FEB. 6 — Keister Provides Outlook As Season Nears
First-year head coach gives candid thoughts on his team's spring possibilities

Goshen, IN — With the start of the 2006 Goshen College baseball season under two weeks away, first year head coach Josh Keister recently met with members of the media to discuss his team’s strengths, weaknesses and areas of needed improvement to be competitive this season. What transpired was an in-depth look at the squad. The following is a transcript of that interview, providing GoLeafs.net with an intricate season outlook for Goshen College baseball.

Pitching
The Maple Leafs return three starting pitchers from the 2005 staff. Senior Ben Taylor heads the group coming off an outstanding junior campaign, going 7-2 in nine starts with an ERA of 1.82. Taylor earned Mid-Central Conference Player of the Year honors, becoming the first Goshen baseball player ever to do so. The other returning starters are Senior Dan Fensler (4-1 with a 5.74 ERA) and Dann Hunt (3-3 with a 4.32 ERA). Other pitchers returning to the lineup are junior Brian Shelton (1-3 with a 7.02 ERA in 16 2/3 innings) and Senior Greg Koop, who complied 12 innings on the mound last year. Newcomers who will see time on the mound this spring freshmen Aaron Keister, Landon Rohrer, Kyle Koch, Dustin Padgett and Ian Swartz.

“Pitching should be our strength this year,” Keister said. “We are counting on Taylor to elevate his game to an even higher level than it was at last year as he has his sights set on making it to the next level. We expect to win every time he takes the mound. The rest of the four-man rotation will be filled by lefthanders. Dan Fensler and Dann Hunt are both veterans of the rotation now in their senior and junior years, respectively. This means our top three starters already know what it takes to compete at this level and more importantly within the MCC. We will look for all three of these guys to provide leadership on and off the mound. The fourth spot in the rotation will likely be filled by freshman Aaron Keister with the closer’s role being turned over to junior Brian Shelton. Brian has a tremendous arm, and he has worked really hard this fall to become a more rounded pitcher. These five guys will carry the bulk of the load, especially early, while the rest of our young arms gain experience.”

Infield
Familiar face Nate Colclasure (junior) will anchor the infield at first base (.287 with a team-high in home runs with nine and RBI’s with 33). Colclasure has now hit 28 home runs in two years of play. Third base will be played by senior Greg Koop, who had a breakout year in 2005, hitting .303. Sophomore Chris Hostetler will return to shortstop after sitting out the 2005 season. As a freshman in 2004 Hostetler hit .244, but boasted a .433 on-base percentage. He also played great defense with a stellar fielding percentage of .946. Second base will be played by transfer sophomore Alex Childers. Freshman Kyle Shaffer and sophomore Nate Montiel will be the top backups at all the infield positions.

“Defensively we are probably better at every position than we were last year, but we still struggled a little bit in the fall,” Keister said. “I’m confident that we will have shaken that off by spring. This group of infielders should have a lot of fun playing behind a staff of pitchers who work fast and throw a lot of strikes. They will need to play well because we will not strike out a lot of people. Offensively we’re not quite sure what we’re getting. Hopefully Koop will have a repeat performance of 2005 and Colclasure will rebound from his sophomore slump, if you consider nine homers and 33 RBI’s a slump. Childers and Hostetler will need to have quality at-bats and help bring some production to the bottom of the order that has been a lacking in the past.”

Outfield
The only returnee who had significant playing time in the outfield is junior Brian Shelton. He hit .333 and led the team with nine doubles, but his season ended on a sour note as he pulled a hamstring late in the year, forcing him to miss the conference tournament. Due to his role as the closer, Shelton may see some time at designated hitter as well. This means at times there may be three new faces at a time in the outfield. Freshman Ian Swartz looks to have a jump on one of those spots after a great fall. The other spots will be determined by early season performance. The candidates are sophomores Thomas McDowell, Mark Springer and Nate Montiel, as well as freshmen Kyle Koch, Landon Rohrer and Kyle Shaffer.

“We will need to get some offensive production from the outfield, and we’re not entirely sure where it is going to come from yet,” Keister said. “We had some guys who worked extremely hard in the weight room over the winter and hopefully that will lead to on-field success for them this spring. We don’t have great arms or great speed, but if we make all of the routine plays and hit our cut-off men we’ll be fine.”

Catcher
Sophomore Mike Staehle returns as the top backstop for the Leafs this year. As a freshman Staehle hit .269 with three home runs while playing almost all of the innings behind the plate. Backing Staehle up will be freshman Brad Elam.

“We’re looking for Staehle to have a breakout year offensively for us,” Keister said. “He is already a great receiver who blocks the ball well, but we need more offensive production from him for our team to be successful this year. Elam had some arm trouble this fall, but he will play a crucial role this spring as Staehle got worn down from playing so many innings last spring. With 23 more games on the schedule this year, it is important to keep our legs fresh behind the plate.”

When asked his overall thoughts on how competitive this year’s Leafs squad could be, the first-year head coach sounded enthusiastic.

“We had a lot of success last year in almost winning the northern division of the conference and barely missing out on an at-large bid to the regional, but we must put that behind us and focus on what’s ahead,” Keister said. “We’ve added 23 more games to our schedule this year, and many of them are against extremely tough opponents. We feel we need to get used to playing high-caliber competition if we want to be able to compete successfully in the ever-tough Mid Central Conference. Hopefully we will then be well prepared for trips to the conference and regional tournaments as well. We have the pitching to be successful, but we must field the ball behind them and find ways to score runs. We have a tremendous group of upper classmen. We will look to their leadership to get us through the ups and downs that come with college baseball.”

Goshen will open the season on Friday, Feb. 17, when the team travels south for a lengthy road trip. The Leafs will open the 2006 campaign against Martin Methodist College. A seven-inning double-header is slated to begin at 1 p.m.