| Linfield will be looking for
another title celebration as it goes for a second straight national
championship. By Larry Radloff, d3photography.com |
By Ralph Turner
for D3baseball.com
The 2013 NCAA Division III champion Linfield Wildcats get to defend their title as our pick as the best of the west, but the West Region is full of strong contenders for the region crown in 2014. Some big changes have occurred in the region, but the quality of the baseball will still among the best in Division III.
There are new conference alignments and new contenders for a regional that returns to McMinnville for the 2014 season. The key intra-region games include the Arizona tourney among NWC and SCIAC teams the second weekend in February.
New Faces
Aaron Holley, Redlands: The Bulldogs hired Holley to step into the head coaching role after serving as the program's assistant coach for seven of the past eight years. Holley played for Redlands as a four-year letter-winner under former coach Scott Laverty.
Scott Laverty, Chapman: Laverty become the 14th head coach in Chapman's rich baseball history and succeeds Tom Tereschuk who resigned at the end of the 2013 season as the Panthers' all-time winningest coach with 350 career victories. Laverty played his collegiate ball as a shortstop for UC Riverside, helping the Highlanders to the Division II national finals in 1994.
Conference Summaries
Northwest Conference
Linfield won the NWC title by an amazing four games in 2013, in no large part due to sweeping George Fox in a three-game series. Coach Scott Brosius, whose 200th win was the national championship game, returns preseason first team All-Americans OF Jake Wylie and 2013 D3baseball.com Pitcher of the Year Chris Haddeland. In total Linfield returns five positions players, three starting pitchers and their closer as they defend the Walnut and Bronze. It will be these senior student-athletes that will be instrumental for the Wildcats if they hope to repeat as national champions, like Marietta did in 2012.
| George Fox returns 2013 West
Region Player of the Year Josh Rapacz. George Fox athletics photo |
George Fox has a chip on its shoulder for 2014. The Bruins were fifth in the regional rankings two weeks before the playoff selections were announced. They were passed in the final regional rankings and failed to get the Pool C bid that went to Texas Lutheran instead. The 2004 national champions hope to make the short trip to the McMinnville Regional for the first time since 2009. Coach Marty Hunter begins his seventh season with the Bruins as the second winningest coach in GFU history (159-86; .649). The Bruins lost D3baseball.com All-American outfielder Timothy Williams, but return All-American and D3baseball West Regional Player of the Year catcher Josh Rapacz, DH Danny Clifford, D3baseball.com All-West first team, and Derek Dixon D3baseball.com All-West second team, In all the Bruins have a cast of six position players and three pitchers from the rotation back for 2014.
Preseason D3baseball.com All-American outfielder Tyler Pfeffer leads Whitworth in hopes of returning to Appleton, Wis. The Cinderella season in 2012 is still fresh in the minds of the Pirates, who hope to bounce back from a 14-25-1 season. The Pirates only lost one starter from 2013, so coach Dan Ramsay has an experienced crew to make another championship run.
Pacific Lutheran, Willamette, Pacific, and Puget Sound have found themselves near the top of the standings over the last few years but have never been able to break into the NCAA playoffs. Earning a title will be a difficult endeavor as the power teams in the conference (Linfield and George Fox) will be fighting for every win. Greg Bradley, the longest tenured baseball coach in the NWC, and one of two 300-game winning coaches in Pacific baseball history will make the 2014 season his last. Lewis and Clark and Whitman round out the rest of the NWC lineup and these perennial bottom dwellers will find a title a true rags-to-riches story.
| Cal Lutheran closer Aaron
Roth had 12 saves in 29 appearances in 2013. Cal Lutheran athletics photo |
Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
The SCIAC is wide open again. The conference had its inaugural postseason tourney in 2013 that was met with good success. Defending champion California Lutheran lost seven position players but return the entire pitching rotation (including four all-SCIAC players) and three all-SCIAC position players. Utility player Jake Petersen (outfield and starting pitcher) and closer Aaron Roth made the D3baseball.com preseason All-American Team. Coach Marty Slimak’s Kingsmen will rely on a strong freshman and transfer class to fill in the holes for this No. 11 pick in the D3baseball.com preseason poll.
