2010 UMAC Baseball Preseason Coaches' Poll
1. Bethany Lutheran College - 48 Points (6 First Place Votes)
2. College of St. Scholastica - 44 Points (2)
3. Northwestern College - 34 Points
4. Presentation College - 30 Points
5. Northland College - 24 Points
6. Martin Luther College - 22 Points
7. University of Minnesota-Morris - 15 Points
8. Crown College - 7 points
ST. PAUL -- The 2010 Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) baseball preseason coaches' poll results may cause a couple of double-takes. Bethany Lutheran College, the second-place finisher in the 2009 conference race and UMAC Tournament runner-up, was the overwhelming pick to win the league in 2010. If the Vikings were to prove the preseason prediction right and win the UMAC championship, they would end a 13-year supremacy by the College of St. Scholastica, who has advanced to the NCAA tournament in each of the last five seasons.
Bethany Lutheran, who received 48 points and six first place votes in the poll, are coming off a great year that brought national attention to the program. The Vikings were well-represented in numerous NCAA national statistics categories in both hitting and pitching in 2009. Bethany returns all but two starters from last year's team that went 17-3 in UMAC play in addition to four transfer students who are expected to make an immediate impact. Justin Schwecke and Ashton Dorris, the reigning UMAC Pitcher and Player of the Year, come back for their senior seasons as does all-conference players Trent Sonnicksen, Nick Johnson, Travis Fisher and Michael Greibrok. Joining the Vikings in 2010 is Ben Smith, a transfer who hit. .367 with 17 doubles and 42 RBI at Hamline a year ago. Another transfer who will make headlines right away is pitcher Cody Hallahan, who spent two years at Minnesota State-Mankato.
Behind the bat of D3baseball.com preseason All-American #Sean Claugherty#, St. Scholastica looks to continue its rule over the UMAC again in 2010. The Saints, who received 44 points and a pair of first place votes in the preseason poll, have big shoes to fill, starting with the head coach position. With the passing of head coach John Baggs at the beginning of the 2009 season,
Corey Kemp and the other Saints assistants stepped up and performed admirably, earning UMAC Coach of the Year honors. Kemp now wears the hat of “Head Coach” as he leads a group of players that includes six seniors and seven underclassmen who appeared in at least 24 games last year. Claugherty led the Saints with 53 hits in 2009 while being walked 44 times, the fourth-most in all of NCAA Division III last year. With the graduation of
Adian Kummet (Brainerd, Minn./Brainerd HS), now a member of the Cincinnati Reds farm system, and
Peter Burg (St. Joseph, Minn./St. Cloud Cathedral), St. Scholastica will need to find some stability at the top of its pitching staff. #Steve Gerten# will lead the Saints after going 5-1 last season in eight starts.
Northwestern College was the clear No. 3 pick amongst the UMAC's coaches in the preseason poll, earning 34 points. While the Eagles were not able to produce a record over .500 in 2009, head coach Dave Hieb saw great improvement over his program's 2008 campaign. A pair of Eagles in Ryan Nelson and Dan Halstensgard returns to the lineup after both players broke the program's all-time hits record last year. Nelson and Halstensgard are two of five Northwestern players returning who batted over .300 last season. The Eagles' ability to create runs wasn't a major problem last season as the team crossed the plate 304 times. However, pitching was a strong liability that Hieb looks to have more control over this season. Mark Meredith was the only pitcher to produce a winning record on the mound. The becoming-veteran group of Meredith, Tyler Campion, Nelson, Mark Halstensgard, Josh Englund and Andrew Stokes will need to step its game up from a year ago if Northwestern wants to return to its former place of contending for a conference championship.
