Used with permission of Edgewood College. Written by David Petroff
Podcast: Season preview with head coach Al BrisackMADISON, Wis. - The 2010 Edgewood College baseball season was large leap forward for the Eagle program. Edgewood College won their first Northern Athletics Conference title and tied a school record with 29 wins in a season. However, there was no mistaking the disappointment at the end of last season, when the Eagles lost in the NAC Tournament championship game and missed the NCAA Division III Championships. The Eagles look forward to 2011 as a chance to take the next step.
Edgewood College, who is picked to finish third in the NAC, will need to replace an experienced group of seniors from last season, including first team all-conference selections shortstop Steve Binder and center fielder Jimy Landwehr, all-time home run leader, first baseman Tim Barry and their top two starting pitchers in Scott Winters and Matt Krueger, who played professionally in Australia this winter.
On the mound, the Eagles return NAC all-freshman team member Blake O’Brien. O’Brien led the team with a 3.42 earned run average and went 6-2 with two complete game shutouts. Junior Glenn Nowell threw over 41 innings last year, including a key complete game win over Rockford College in the NAC Tournament. Junior left-hander Miles Mayer started five games for the Eagles last season. The returning players among the bullpen staff includes seniors James Bertakis, Blake Hunt and Kyle Smith, junior Jason Towns and sophomores Tony Ales and Billy DeVault. The Eagles also benefit from the return of Kyle Lode who went 3-2 in 2009, before missing the 2010 season due to injury.
The infield will be anchored by three seniors in Scott Ortega, Mitch Mogensen and Andrew King. Ortega started 40 games at second base last season and hit .321. He stole a team-high 13 bases last season. Mogensen batted .328 while sharing time at third base last season, but may also see starts at first base this year. King split catching duties last year with graduated senior Erik Massey, but will handle the large majority of innings this season. Sophomores Jack Lowry and Brandon Bartles along with a number of freshman will battle to fill the remaining infield positions.
Junior Mike Selvaggi was on a tear when the 2010 season ended. Selvaggi will open this season on a 17-game hitting streak which is carried over from last season. He batted .351 and drove in 34 runs last year. The rest of the Eagles’ outfield contains much of the team’s speed that head coach Al Brisack will rely on. Senior Treye Dennison batted leadoff in 21 games last year and came on strong at the end of the season. Junior Ryan Walker started 40 games in 2010, while sophomore Jake Zadra hit .296 in his first season as an Eagle. Edgewood College’s 36-man roster includes 13 freshman and two transfers.
The Eagles shared the NAC championship in 2010 with Rockford College with a 17-5 conference record. However, the top-seeded Eagles lost to Aurora University in the first game of the NAC Tournament. Edgewood College battled back to the championship game with wins over Concordia University Wisconsin and Rockford College, but ultimately fell to the Spartans again in the final.
Edgewood College will open their season on Thursday with a single game against NCAA Division II member Christian Brothers University in Memphis, Tennessee. From there, the Eagles will travel to south to the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational, for eight games in Auburndale and Winter Haven, Florida. The Eagles home opener at Stampfl Field will take place on the weekend of March 26-27, when Edgewood College hosts Concordia College-Moorhead and Macalester College in a pair of doubleheaders.
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