2013 SCIAC runner-up and Pool C awardee Pomona-Pitzer lost its entire outfield and two starting pitchers, but Frank Pericolosi (290-156-1) returns nine starters and 21 players for the 2014 season. Regional ranking watchers have the Pomona-Pitzer/Linfield series in McMinnville on April 12-13 circled on their calendars.
Occidental lost All-SCIAC players Logan Allen and Scott Hong but returns 2013 second team All-SCIAC DH/1B Johnathan Brooks. The Tigers face a diverse non-conference schedule including Whitworth, Emory, Drew, Ithaca and Rutgers-Newark. Coach Luke Wetmore enters his fourth season with a 74-47 record at Oxy and the 100 win milestone is in reach if the Tigers capture the SCIAC title. His fourth season at the helm could be the breakthrough season that Tiger fans are hoping for.
| Jordan Dresner found a spot
on the 2014 D3baseball.com preseason All-American
team. Redlands athlerics photo |
Redlands promoted assistant coach Aaron Holley to the top job after losing Scott Laverty to rival Chapman. Holley has 13 years as a player and assistant coach for the Bulldogs and is getting his dream come true at the reins of the Bulldog program. The Bulldogs are strong up the middle in returning key infield starters including 2013 All-West Region shortstop Jordan Dresner and 2013 All-West centerfielder Alex Scheiwe.
La Verne won the SCIAC in 2012, so the Leopards would love nothing more than to bring the crown back to their new baseball field at the Campus West location. Coach Scott Winterburn will look for leadership from 2013 second team All-SCIAC senior shortstop George Hanna (.412). The Leopards will know immediately how they stand in the region with season on opening games in Arizona against Linfield, Whitman, George Fox and Pacific Lutheran.
Chapman hopes to put a tumultuous 2013 behind it as Laverty comes from Redlands to lead the Panthers. Chapman has gone back-to-back seasons without a winning record. Laverty will see six starters and 14 returnees for the 2014 season. Chapman makes a trip to Texas on Feb 7-8 to play SCAC powers Texas Lutheran and Trinity.
Whittier, Caltech, and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps won a combined 24 games in 2013, finishing with the only sub-.500 conference records in the SCIAC. Only Caltech can really claim a successful 2013 campaign among this group, having picked up their first NCAA win since 2003. Unfortunately a conference championship does not appear to be in the cards for this trio.
| Outfielder Pat Hirschberg was
a major contributor to
Trinity’s 40-9 2013 record. Trinity (Texas) athletics photo |
Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference
Texas Lutheran and Schreiner have moved from the ASC to the SCAC. The SCAC retains its automatic bid for the 2014 season, and Centenary (La.) becomes a full D-III member in 2014-15 to give the conference the required seventh full SCAC member. Defending champion Trinity (Texas) earned a No. 6 ranking in the D3baseball.com preseason poll and is led by first team shortstop Christian Muscarello and second team All-American outfielder Pat Hirschberg.
Centenary (La.) will be the Tigers’ competition in 2014. The Gents matched Trinity’s conference record and held a 4-1 advantage over the Tigers before falling twice in the conference tournament. The Gents will find out quickly where they match up with three non-conference games against the Tigers at the end of February.
Texas Lutheran moved to the SCAC this season, and their new conference has a top 25 team in it, too. The Bulldogs went 33-14 (16-2 in the ASC West) in 2013 and lost to Linfield (2-0) and Cal Lutheran (4-3) in the West Regional as a Pool C. 2013 ASC postseason award winners catcher Ryan Hill, pitcher/outfielder Christian DeBlanc, shortstop Zach Jacobs, right-hander Aaron Aleman and outfielder Tyler Carollo hope to take the Bulldogs back to the West Regional in McMinnville in 2014.
| Senior Chase Valdez will be
back for the Mountaineers behind the dish in
2014. Schreiner athletice photo |
Schreiner gets a new conference home in 2014 too. The Mountaineers return catcher Chase Valdez and second baseman Marco Carreon who earned 2013 postseason honors in the ASC West. Coach Ryan Brisbin has a favorable schedule to finish above .500 from his 11-29 record in 2013 with non-conference games against Whitman, Lewis & Clark and Pacific in February. The NWC foes will give the Mountaineers a good measuring stick as they take stock in a potential title run. Dallas, Austin, and Southwestern (Texas) finished the 2013 season with sub-.500 records and will need to turn around their fortunes if they are to win the conference title.
