2015 is underway

New Faces + Returning Veterans = Exciting 2015 NCAA Baseball Season

Maryville, Mo. - It may be single digits outside in Maryville but the ping of bats, pop of the mits, and a lot of excitement surrounds the Northwest Missouri State University baseball team.  There are a lot of new faces running around the familiar ones at 800 University Drive.  The familiar faces are all noticeably more chiseled, an obvious result of the intense weight training program by Northwest's strength and conditioning coach Joe Quinlin.  There is tremendous opportunity and competition at every position.  

Outfield - The outfield corps has young guys battling with playing time with Austin Wulff being the sole returner from last year's starters.  Austin Wulff is the seasoned veteran of the group, as a sophomore.  The coaches seem very excited about the young group of outfielders battling for playing time this season.  Austin made a remarkable debut as a freshman last year leading the team in home runs and tops in many offensive categories.  His power has quickly developed a following amongst his peers with this video of Austin near the batting cages at Bearcat Arena:

Pitching - The competition for innings has been compelling during the fall practice and has carried over into the spring.  Newcomers plus healthy veterans means a wide open competition.  It is great to see the veterans that battled injuries up and bouncing around practice now.

Infield - The left side of the diamond is wide open heading into spring practice.  Brandon Huske graduated in December and Zack Ferreira left school to stay in California meaning third base and short stop are up for grabs.  Nikko Pablo and Paul Johnson are returning veterans at second base but Paul battled shoulder injuries last spring.  I am not certain if he is throwing 100% yet but he most certainly will get his body back to health as soon as possible.  Steven Garber most likely has an iron-clad hold of starting first base between his offense and defense.

Catching - Blake Hardegree, Derek Meyer, and Zach Douglas are back and each one is noticeably stronger from the previous season.  It is obvious the three of them put in tremendous work in the weight room.  It will be exciting to see how each will battle for playing time.

The B2R cannot wait for baseball.  Stay tuned.  2015 promises to be an exciting year for the Bearcats baseball team.

Go Cats!!

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