Presentation College, who was fourth in the 2010 preseason poll with 30 points, turned some heads last season, claiming third place in the conference standings after initially being picked to finish sixth. The Saints advanced to the conference tournament for the first time in its short baseball history, and Presentation returns all but two players from last year's team. Pitching will be a strength of the Saints in 2010, with Andy Bauer leading the way. As a junior in 2008, Bauer was a first team all-conference award winner after posting a 6-2 record before being sidelined by an arm injury for the 2009 campaign. Joining Bauer in the rotation will be Sam Heintzman and Dustin Pickrel, while closer Spencer Sudbeck, last year's UMAC saves leader, looks to continue the team's success as well. Another strength of the Presentation squad this season should be the infield, where the Saints return starters at each position. Leading the infield will be shortstop Michael Babcock, who hit .343 in 2009.
After an 8-12 year in UMAC play last season, Northland College returns to the field with a good mix of youth and experience under second-year head coach Andy Ham. The LumberJacks, who were picked to finish fifth in the poll, return all but two starters from 2009 including UMAC First Team All-Conference honoree Bryce Szymanski. Szymanski hit .403 with seven home runs and 38 RBI last year while leading the team in wins from the pitcher's mound. Matt Tanneberg, another first team all-conference player for Northland, returns after a 2009 campaign that featured a .443 batting average and 20 RBI. Jeremy Snow and Cody Carroll are two more veterans that Ham will rely on for leadership. Snow, a senior, committed only four errors in the infield throughout all of last season while Carroll hit .458 with 34 RBI in 2008 before battling injuries and cancer in the last year and a half. As a team, Northland has a reputation of being solid defensively. The LumberJacks were second amongst UMAC teams in 2009 in fielding with a .954 team fielding percentage.
Martin Luther College, who was predicted to finish sixth in the UMAC, has undergone an overall with Randy Cox taking over the head coaching position. The Knights return four starters from last season's everyday lineup, as well as a few pitchers as the team hopes that its transition will move along quickly. Tyler Morgan returns behind the plate to anchor the offense and defense for Martin Luther. Morgan led the Knights in batting average, slugging percentage, RBI and home runs last season as the clean-up hitter, and hopes to improve upon those numbers in 2010. Joining Morgan in the lineup are returners Greg Holzhueter and Steve Gurgel. Holzhueter joined Morgan as a UMAC Honorable Mention performer last season at shortstop, while Gurgel has the athleticism and versatility to play the outfield or first base this year. On the mound, the Knights return sophomores Joe Janke and Joseph Blum, who combined to make 11 starts in 2009. Both players will be counted on to provide innings to a young rotation that will feature several newcomers in the rotation, led by Bryan Scriver, as well as some returning arms in relief.
The University of Minnesota-Morris looks to rebound after posting a 5-15 UMAC record in 2009. With six starters returning, the Cougars hope to earn more than their sixth-place spot in the poll after receiving 15 points. Pitcher and shortstop Matt Peterson is head coach Mark Fohl's best returning player after hitting .330 last year. Nik Randall, who led Minnesota-Morris in ERA in 2009 also returns while Sam Mooney-Leber, a combination catcher-first baseman, will be the Cougars' primary pitch caller again this season. The Cougars aspire to see great things out of transfer Mike McGill, a center fielder with great playing experience at Midwest Lutheran.
Rounding out the league's top eight is Crown College, who received seven points in the preseason prediction. Dan Nyquist, a recent product of UMAC-member Northwestern, has been handed the head coaching duties for the Storm in 2009 after the exit of Thor Benson. Crown looks to improve upon last season's 2-18 UMAC mark, but Nyquist and his coaching staff will have to juggle multiple lineups to make a thin roster work, especially on doubleheader days. Steve Boger will be heavily relied upon this season after hitting .369 with a pair of homers in his sophomore year of 2009. Rocky Donatelle is another veteran on the Storm squad, having led the team in wins and ERA last season.
All eight UMAC teams will get their feet wet with games throughout the end of February and into the thick of March before beginning to face off against one another on the first weekend of April. At the conclusion of the regular season, the league's four best teams will gather in Duluth, Minn. for the UMAC Conference Tournament on May 13-15, 2010.
