This season will mark the second for Parkside head coach Joel Weaver and he hopes to improve on the 13-39 overall record that his team produced a season ago. That record included a 7-25 finish in Great Lakes Valley Conference play to finish last in the East Division.
This spring will be a fresh start for Weaver and the Rangers baseball program. Although the roster only lists two freshmen, Weaver was extremely busy on the recruiting path. The coach has brought in 10 transfers to
totally reshape the roster at Parkside.
Notable Transfers:
Taylor Schwartz, Senior Infielder - After a notable career at Madison College where Schwartz was named First team All-Region, First Team All-Conference, and First Team All-District, he transferred to Division I UNC-Greensboro. There, Schwartz started at third for the beginning of the season but struggled to get going and will try to turn it around at Parkside.
John Brennan, Junior Infielder - Brennan transfers in from the College of Lake County in Illinois where he was an All-Conference performer. A season ago, the infielder hit .421 with 1 HR 26 RBI and 57 runs scored. Brennan got on base more that half of the time he was at the plate, with an on base percentage of .551.
Adam Becht, Junior Pitcher - The 6'8" pitcher compiled a team high five wins at Lincoln College a season ago. In 51.2 innings pitched Becht struck out 41 batters. The junior will have to keep his walk totals down if he hopes to have success at the Division II level.
Josh Geiger, Junior Pitcher - Transferred from Vincennes University where he finished with an 8-3 record and pitched in the Junior College World Series in 2010. In 60 innings pitched, Geiger struck out 42 batters and walked just 28.
Notable Returners
Dave Lojeski, Senior Infielder - Lojeski had a huge first season with the Rangers in 2009. He led the team with a .380 batting average, a .587 slugging percentage and a .472 on base percentage. He was also perfect on the base paths stealing five bags in five opportunities. Prior to coming to Parkside, Lojeski played at Madison College.
Key Losses
Dave Watson is with the team, but they are going to miss his bat in the line up as he has moved on to become an assistant coach for the Rangers. The only member of the team to earn any GLVC honors last year as a Third Team All-Conference selection.
Outlook
The Rangers have a number of places to improve upon from their 2010 season, but a drastic improvement needs to be made in pitching where the team had an above 8. They also walked more batters than they struck out, which is always a sign of doom.
Coach Weaver had a huge recruiting class of JUCO and Division I players that he hopes will help turn the program around in just one season. In just his second year on the job, Weaver has almost completely redone the Parkside lineup. It will be very interesting to see how these new players gel and to see if the state's lone Division II program can turn things around.
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