Goshen, IN — Even with a thick layer of snow covering the campus grounds at Goshen College for much of the past few weeks, the Leafs’ baseball squad has been busy preparing for its first contest — scheduled to take place this Saturday in Tennessee — in the comfortable surroundings of the Roman Gingerich Center.
And while second-year head coach Josh Keister understands it will be baptism by fire for much of his squad — 14 of his 20 roster players are newcomers — he sat down with members of the media early in the week to discuss this year’s possibilities.
The following is a transcript of that session.
Pitching
The Maple Leafs return two starting pitchers from the 2006 staff. Senior Dann Hunt looks to be the ace of the staff after pitching behind former Mid-Central Conference Player of The Year Ben Taylor for three years. Hunt is coming off a campaign in which he pitched far better than his numbers showed. He went 2-7 in 13 starts with an ERA of 6.44. The other returning starter is sophomore Aaron Keister. He led the team in wins with six and only walked 15 batters in 67 innings. Newcomers who will see time on the mound this spring are a group of freshmen: Aaron Coy, Zach Miller, Matt Fyfe, Shane Kurtz, Kraig Miller and Caleb Kitchell.
"Obviously you can never replace a player like Ben Taylor but we do feel that our staff has a lot more depth than last year,” Keister said. “Dann Hunt has improved every year that he’s been here and early indications are that he will take his game to an even higher level. Aaron Keister pitched like a true freshman last year until about halfway through the year after which he threw very well. Our youngsters will have to grow up in a hurry as they will be responsible for a lot of innings, but I think they are all very capable of being successful at this level.”
Infield
Familiar face and senior Nate Colclasure has been a regular in the infield for three years but will making the move from first to third base. He led last year’s team in batting average at .335 and RBI’s with 32. Shortstop will be played by freshman Kraig Miller. Second base will be handled by freshmen Zach Miller and Cal Schlabach. Both may also see time at short when Miller pitches. First base will be filled primarily by junior college transfer Darren Tronovich (junior). Freshman Jayson Dempsey will be the top backup at all infield positions.
"Our infield will have a very new look this year with three newcomers and Colclasure moving across the infield to third,” Keister said. "Nate played third all fall and got a lot of reps so he should be fine there. Even though his power numbers have declined every year since his outstanding freshman season when he hit 19 home runs, I feel he is a much better hitter now than he was then. The second half of the season last year he did a much better job taking what he was given instead of trying to hit everything out of the ballpark. We look for him to have a great senior year. We are also very excited about Kraig Miller at shortstop. I think he has the potential to be the best shortstop we've had in years both defensively and offensively. We will have a little bit of a rotation at second base as Zach Miller won the position this fall but will also be used on the mound quite a bit which means Cal Schlabach and Jayson Dempsey will each see time there as well. All three of these guys are freshman but they've worked extremely hard on their footwork and hands which gives me a lot of confidence in them. Darren Tronovich has played two years of college ball in a very competitive junior college conference and we will need him to be a leader for us both offensively and at first or behind the plate.”
Outfield
Two starting outfielders return from last year's team. Sophomore Kyle Koch will play centerfield and junior Ian Swartz right. Left field will be played by JUCO transfer Mike Malott (junior). All outfield positions will be backed by freshman Derek Swartz. Freshman Aaron Coy will most likely fill the designated hitter role.
"Neither Koch nor Swartz have blazing speed but they get good jumps and read the ball well off the bat,” Keister said. “Both struggled offensively during the first half of the season last year but came on strong towards the end. Both have worked very hard in the weight room and on their swings. Malott is an older guy who has matured a lot physically since his last baseball. He also has the best speed on our team. We have experience in the outfield and we will look to them for leadership and production. How our outfield plays will be a big key to the amount of success this team has. All are terrific students and work extremely hard at their baseball.”
Catcher
There will be three new faces behind the plate this year. Junior college transfer Darren Tronovich played exclusively behind the plate for his junior college team last year but we foresee him at first base a lot which means that freshman Sean Sears and classmate Dustin Swartzel will be counted on for lots innings.
"We would like to use Tronovich primarily at first base, but to do that our two freshmen will have to prove themselves capable,” Keister said. “Sean Sears played at an excellent high school program at Elkhart Memorial High School where he caught some very talented pitchers. He also has the strongest arm of any catcher we've had in recent memory. Swartzel has made tremendous improvement from the beginning of the fall and it is always nice to have a left-handed stick behind the plate. We must receive and block well with anything we get offensively being a bonus.”
With youth prevailing, Keister said he has a positive, yet realistic, view on his team’s chances as the season gets underway.
“We have an incredibly tough early season schedule with eight of our first 14 games coming against teams who are ranked in the NAIA’s preseason Top 25 Poll,” Keister said. “We must stay focused and positive during this tough early stretch and use each opportunity to play as a valuable learning experience and growth opportunity for our young team. Our goal is to peak during the conference portion of our schedule. We have 18 games scheduled before it starts and we must make measurable improvement during that time. One of our strengths this year will be our defense. This should encourage our pitchers to throw a lot of strikes. If we throw strikes and make plays, like I except us to, we will give ourselves a chance offensively. We have the talent to compete with everyone in our conference but we have less experience than just about everyone. How quickly we can learn the college game and adjust to it will dictate our success. We have a great group of guys who have worked really hard and enjoy being around each other. With these guys ‘team’ comes first and I believe that will show up in long term success even if there are some bumps in the road along the way.”
Goshen will open play at Covenant College in Tennessee this Saturday. The Leafs will play a double-header against the hosts. Game time for the first of two is set for 2 p.m.
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  Head coach Josh Keister
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