What a difference a year makes — at least, that’s what the baseball Yeomen hope for as they begin the season on Saturday at Earlham. With 13 of last year’s 16-man squad returning, the Yeomen will look to improve greatly upon the 4-35 mark of the 2001 season.
The 2001 team suffered not only from a lack of depth, having only 16 players, but from inexperience as well, as 12 of those players were first-years. These problems should not hamper the team nearly as much this year, though. The roster has been fleshed out to 22, and 11 of last-year’s first-years return as sophomores with a year of college ball under their belts.
Comparing this team to last year’s, sophomore John Damron said, “We have more confidence. We expect to play well instead of hoping to play well.”
This is still a young team, though. Of the 22 players, first baseman and co-captain Bob Montag is the only senior, and outfielder Zach Pretzer is the only junior. Twelve sophomores and eight first-years round out the squad.
“We’re still young, but we have better personnel,” Head Coach Eric Lahetta said. “We have to get consistent play out of [the sophomore core]. They’ve definitely improved.”
The pitching staff will consist largely of familiar faces from last year, including sophomore Rob Smith, who emerged as the go-to man last season. Smith set Oberlin records for appearances and innings pitched, led the team in ERA and had only 12 walks in his 87 innings.
Also returning to the mound will be sophomore co-captain Troy DeWitt, who was the pitcher of record in two of the Yeomen’s four victories in 2001, as well as Damron and sophomore Peter Wyatt, each of whom picked up a win last year.
Sophomore newcomer Adam Polisei will see some pitching action, and Pretzer, sophomore Wes Kania and first-year Oliver Bleich may also.
On offense, the Yeomen return some solid hitters. Pretzer, Damron, and DeWitt all hit over .300 last year, while sophomore Chris Bamat hit .286 and was tied for the team lead in RBIs with 22. Montag and sophomore BJ Belville were also productive with 14 and 18 RBI, respectively.
Out of the first-year group, Lahetta pointed to catchers Andrew Caprariello and Kyle Neumeier to make an impact in the lineup. As catchers, the pair will also strengthen a position that had been a weakness for the Yeomen. Lahetta also praised the defensive abilities of Bleich at third and first-year Steve Willever in left.
“We want to drastically improve our defense,” Lahetta said. Last year, the defense cost the Yeomen well over 100 unearned runs by making 136 errors in 39 games. How much the team has improved in this area will have a great impact on the number of games the Yeomen win.
For the first time the NCAC conducted a preseason coaches’ poll for baseball. In the wake of their 0-12 NCAC record last season, Oberlin finished last in the poll with only 11 points. But Lahetta said the ranking did not upset him: “When you don’t win a conference game you can’t expect respect.”
The Yeomen will get their first chance to prove the poll wrong and earn respect when they face off against Earlham College in a double-header on Saturday. After practicing through the month of February, are they ready?
“About as much as you can be for the first game,” Bamat said. “We’re a lot more ready than we were last year at this point. Everyone’s already working together.”