GREENWOOD, Ind. – The Great Midwest Athletic Conference conducted interviews with Trevecca Nazarene head coach Ryan Schmalz and junior pitcher Bryan Smith as part of this year’s baseball season preview.
The Trojans have been as good as advertised, winning three consecutive conference regular-season and tournament titles. The road continues to get a little more challenging year after year, but TNU is still king of the hill until someone proves otherwise.
The next step in the process for Coach Schmalz and the Trojans is to make some noise at the national level in the NCAA Midwest Regional.
After being left out of the bracket in 2015 as a possible at-large selection, TNU is poised to be a player for the first automatic qualifier the G-MAC will receive in the sport this spring.
Pieces to the team’s successful runs in recent history will surely be missed like G-MAC Pitcher of the Year Michael Purcell and G-MAC Player of the Year Hunter Newman, but considerable depth at each position still makes the Trojans a force to be reckoned with.
TNU roared to a 21-3 conference record and finished with a 36-18 overall record to close the books on the 2015 season.
Weather has already spoiled TNU’s initial opening day for the spring, but the series against Tusculum has been re-scheduled. The Trojans are set to take the field for the first time on Friday against Maryville.
Hitting: Newman’s ridiculous slash line of .451/.877/.558 was one of the best in the country and he was picked by the St. Louis Cardinals in the Major League First-Year Player Draft over the summer, foregoing his senior season…Newman was the Triple Crown winner in the G-MAC by a landslide and also led the league in runs and total bases… Tyler Tichenor was the league leader in hits and is an on-base machine at the top of the order while hitting .398 as a junior with 25 stolen bases…He’s one of the toughest outs you’ll find having struck out just 12 times in 226 at-bats…Bryson Shelton is a feared left-handed bat with plate discipline, extra-base pop and speed (11 SB)…Rangy center fielder Ethan Hurt suffered a scary injury with a collision in the outfield during summer ball; he started 52 games and hit .318 in 2015…Zach Tompkins returns behind the plate following a monster G-MAC Championship game vs. Ohio Valley with a homer, three walks and three RBI…Clayton Nichols, TNU’s starting shortstop, graduated, but look for underclassmen Carter Wiseman and Chad Sutton to take on more prominent roles after impressing as freshmen.
Pitching: Purcell was a lockdown lefty that dominated Kentucky Wesleyan in his only postseason start…Numbers tell plenty of the story on Purcell (91 K, 7 W, 89.2 IP), but the movement on his offspeed pitches while watching sitting behind home plate was something to behold…It was a guessing game against the hitters that he always had the upper hand in that particular start…Smith will have a chance to inherit the title of staff ace after going 8-2 with a 2.45 ERA with five complete games and a shutout…John Bolton slowed down a red-hot Ohio Valley offense in the conference tournament title game and was 5-2…Austin Sisk and Mason Dunn combined for 35 appearances and are shutdown arms in the bullpen.
Coaching: Schmalz is entering his fourth season as head coach of TNU…He has a record of 50-12 in the conference since entering the league in 2013 and 113 total career wins since taking over the program.