NCAA Division III
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Laurie Turner, Athletic Director

2007 Northwest Conference Champions
 
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Pacific Lutheran Univ.
Tacoma, WA 98447
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Feb. 26, 2008

BASEBALL: Defending Champion PLU Hosts Preseason Favorite Linfield

THIS WEEK: Pacific Lutheran hosts Linfield (DH), Saturday, 11 a.m.; PLU hosts Linfield (DH), Sunday, 11 a.m.

DEFENDING CHAMP VS. PRESEASON FAVORITE: Pacific Lutheran begins defense of its Northwest Conference title this coming weekend against the team picked by conference coaches to wrest the crown from the Lutes. The Linfield Wildcats come to the Parkland Plains as the coaches’ preseason pick to win the title. They are led by a first-year head coach with a name that is familiar to anyone who has followed professional baseball for any amount of time. Scott Brosius, who earned three World Series rings as a third baseman for the New York Yankees, returns to his alma mater as the head coach. Brosius had been a Wildcats assistant for five years years and takes over for long-time head man Scott Carnahan, who transitions to an assistant position.

PRESEASON POLL: The Wildcats were 22-16 overall last year and finished in third place in the conference with a 17-7 record. They received eight of the nine first-place votes and a total of 88 points in the preseason poll with the other first-place vote going to the Lutes, who were third in the poll with 61 points. Last season, PLU compiled a school-record 35 wins against nine losses, and PLU was 21-3 in conference action. George Fox ranked second in the poll with 71 points. So, are the NWC coaches not showing the Lutes due respect? Actually, conference coaches know that the Lutes must replace six position starters and two starting pitchers from the 2007 conference championship team. While the Lutes lose a plethora of key players, including two-time NWC Pitcher of the Year Joe DiPietro, they do return a group of first team all-conference selections in senior pitcher Brett Brunner, junior pitcher Hunter Simpson, junior first baseman Jordan Post and junior catcher Brandon Sales. That veteran leadership takes on greater importance in light of the Lutes' youth.

FOUR-GAME SERIES: Northwest Conference coaches voted to expand their conference series from three games to four starting this season. The league-wide schedule calls for teams to play a pair of nine-inning games on the first day of the series and a pair of seven-inning games on the second day of the series. That will be the case this weekend when PLU hosts Linfield.

MORE ABOUT LINFIELD: While it is still awfully early to note any specific trends, this Linfield team is capable of scoring lots of runs, playing excellent defense, and getting solid starting pitching. The Wildcats bring a 4-1 record into the weekend series. The ‘Cats have outscored their opponents, 35-19 and are hitting .315 as a team with four regulars currently hitting better than .400. Designated hitter Stew Davis and catcher Drew Van Cleve are both stroking the ball at a .429 clip, while shortstop David Bachofner is hitting .412 with two homers and 10 runs batted in. Third baseman Rhett Fenton is also hitting .412, while outfielder Jordan Boustead is hitting .389 with four stolen bases. Second baseman Cory Ellis is the leadoff hitter and already has five steals in as many attempts. The top two starting pitchers are Brian Clark, who has limited opposing hitters to a .125 average while going 2-0 with 11 strikeouts in 12 innings, and Garrett Dorn, the Northwest Conference Pitcher of the Week, who has held opponents to a .158 average while compiling a 1-0 record with 11 strikeouts in 12 innings. As a team, Linfield has a .360 earned run average and a .981 fielding percentage.

ABOUT THE LUTES: While Linfield comes into the game fresh off of three games played last weekend at their own tournament, the Lutes have not played since a five-game trip to California from Feb. 14-17. During that trip, the Lutes compiled a 2-1-2 overall record. PLU tied its first two games against Whittier (7-7 in nine innings) and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (11-11 in seven innings), beat CMS twice (15-5 and 10-6), and then lost a 7-6 game to Redlands in 11 innings. PLU head coach Geoff Loomis played the games much like a major league manager would handle his team during spring training, giving all 33 players on his roster some game action. Ryan Frost has earned the starting nod at third base after hitting .444 on the road trip. Brandon Sales, a preseason d3baseball.com honorable mention All-American, is hitting .435 with one homer and a team-best 11 RBI. Other top hitters for the Lutes include leftfielder and leadoff hitter Josh Takayoshi at .400, first baseman Jordan Post at .350 with seven RBI, and rightfielder Matt Wolford at .333. As a team, the Lutes are hitting .317 through their first five games. Coach Loomis is looking for steadier defensive play, though it will be difficult at best to match the exploits of the 2007 team, which finished first in the nation in field defense. Currently, the Lutes have a .948 fielding percentage. In the pitching department, a total of 12 different hurlers saw action in California. As a result, only Ian Opsal, who went seven innings in a win against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, threw more than five innings. Hunter Simpson threw five innings to pick up a win and has a 1.80 earned run average.

LAST YEAR: Linfield took two of three games from the Lutes in the conference-opening series one year ago. PLU won the opener, 7-1, before the Wildcats came back with 3-2 and 5-1 victories. After that, the senior-dominated Lutes went on to win 20 of their final 21 conference games to claim the program's first conference title of any kind in 53 years.

WALKING WOUNDED: The Lutes will be without returning first team all-conference pitcher Brett Brunner for an indefinite period after Brunner was hit in the face by a line drive against Redlands. Brunner will have surgery later this week, but he could be back on the mound sometime within the next month. PLU could be without leadoff hitter Josh Takayoshi, who suffered a concussion after colliding with a teammate while chasing a pop up in practice. Finally, the Lutes will be without projected starting third baseman Chris Bowen, who will miss the remainder of the season after fracturing a finger on the California trip.

PLU RANKS 18TH NATIONALLY: Pacific Lutheran, which won its first-ever Northwest Conference baseball title in 2007, is ranked No. 18 in the first regular season D3baseball.com Division III national poll. The Lutes, who had been ranked No. 12 in the preseason poll, compiled a total of 159 points and are one spot ahead of Redlands, which beat the Lutes, 7-6 in 11 innings, on Feb. 17.

- PLU -