Lutes explode offensively, wither on the mound

The former NWC champs worry about replacing all-star graduates

Tyler Scott

Mast Sports Reporter

For a team ranked 12th in multiple preseason polls, the Lutes entered the 2008 season with a lot of question marks. Entering last week’s trip to California, Pacific Lutheran head coach Geoff Loomis faced the difficult task of replacing 10 seniors, including second team All-American and Northwest Conference pitcher of the year Joe DiPietro and first team All-Conference position players Jared Simon and Ryan Thorne.

After five games in four days against tough California competition, the Lutes returned home with a 2-1-2 record. PLU now has two weeks to prepare for a highly anticipated weekend matchup with NWC preseason-favorite Linfield and a clearer sense of the makeup of their young team.

The first two games of the trip ended prematurely due to darkness, as the Lutes played to a 6-6 draw against Whittier on Thursday and an 11-11 tie in seven innings against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Friday.

PLU exploded offensively on Saturday, putting together 26 hits and 25 runs in back-to-back wins against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 15-5 and 10-6. After a ninth inning comeback put the Lutes ahead by one against Redlands on Sunday, the Bulldogs took advantage of an error in the bottom of the frame to tie the game before scoring the deciding run in the 11th inning.

“I expected our team to be very competitive with the California teams, and overall we were,” Loomis said. “I knew we would be behind defensively because of our inability to practice outside in January and February. We could have come home from the trip 5-0 after holding leads late in every one of the five games. We have a good team and gaining experience will be the key.”

Junior catcher Brandon Sales, who earned second-team All-American honors last season and has been named to the preseason honorable mention team, led the Lutes’ offensive attack, with 10 hits in 23 at bats, scoring seven runs and driving in 11.

Junior Jordan Post’s three extra-base hits led the team, and his seven runs batted in were second only to Sales.

But the Lutes knew what to expect from those two players, both first-team All-Conference performers last season. It was the rest of the offense that proved to be such a pleasant surprise.
Sophomore Josh Takayoshi, a transfer student from Wenatchee Valley Community College, batted in the leadoff spot in all five games and finished the trip with a .500 on base percentage and eight runs scored, tied with junior Matt Wolford for most on the team.

As a team, the Lutes batted .306 with a fantastic .426 on base percentage and scored 48 runs in five games.

“The entire team, including the coaches, was most impressed with the way we swung the bats,” Sales said. “Losing all but two (starting) position players from last year, no one expected to see the kind of offensive explosion that came from the team this past week.”

While the offense jumped out to a dominant start, the pitching struggled a bit. After the five-game trip, Pacific Lutheran’s pitching staff has a composite 5.68 earned run average and has allowed opposing players to hit .337 with 19 extra-base hits.

Sales explained that Loomis addressed some issues following the first two games, in which the pitching staff gave up 17 runs, and “there was no doubt that after that the pitching staff made the corrections needed for our team to be successful for the final three games.”

“[The team] still has the utmost confidence that we have the most talented and deep pitching staff in the conference,” Sales said. This comment says just as much about the chemistry and trust between the players on the team as it does about the Lutes’ immense talent in their pitching staff.

An early-season trip can expose flaws on any team, and the trip to California revealed some of the areas where the Lutes need to improve as the season progresses.

“Most of our players have little college game experience, and it showed in our inability to close out games,” Loomis explained.

The PLU head coach also mentioned a need to improve on defense and base paths.

Sales also cited the importance of defense to a winning team.

“Last year, we were the No. 1 best defensive team in the nation, and we have always prided our success on our defense and pitching. We’ve been in the top five for best defense in the nation for four straight years now, and that’s what we know has been the reason for our success,” Sales said
Both coach and players referenced the impact of Pacific Northwest weather, saying that defense tends to struggle early in the season due to the inability to practice outside.

Sales feels that the team is capable of big things.

“We have so much depth at every position that every day at practice there is always someone pushing the guy in front of him to get better. Though last year’s team set a legacy of success and a winning tradition, this 2008 Lutes baseball team is ready to make a name for itself,” said Sales

“There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that with the outstanding coaching of Geoff Loomis and his staff, this team will be making a run toward a national championship not just this year, but in years to follow.”

Photo by Chris Hunt

Junior catcher Andrew Hernandez waits to take a cut during a game last season. The Lutes are ranked as the 12th best team in the nation by multiple polls and will attempt to defend their NWC championship this season.