Jan. 2, 2008

Lutes Ranked 12th in Preseason Division III Baseball Poll

Senior pitcher Brett Brunner

Pacific Lutheran, which won its first-ever Northwest Conference baseball title in 2007, is ranked No. 12 in the Collegiate Baseball NCAA Division III Preseason Poll. The Lutes compiled a total of 225 points in a closely bunched field. Wooster (Ohio) is ranked No. 1 with 259 points, followed by Cortland State (N.Y.) with 257 points and defending national champion Kean (N.J) with 254 points.

Chapman (Calif.), which advanced to the Division III College World Series by beating Pacific Lutheran in the Division III West Region championship game, is ranked No. 4 with 250 votes.

The Lutes are ranked No. 12 despite losing six position starters and two of their top three starting pitchers to graduation. Leading the list of returnees are four all-conference first team performers: junior first baseman Jordan Post (.358 average, 4 home runs, 38 runs batted in), junior catcher Brandon Sales (.412 average, 4 home runs, 32 runs batted in), senior pitcher Brett Brunner (7-2 record, 1.94 earned run average), and senior reliever Hunter Simpson (3-2 record, 3.86 earned run average). Head coach Geoff Loomis enters his sixth season with a 118-82 career record.

The 2007 Lutes set numerous school records while winning the program’s first conference baseball title of any kind since 1954. PLU finished with a 35-9 overall record, shattering the school record of 26 wins in a season, and its .795 winning percentage also established a new single-season record. Joe DiPietro earned Northwest Conference Pitcher of the Year honors for the second straight season after finishing with an 11-3 record, which set a new record for individual pitching victories in a season. DiPietro later signed a professional contract with an independent team in Kalamazoo, Mich.

- PLU -