GREAT MIDWEST ATHLETIC CONFERENCE
2014 Baseball Preview and Preseason Coaches’ Poll
 
The 2013-14 Great Midwest Athletic Conference Baseball season will be the G-MAC’s first as an active NCAA Division II conference, and the field of competitive teams has expanded from its inaugural season in 2012-13.
 
With an expanded membership that more than doubles from three teams in 2012-13 to seven in 2013-14, the conference schedule will be much tougher for a team to work through on the way to earning the Conference Championship.
 
Defending G-MAC champion Trevecca Nazarene has been named the preseason favorites by the coaches, finishing just ahead of G-MAC runner-up, Cedarville University. Those two teams played as tight a conference season as possible with both the regular season and the conference championship coming down to the final game between Trevecca and Cedarville each time.
 
Overall the records across the conference varied as a majority of the conference faced much different competition than the rest. Listed below is each team’s record against the current G-MAC member, even though last season they may have competed as a member of their previous conference.
 
Trevecca secured a 7-2 record, all coming against Cedarville, giving Cedarville a 2-7 start to its G-MAC record, but a 5-0 record against Salem International brought the Yellow Jackets up to 7-7. Davis and Elkins went 7-0 against Salem, Alderson Broaddus and Ohio Valley. Kentucky Wesleyan was the only team not to face any of its future G-MAC opponents last season.
 
G-MAC PRESEASON COACHES’ POLL

Rank	School	2013	vs. G-MAC
1.	Trevecca Nazarene University (4 First Place votes)	34-22	7-2
2.	Cedarville University (1 First Place vote)	29-19	7-7
3.	Alderson Broaddus University (1 First Place vote)	23-21	5-3
4.	Davis & Elkins College (1 First Place vote)	26-20	7-0
5.	Kentucky Wesleyan College	16-33	0-0
6.	Salem International University	13-37	0-12
7.	Ohio Valley University	10-33	2-4

NOTES FROM CAMPUS

Alderson Broaddus University: With a 23-21 overall record last season, the Battlers enter their first season in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference with the hopes of challenging the top half of the conference going into the Championship Tournament. Against G-MAC opponents, AB went 5-3 last year, taking down Salem four times, splitting a pair of games against Ohio Valley, and losing twice to Davis & Elkins. The year before, the Battlers won all five total meetings against the same three teams.
 
The Battlers will return a pair of seniors that guided the offense in 2013. David Bryan led the team with a .380 batting average, leading the team with 60 hits and ten stolen bases. He also recorded 32 runs scored, 29 runs batted in, nine doubles, two triples, and ten walks. Jeff Conley, who hit .376, led the team with 33 runs scored, five home runs, nine hit by pitches, and 17 extra base hits (10 doubles, two triples and five home runs). He also ranked among the team leaders with 31 runs batted in and 19 walks.
 
On the mound, AB will look to Conley to continue his solid performance from 2013 when he went 5-2 with a team low 2.79 earned run average. In eight starts he struck out 48 batters, walking just 13, and went the distance five times. Sophomores Matt Zerishnek and Zach Glaze will play a bigger role in 2014. Glaze made just five appearances and one start, but he allowed seven earned runs, striking out 13 and walking three. Glaze made nine starts with a 4.33 ERA as a freshman. He struck out 42 in 54 innings.  
 
Cedarville University: The Yellow Jackets, who ended the 2013 season as the conference runner-up, will look to make a run at the conference title behind a group of top returners, including David Lenhardt, Steve Cardwell, Cam McWilliams, Jordan Ammon, and Sean Larkin.
 
Cedarville will have to fill the holes left by first baseman Logan Kasabian, and the Ledbetter twins (David and Ryan), who were both drafted by the Texas Rangers in the MLB draft. The team will return 16 players from the roster of 22, losing just six players. They have added depth, bringing in 10 newcomers. Coming off their fifth-straight winning season, the Yellow Jackets fell short of the G-MAC title, but went on to win the NCCAA Midwest Regional and advanced to the NCCAA World Series, which was hosted at Prasco Park in Mason, Ohio - the site of the 2014 G-MAC Baseball Championship tournament.
 
Lenhardt hit .415 last season with four home runs and 47 RBI, while Cardwell posted a .349 batting average and McWilliams hit .345. McWilliams seemed to always be on base as he added a team-high 29 walks. Cardwell hit a pair of homers and had a team-high 18 doubles. On the mound, Ammon went 5-2 with a 3.68 earned run average, and Larkin was 6-2 with a 5.43 ERA.
 
Davis & Elkins College: The Senators went 26-20 last season and are set to enter their first season in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. Against G-MAC opponents, Davis & Elkins went an impressive7-0 last year against its 2014 G-MAC opponents, taking down Salem twice, Ohio Valley three times, and Alderson Broaddus twice. The year prior, D&E went 2-3 overall against AB and OVU.
 
D&E offense will be paced by the trio of juniors Lance Vannoy and Matt Moceri, and senior Treavor Dubiel. Dubiel led the team with a .423 batting average in 40 games. In 47 games, Vannoy and Moceri each hit .354. Vannoy led the team with 64 hits and 47 runs scored. Moceri led the team with 15 doubles, nine home runs, and 101 total bases. Moceri and Dubiel each recorded a team-high 45 runs batted in.
 
On the mound, the Senators will have to replace over 200 innings worth of work and 20 of the teams 27 wins lost to graduation. The team’s top returners, Marcus Warner and Michael Paratore, threw a combined 78.1 innings over 37 games and made 13 starts out of 47 games played by the Senators. The young pitching staff will have to improve to replace those lost to graduation and keep the teams in enough game to allow the strong veteran hitting win games for D&E.   
 