American Southwest Conference
The ASC sees big changes for the 2014 season. With the loss of McMurry in 2013 and Schreiner and Texas Lutheran in 2014, the conference will move to a single division format for 2014 for the first time since 1998. The ASC will take the top eight teams to a double-elimination tourney hosted by Concordia (Texas). Expected top seed, No. 14 Texas-Tyler, is the defending champion. Second year coach Chris Bertrand returns 2013 D3baseball.com Honorable Mention All-American DH/outfielder Kevan House among five starters and 25 lettermen. The Patriots open on the road against No. 6 Trinity (Texas) on Feb. 7 and catch Texas Lutheran in a doubleheader on Feb. 8 in great early season action.
At Concordia (Texas), coach Tommy Boggs greets 33 new players, including several who can make an immediate impact after back-to-back championships in 2011 and 2012. Brent Schaekel is 47 hits away from breaking a decade-old school record of 212 career hits and needs five more stolen bases to break a 20-year-old career record of 56 stolen bases.
| Senior catcher Kyle Feazell
is one of the ASC's Players To Watch in 2014. Lousiana College athletics photo |
Louisiana College got two first place votes in the ASC preseason poll and placed third place overall. Coach Mike Byrnes is counting on catcher Kyle Feazell, second baseman Cary Myers, outfielder Mark Reindeau and catcher/right-handed pitcher Taylor Beavers to lead the Wildcats to their first ASC Championship and a trip to McMinnville. The Wildcats catch both Concordia (Texas) and Texas-Tyler at home this season. The crucial question for postseason play will be pitching depth. If the rotation is solid in 2014, so are their title chances.
Texas-Dallas opens the season at Dr. Pepper Ballpark, home of the Frisco Rough Riders against Whitman, Puget Sound and Hendrix on Feb. 14-16. The Comets have not been to the West Regional since 2007. Coach Shane Shewmake (321-195) has made the ASC tourney 10 of the last 11 seasons. Righty Calvin Campbell and catcher Trevor Clifton are the players to watch in 2014.
Hardin-Simmons has experience in the field and looks to a young pitching staff to carry the Cowboys to the next level. A strong perennial contender in the old ASC West, the new single division format gives a team the chance to develop for the postseason tourney. Marcus Uechi is a strong candidate at second base for postseason honors. Also keep an eye on righty Eric Zamora.
The ASC preseason poll has Mary Hardin-Baylor picked sixth. Coach Ben Shipp needs two wins to become the first UMHB coach to reach 300 wins, but might have to wait for late in February as Mary Hardin-Baylor does not open until Feb. 18 against Texas Lutheran. Those milestone wins may come in the conference opener at Howard Payne the following weekend. Junior catcher Robert Loewe is a strong candidate for postseason honors.
| Phillip Windham was named to
the D3baseball.com preseason All-America team as a designated
hitter. East Texas Baptist athletics photo |
Coach Lee Driggers improved the record of East Texas Baptist by eight wins from 2012 to 2013. There is real optimism on the Tiger campus for this trend to continue. ETBU made the ASC tourney for the first time in eight years, and strong core of new players have a chance to take the program to the next level. It is not just on the field that the Tigers have found success but in community service with Big Brothers and assistance in the local community kitchen as some of the team’s outreach volunteer activities. First baseman Phillip Windham and starting pitcher Kirby Moore are players to watch this season.
Mississippi College finishes it last season in D-III before moving to the Gulf South Conference in D-II. Coach Brian Owens in his eighth season, finds Mississippi College ineligible for NCAA postseason play but will compete for a spot in the National Christian College Athletic Association postseason tourney. Outfielder Kyle Blount and southpaw pitcher Brooks Fortenberry are players to watch.
Howard Payne lost seven players from the 2013 team, so coach Stephen Lynn has holes to fill. The Yellow Jackets have been on the edge of making the playoffs in several recent seasons including a last day loss to rival Hardin-Simmons in 2013. The change in format to “top 8 out of 11” eligible teams is exciting for a postseason run. LeTourneau, Sul Ross State and the University of the Ozarks are picked to finish with the Yellow Jackets in the bottom of the ASC. Sul Ross State hosts Dallas for a doubleheader on Feb. 1, the first DH of the season for Division III in 2014.