saunders (New River, AZ), graduate student Brett Sandford (Santa Barbara, CA) and freshman Ryan Buscemi (Tiburon, CA). Cavender brings experience from Mt. SAC Junior College and Saunders prospered in limited action last year. After serving as an operative back-up catcher for three years, expect Sandford to vie for repetitions at the hot corner while adding a potent bat to the order. Buscemi brings athleticism to the infield and possesses great speed, which allows him to be a threat on the base-paths.

At second base, sophomores Cameron Lowe (Olympia, WA) and Chase Tucker (Poway, CA) and junior Josh Garcia (Highland, CA) will compete for playing time. Lowe has improved offensively and already boasts a strong defensive skill set. Tucker enjoyed success this past summer while competing for the San Diego Force, earning the team's Gold Glove Award. He strives to utilize his superior defensive skills to gain a prominent role in the lineup. Garcia competed during his freshman season, but an injury sidelined him for all of 2009. His ability to put the ball in play makes him a viable option at the position.

Graduate student Matt Hughes (Westminster, CA) will earn playing time at first base. Hughes brings leadership and enthusiasm to the table, and his .505 career on-base percentage is indicative of his strong offensive contributions. Senior Michael Lessig (Fountain Hills, AZ) and junior Nathan Carlson (Portland, OR) will also see time at first base.

Freshman Brian Kuklok (Poway, CA), who currently competes on the Bulldog men's basketball team, adds depth to the infield.

Outfield

While all three regulars from last year's outfield graduated, a pair of talented upperclassmen has waited in the wings and now looks forward to its time to shine.

Senior Will Wetmore (Santa Cruz, CA) and junior Brandon Owashi (San Diego, CA) have both played multiple seasons under Laverty, and the team's skipper reinforces that they have earned a regular role in the lineup.

“Brandon and Will have been in the program and, unfortunately, have had to play behind Jordan Snider '09, Matt Goldstein '09, Kyle Rizzo '09, and Cory Vane '09,” Laverty said. “These guys have paid their dues. In a lot of other programs, they could have started last year or two years ago. I'm so excited to give these guys the opportunity that they earned. They still pushed and fought every single day and were ready to play every time that I called upon them the past couple of years.”

Owashi has seen action in 52 contests with the Maroon and Gray, and his speed coupled with his proficiency at advancing runners make him a valuable asset.

After vastly improving over the course of three years, Wetmore has finally tapped his gift for the game at the collegiate level. He has not allowed a fielding error since 2007 and also relies on his quickness to stretch his positioning on the base-paths after a hit.

Sophomore Marcus Himelhoch (Beaverton, OR) and freshman Jay Baumgardner (Scottsdale, AZ) strive to make an impact in right field. Himelhoch's athleticism makes him a solid candidate for the starting spot, while Baumgardner brings a physical element to the position that allows him to serve as an offensive weapon.

Carlson has had the advantage of playing two seasons of collegiate baseball at the College of Southern Idaho. The Bulldogs bank on his arm strength and power to bolster the lineup on both sides of the ball.

Pitching

The team relies on a bevy of experienced pitchers to carry it throughout the 2010 campaign.

“It's possible that this is the best pitching staff we've ever had, even after we had guys like Nicholson and Kevin Bissell '09,” Laverty said. “But, those are the only two pitchers we lost, so all the other guys that threw are coming back with experience. On paper, we have the ability to be the deepest pitching staff that we've been. I think that we have that as a strength to build on.”

Two mainstays in the 2009 rotation expect to headline this year's staff. Lessig led the Bulldogs in strikeouts last season and carries an arsenal of pitches that baffle opposing batters. Sophomore Josh Snyder (Denver, CO), who logged 58 innings last season, uses his superb location to compile a mind-boggling strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Senior Jack Winters (Oradell, NJ) joins the Maroon and Gray after fortifying the pitching staff at Rutgers University-Newark (NJ) for three years. His power and stamina allow him to dabble as a starting pitcher and as a closer.

After a season to remember coming out of the bullpen last year, junior Derek Johnson (Canby, OR) may move into the starting rotation. D. Johnson registered a program-record 11 saves and finished the 2009 campaign ranked second among NCAA Division III pitchers in this statistical category.

Sophomore Brock Jacobo (Yuma, AZ) stymied opposing batters in his freshman season on the hill, holding them to a .294 batting average in his 36.2 innings of work. His consistent development bodes well for the Bulldog bullpen.

In addition, watch for freshman Kyle Hart (Burbank, CA) to utilize his commanding fastball to jockey for playing time.

Freshman Spencer Weymann (San Diego, CA) and sophomores Adam Byrd (Bullhead City, AZ), Jeff Cashmer (Cherry Valley, CA) and Mike Massari (Palmdale, CA) all hope to continuously improve and gain experience.

Catching

Senior Jefre Johnson (Canby, OR) returns for his third consecutive season as the starter behind the plate, and he brings a superb track record. By virtue of the gaudy power numbers he has produced, J. Johnson has earned All-Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) laurels in each of the past two seasons. Look for J. Johnson to rely on his strength and keen eye at the plate to generate scoring opportunities for the Bulldogs.

Both Sandford and Cavender work to gain repetitions at the position in spot duty.

Schedule

The 2010 schedule is replete with familiar foes for the Bulldogs. Redlands kicks off its season with two games against La Sierra University before it enters the first half of the SCIAC campaign. After squaring off against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges and the University of La Verne, the Bulldogs host the University of British Columbia (BC) in an exhibition contest. Conference play resumes with back-to-back series against Cal Lutheran University and Occidental College before hosting a plethora of non-conference teams.

Redlands entertains Rutgers University-Newark (NJ) and Ithaca College (NY) prior to its California Invite slate, which features Menlo College, the University of Puget Sound (WA) and a doubleheader against Wesleyan University (CT).

The Maroon and Gray rounds out its three-game sets of the SCIAC grind with Caltech, Whittier College and Pomona-Pitzer Colleges. A new addition to the conference schedule is a fourth match-up with each team during the final weeks of the regular season, beginning on April 16.

Finally, Redlands closes out the 2010 campaign with a three-game series against a formidable Chapman University team before awaiting the NCAA's announcement about postseason opportunities.

Laverty believes that this year's conference schedule offers adequate tests throughout, and no single match-up will garner more importance than another.

“Really, everybody is good, and that's a real focus that we have been trying to implement with our guys,” Laverty said. “It's that old adage: anybody can beat anybody on any given day. In the SCIAC over the past few years, somebody's been jumping up and biting somebody in the tail, whether it's the seventh-place team beating the second-place team or whatever it might be.”

Laverty believes that the Maroon and Gray can compete for the conference title, despite losing valuable student-athletes who had factored into much of the program's recent success.

“I think we have the chance to be really, really good,” Laverty said. “We have a chance to win the conference. It's going to be very difficult, be we've got great young men who are already working hard. I'm extremely excited. We brought in some really good athletes who are versatile at different things to help the weight of losing some of those guys.”