Baseball | 1/28/2014 11:08:00 PM
MONMOUTH, Ore. – The Western Oregon University baseball team begins its campaign for a 13th straight Great Northwest Athletic Conference title at No. 18 Cal State-Monterey Bay Saturday.
The Wolves, which have won every GNAC title since the leagues inception in 2002, were picked as the conference coaches' preseason favorites to defend their crown. WOU Head Coach and 2013 GNAC Coach of the Year,
Kellen Walker has been part of the program for eight of the Wolves' string of conference titles over the past dozen years, and enters his second season as the head coach of the program. Walker guided the Wolves to a 30-24 overall mark last season, holding a five-game lead over second-place CWU with a 24-8 record in GNAC play to capture the conference title.
Returning to the Wolves' rotation this season is 2013 GNAC Newcomer of the Year
Spenser Watkins, whose 3.19 ERA was second only to teammate and GNAC Pitcher of the Year A.J. Burke's mark of 2.78 a season ago among GNAC starting pitchers. WOU's top reliever,
Kody Stone, also returns for his senior campaign, after garnering first team all-GNAC honors with 13 saves and 88 strikeouts in 84 2/3 innings with a 3.19 ERA.
The Wolves said goodbye to now-professional shortstop
Blake Miller and outfielder
Matt Nylen, two more first-teamers.
Daniel McNabb's bat is back in the Wolves' lineup however, after he posted a conference-leading .376 batting average as a junior designated hitter in 2013. Western Oregon welcomes 20 transfers on a roster that features 32 upperclassmen and no freshmen.
2013 SEASON
The Wolves continued their tradition of excellence in baseball last season, cruising to a 12th-straight GNAC title and winning the inaugural conference tournament after earning hosting privileges by virtue of having the best regular-season record.
Six of the Wolves' starters hit better than .300, as WOU approached the standard mark of success as a team with an average of .294. First-team all-GNAC senior shortstop
Blake Miller hit .372 with three home runs and a team-high 49 RBI, and his 18 doubles paced the conference.
WOU lost six of its first seven games during the preseason last year, but recovered to finish the season 33-14 including two wins over Central Washington on the final day of the season to grab the conference title.
Miller and GNAC Pitcher of the Year A.J. Burke were both selected in the 2013 Major League Baseball draft, leaving major spots to fill for the Wolves in 2014.
IMPACT PLAYERS
Spenser Watkins was WOU's No. 2 starter a season ago, and led the GNAC with eight wins while posting a solid 3.19 ERA in 84 2/3 innings of work. Backing Watkins last season was the league's best closer in
Kody Stone, who notched 13 saves and a 3.10 ERA in 20 1/3 innings. Stone earned first-team all-GNAC honors while holding opponents to a .214 batting average and allowing just 15 hits – all singles – in his 20 appearances.
Daniel McNabb was picked as the first-team all-conference designated hitter after leading the Wolves with a .376 batting average while driving in 35 runs.
Tim Rausch and
Scott David were two of Walker's most consistent players last season, batting .351 and .342 respectively and combining to steal 17 bases. The junior-senior duo will return to the Wolves' outfield this season after each earning second-team all-conference honors and not hitting into a single double play in 2013.
The return of senior
Chris Bradshaw means the Wolves welcome back their entire starting outfield from 2013, as he batted .319 with 14 doubles and 42 runs scored in 48 starts.
Another valuable arm that figures to bump to the No. 2 role in WOU's rotation is junior
Gary Steindorf, who compiled a 6-4 record and 4.20 ERA in 14 starts last season.
KEY FACTOR
With the return of four .300 hitters from a season ago, WOU's offense shouldn't suffer too much despite losing its top-two RBI men in Miller and
Matt Nylen (49 and 44, respectively). The 3-4 punch in the batting order could be tough to replace, as Rausch figures to fill one of those spots after a team-high .552 slugging percentage, four home runs and 38 RBI a season ago.
The Wolves led the conference in runs scored last year with 316, and stole 23 more bases than the next-closest team with 64 on the season. With Miller and Nylen accounting for more than half of those steals (39) and nearly a third of the runs (91), WOU will turn to its veteran outfield to sustain its threat on the base paths this season.
On the mound, the Wolves will again have high expectations for Watkins as a starter and for Stone to close out games, but without the arm of Burke, who averaged 7 innings per start, a solid compliment to Watkins appears to be the Wolves' biggest necessity heading into the season.
SEASON OUTLOOK
Not surprisingly, WOU was given the nod as the preseason favorite after receiving 4-of-5 votes in the preseason coaches' poll.
The Wolves kick off the season by playing six games in the first 10 days in California, before a road trip to Idaho to face NAIA powerhouse Lewis-Clark State to close out February.
WOU begins conference play on the road against the No. 2 team in the preseason poll, Central Washington with four games scheduled for Mar. 1-2.
Western Oregon has 11 home dates this season, beginning Feb. 15 against defending NCAA Div. III National Champion Linfield. The Wildcats enter the year ranked atop the NCBWA NCAA Div. III Preseason National Top 25. The Wolves' openers at Cal State-Monterey Bay and Sonoma State will have live stats on WOUWolves.com.
