Baseball picked seventh in Pre-Season PAC Poll
Greenville, Pa. (Feb. 15) - The Bethany College baseball team was picked to finish seventh in the annual Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Preseason Coaches' Poll announced Friday afternoon.
Washington & Jefferson College was picked to win the PAC this season, followed by Thiel and Westminster.
Grove City College was picked fourth, followed by Saint Vincent College and Waynesburg University in sixth, Geneva College in eighth and Chatham University in ninth.
The Bison under first year head coach Justin Thomas will return the majority of last year's team that won 13 games last season. Bethany returns junior pitcher Isaac Wengert who was named PAC second team all-conference last season. Wengert led the Bison last season appearing in nine games, pitching four complete games and winning five for the green and white. Wengert tossed 54.1 innings with an ERA of 4.47 and was second on the team in strikeouts.
Bethany will also return senior pitcher Nick Gross. Gross appeared in nine games with completing one, while picking up four wins for the green and white.
"We are looking for Gross [Nick] and Wengert [Isaac] to be our top two guys on mound and give us a chance to win every time they take the field," stated first year head coach Thomas.
Leading the way in the infield are seniors third basemen Tyler Frazee and first basemen Neil Woods along with sophomore shortstop Kyle Goodwin. Goodwin finished the 2018 season batting .300, scoring 10 runs and batting in 12. Frazee finished the season batting .296 with 18 RBI's and 18 runs scored. Woods finished theseason batting .257 knocking in 21 RBI's and scoring 15 runs.
"Neil [Woods], Tyler [Frazee], and Kyle [Goodwin] are going to be a huge part of our success with their bats in the middle of the lineup, and on the field they will be good leaders by example. They are our silent leaders, their demeanor is noticeable and our guys really follow behind them," added Thomas.
"Although I was hired mid semester in the fall, it doesn't put a hinder on anything. I am excited and the guys are really excited also. Their effort really shows their excitement. We look forward to making a push to make it in the playoffs, once we're in we look to can change our focus to winning a championship. It's going to take all of our guys not just the five I have mentioned," acknowledged Thomas.
Bethany takes the field Feb. 24 in two non-conference nine inning games against Wells (NY) and Pitt-Bradford in New Market, Va.
