Cedarville College
Yellow Jackets
2000 Baseball
Season Outlook
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| Nathan Verwys |
There is nowhere to go but up for the Cedarville College baseball team. The Yellow Jackets are anxious for the season with a new home field, a new head coach, and a fresh attitude that hopefully will translate into building a solid foundation for the future.
Greg Hughes begins his first season as head coach after spending the previous three seasons at Wilmington College - a longtime baseball rival of the Yellow Jackets. He took a Quakers' program that had won just three games the year he arrived and finished with back-to-back 12-victory seasons. He knows he will need patience with his new endeavor, but he is eagerly looking forward to it.
"We have a good nucleus to work with and the players have demonstrated a great spirit," stated Hughes. "They have worked hard in the off season and I feel like we'll be much more competitive. Everyone is excited."
Serving as team captains are outfielders Nathan Verwys and Tim Sastic. Verwys, the lone senior on the roster, returns for his third season in the program. Sastic, a junior, batted a team-high .346 last spring.
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| Trevor Creeden |
The team's most versatile player is Bryan Mangin, who earned American Mideast Conference honorable mention honors last year as a freshman. He batted .258 as a rookie shortstop but also appeared in five games on the mound. He is expected to move behind the plate this year.
Junior classmates Micah Hutchins and Trevor Creeden will again be asked to make consistent contributions. Hutchins, an outfielder, hit .288 in 1999 with 14 runs scored and 10 steals which were both team highs. Creeden, a pitcher/first baseman who batted .277 as a rookie, followed that with a .278 mark in his second season.
The top returning pitcher is sophomore righthander Scott VanDerAa. He appeared in 11 games last year with 35 strikeouts and 23 walks in 49 2/3 innings pitched.
Hughes summarized the outlook by saying, "We could be fairly strong up the middle defensively and that's a key for any team. If we can develop consistency in all areas of the game, we can have a successful season. The plan is to continually make progress and lay the groundwork for a successful future."
The American Mideast Conference schedule will be even more demanding than last year. Point Park joins NAIA powerhouse programs Mount Vernon Nazarene, defending champion Ohio Dominican, and 1999 AMC tournament winner Shawnee State to form one of the toughest leagues in the country. The Jackets will also face local non-conference rival Wittenberg University both home and on the road. They are scheduled to host eight doubleheaders and four single games on their new home turf this spring.
