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 -
