2015 Baseball Preview

DEFIANCE, OHIO  --  The Defiance College Baseball team will rely on veteran experience to bounce back from a disappointing 2014 and hopefully regain the success they had in 2013 when they qualified for the HCAC Tournament.

Last season, the Yellow Jackets finished with a 9-29 overall record and 3-22 in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference.  DC was a very young team in 2014 with six starters being underclassmen, including a pair of freshmen.  This spring, the Jackets will look to the experience gained to help them improve on last year's record.

DC returns a pair of all-conference winners in junior outfielder Ben Weber (Troy/Lehman Catholic) and junior shortstop Ryan Kohlhofer (Walbridge/Lake).  Weber played in 25 games as a sophomore, including 21 starts, and led the team in batting average at .325.  He also finished amongst the team leaders in runs scored (10), runs batted in (11) and was a perfect six-of-six in stolen bases.  Kohlhofer started all 38 games and batted .272 leading the team in at-bats with 147 while recording 40 hits.  He led the team in triples (three), doubles (nine), was second in RBI (20), third in walks (12) and fourth in runs (20).

Defiance will also be led this season by six seniors in outfielder Matt Staels (Harrison Township, Mich./L'Anse Creuse), infielders Chris Donese (Kettering/Fairmont), Joel Musser (Center Line, Mich./Center Line), Ian Burkhart (Fremont, Ind./Fremont) and pitchers Matt Goodpaster (Kettering/Fairmont) and Aaron Grasing (Carmel, Calif./Carmel).

INFIELD

Donese, Musser and Kohlhofer will anchor the Yellow Jacket infield this season.  Donese, who will slide over to second base after playing shortstop last season, started all 37 games he played last year and finished in the top-five in batting average at .273.  His 143 at-bats were the second most on the team and he also finished fifth in runs (18) and fourth in RBI (14).  Defensively, Donese had a .908 fielding percentage with 55 putouts and 113 assists.  Third Baseman Musser batted .219 with a triple, a pair of doubles, 13 runs and six RBI.  In addition, Musser ended the season one of three players tied for the team-lead in walks with 13.  Sophomore Nick Watkins (Lima/Central Catholic) and freshman Zack Bires (Lorain/Amherst Steele) will back Musser up at third while freshman Nathan Principe (Fort Wayne, Ind./Snider) will enter the season as the backup behind Kohlhofer at SS.  Sophomore Dave Blanch (Alliston, Ont./Banting Memorial) will provide some depth at second base along with Alek Menyhart (Hartland, Mich./Hartland).   Burkhart seems to be the front runner to man first base for the Yellow Jackets with junior Royce Laurendeau (Clyde) and Staels close behind.  Freshmen Mason Gross (St. Mary's/Memorial) and Torrence Hicks (Defiance) along with sophomores Joey Brobst (Plain City/Jonathan Alder) and Zac Weaver (Wyandotte, MIch./St. Frances Cabrini) provide depth.

CATCHERS

The Yellow Jackets will return their starting catcher from a year ago in junior Gary Levengood (Beverly Hills, Fla./Lecanto).  Levengood batted .255 (26-of-102) and was tied for second in runs scored with 24.  He also had four doubles to go along with 11 RBI.  Levengood accounted for 11 of the team's 120 walks for the season and was one of the team's top defenders posting a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage with 134 putouts and 24 assists.

Sophomore Joe Kudela (Vermilion/Firelands) will start the season as the backup, with freshman Jon Evans (Redford, Mich./Garden City) and Burkhart providing some depth behind the plate.  

OUTFIELDERS

Making up the returning corps of outfielders for DC this spring will be Staels, Weber and sophomores Zack Reed (Midland, Mich./Bullock Creek) and Quinten Harrington (Sandusky/Perkins).

Staels had the third-best batting average in 2014 at .296 and and also drove in 11 runs.  Reed became the everyday centerfielder midway through 2014 season and showed his threat as a base runner, stealing 10 bases in 11 attempts for second most on the team.  Harrington also made an impact for DC as a freshman playing in 23 games and ended the season with a pair of doubles, six runs scored and six RBI.

Sophomore Tre' DeVoe (Allen Park, Mich./Allen Park) begins the season as the primary backup in the OF while fellow sophomore Cody Wiggins (Howell, Mich./Howell) will provide depth in the outfield along with freshman Kollin Spence Deshler/Patrick Henry) and Sam Kessler (North Olmstead).

PITCHERS

Defiance will return four of the five pitchers from the starting rotation last season. Grasing led the team in innings pitched (50.2) and strikeouts (26) in 2014.  He made 11 total appearances and finished the season with a 5.86 earned run average.  Sophomore Matt Clark (Sandusky/Perkins) appeared in 12 games on the mound and pitched two complete games.  He posted a 5.77 ERA with a pair of saves and 19 strikeouts in 48.1 innings.  Blanch also saw time at pitcher and pitched well last season before an injury limited him to just four starts.  Blanch posted a 1-1 record with a 5.91 ERA in 2014.  Freshman Jacob Green (Defiance) is a candidate to be in the starting rotation along with Watkins who proved to be a valuable arm for the Jackets last season, making 14 appearance including 3 starts.  Another freshman, Cody Nelson (Clayton, MIch./Hudson), will also get an opportunity as a starter, but will also be used out of the bullpen.

The bullpen will be anchored by senior lefthanders Staels, Matt Goodpaster (Kettering/Fairmont) and junior Chris Douglas (Wixom, MIch./Walled Lake Western).  Goodpaster had 15 appearances in 2014 and Staels pitched in 13 innings while fanning eight.  Douglas had 12 K's in 15.1 innings last year and enters the season as the closer.  Nick Peters (Macomb, Mich./Eisenhower) could see an expanded role in 2015 out of the bullpen and as a spot starter. While fellow sophomores Drew Miller (Walled Lake, Mich./Central) and Dom Holutiak (Maple Heights/Horizon Science) could see time out of the bullpen along with freshmen Izzy Martinez (Defiance/Tinora), Parker Houk (Montpelier), Derek Smalley (Antwerp) and Kollin Spence (Deshler/Patrick Henry).    

The Defiance baseball team will open the 2015 season    with a three-game series against Calvin (Mich.) College in Xenia.  The first game of the series is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 27 with the first pitch set for 4 p.m.