Kentucky Wesleyan College: The Panthers, who went 16-33 last season, will enter their first season in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference in 2014. KWC is the only G-MAC to not have played a game against any of its 2014 G-MAC opponents last season.
 
With the loss of three top starters and a pair of leading hitters, the Panthers will look to a new group of leaders to get the team above .500 and in contention in the G-MAC. Sophomore Nathan Hedgepath returns as the team’s leading hitter after posting a .350 batting average last season. He was second on the team with 55 hits and led the team with 24 runs batted in and 15 walks. Possibly even more impressive for a freshman hitter, he only struck out eight times in 143 at-bats. 
 
Senior Aussie Light will look to repeat his solid all-around season, as he hit .301 in 38 games in the field, recording 41 hits, nine doubles and a home run. He scored 19 times and drove in 16. On the mound he made eight relief appearances striking out 13 and walking just two batters. He was 0-0, but managed to record a pair of saves on the season. Noah Boswell and Kaleb Moore will play a large role on the mound in 2014. Boswell made 14 appearances, no starts, recording a team-high four saves and a team-low 2.12 ERA. He was 1-1 with 20 strikeouts in 17 innings, as opposing hitters hit just .222 against him. Moore won three games last year in eight starts and 12 appearances. He is the team’s leading returner in strikeouts with 41 and in innings pitched with 49.2. The seniors will be relied upon to help keep the team in games early, while the new additions get their feet wet.
 
Ohio Valley University: The Fighting Scots went 10-33 in their final season in their previous conference, will look to improve as they enter the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. Against future G-MAC opponents Salem International and Alderson Broaddus, they went 2-1 overall, but did drop all three meetings with Davis & Elkins for an overall record of 2-4.
 
OVU will have to replace its top two hitters in Tyler Wharton and Michael Shepherd, but the return of Hugo Olivares will help. Olivares hit .324 with seven doubles, two triples, and three home runs. He scored 21 times and drove in 17. He led the team with 25 walks. With more playing time ahead, Chris Perna will look to build up his 2013 season in which he hit .287 in 40 games, but only 29 starts. He scored 19 times, hit five doubles, and drove in 19 runs.
 
The Fighting Scots will be a young team with only four seniors, but will still have some veteran leaders as they are led by nine juniors and 10 sophomores. On the mound, Zach Heath is expected to anchor the staff with Andrew Sellers and Eric Schweitzer making a bigger impact in 2014. Heath led the team last season with 58.1 innings thrown and 38 strikeouts. However, he managed only two wins with a 7.71 earned run average. The pitching staff is going to be critical if OVU looks to pick up some more wins in 2014. As a team last season, they had a ERA of 8.89, allowing 324 earned runs (424 total runs) in 328 innings played.
 
Salem International University: The Tigers improved from 4-42 in 2012 to 13-37 in 2013, and is expecting to make a run at the top of the standings. Most would look to simply continue the improvement, but despite a record of just 13-35, 16 of the losses were by one run. All of this and they started eight freshman and lost their #1 and #2 starting pitchers in the first two weeks of the season.
 
Based on the adversity faced in 2013, it would not be surprising to see Salem battle and find themselves with a higher seeding than expected going into the season. The Tigers return 23 and are adding depth with the addition of 12 players to replace the loss of only eight players that didn’t see much significant action during the season. Scott Schlapinski and Emmanuel Dominguez will guide the team this season. Schlapinski hit .412 last season with 13 doubles, four home runs, and 25 RBI, while Dominguez, who made 49 starts behind the plate, recorded 11 doubles, two home runs, and 22 RBI.
 
The Tigers have added a pair of pitchers that have spent the last two season making appearances in the NJCAA College World Series and project to lead the pitching staff, to go with a pair of freshman that can find themselves hitting in the middle of a talent lineup. Off the field, Salem should be well prepared for the season after going through a remodel of their hitting facility and adding a brand new clubhouse for the players.
 
Trevecca Nazarene University:  The Trojans went 34-22 last season overall on their way to winning the inaugural G-MAC baseball championship as the tournament’s top seed and host. Trevecca only faced one team in conference last season that they will face in 2014 with the expanded conference membership. Of course that one opponent, Cedarville, they faced nine times including in the tournament championship. 
 
Returning to lead the Trojans will be senior Nick Howell, and sophomores Hunter Newman and Tyler Tichenor. Howell hit .303 last season with 60 hits, 12 doubles, and a team-high four triples. He drove in 28 runs and stole 27 bases. Newman, who was named the G-MAC Freshman of the Year and was an All-Conference selection, started every game last season, hitting .348 with 19 doubles, six home runs, and 21 multi-hit games. He led the team with 56 RBI and scored 59 runs himself. Tichenor, an All-Conference selection in the outfield, hit a team best .382 with 78 hits, while driving in 34 and scoring 51 times. He also added 25 stolen bases.
 
On the mound, TNU will look to senior Austin Huibers and sophomore Bryan Smith to anchor the staff. Huibers made 12 appearances last season going 3-4 with a 4.43 ERA. He struck out a team-high 56 hitters and limited opponents to a .264 batting average. Smith made a team-best 19 appearances and was 4-2 on the season. He recorded 42 strikeouts.
 
The defending G-MAC champions, which have been selected by the coaches as the favorite to repeat, will have to regroup quickly as they return 15 from the roster last year, after losing 13 seniors, and are bringing in 12 new players, including 10 freshmen. The team will be well prepared for the season as their southern location and early season opponents give them a jump start to the season on the rest of the conference, plus the addition of a new indoor hitting facility will provide the youth on the roster to get some work in as they look to repeat.