Head Coach: Pat Bloom (7th Season)
Last Season: 34-18 (16-8 WIAC)
Key Players:
Eric Fritz (Sr.) INF- Fritz hit an impressive .397 last season with 18 doubles, 7 homeruns and 44 RBI. He struggled defensively, committing 18 errors. He should be able to continue to have success at the plate. If he can clean up his act in the field, the sky is the limit.
Justin Jirschele (Jr.) INF- While Justin had some solid numbers at the dish (.319 B.A., 4 HR, 54 RBI), it was his defensive play that earned him national recognition last year. Jirschele earned Gold Glove-All America honors at third base from the American Baseball Coaches Association in 2010.
Scott Williams (Jr.) RHP- Williams posted an 11-3 record in 18 appearances for Point a season ago. His strikeout to walk ratio was over 2 to 1. Scott will be an integral part of a rotation that may only be 4 deep.
Key Losses:
Brad Archambeau (OF)- Appeared in 51 games for UWSP in 2010, batting .330 with 7 homeruns and 47 RBI.
Sam Spurney (OF)- Hit .365 while tallying 8 homeruns and 53 RBI . However, his replacement in the outfield should be an upgrade defensively when you take into account his .870 fielding percentage which was the lowest on the team.
Jeremy Richter (INF/OF)-Richter had the second highest batting average on the team last year(.372) while also leading the team in RBI (56) and homeruns (11). The Pointers will be scrambling to replace his big bat in the middle of the order.
Key Prospect:
Cody Koback (Jr.) P/OF- The coaching staff has high hopes for this young man. An injury kept Koback from being a major contributor to last year’s team, but this year he is expected to be back in the mix. He was honorable mention All-WIAC his freshman year and has the potential to get back to that form.
Outlook:
The Pointers are coming off a very successful season. Though their streak of five consecutive WIAC Tournament Champions was snapped by UW-Whitewater, the Pointers earned their way to an appearance in the D3 College World Series, the fourth trip in school history. This season, Point is ranked second nationally by d3baseball.com in their preseason poll. Head coach Pat Bloom doesn’t feel that the high ranking puts any additional pressure on his team.
“We want our guys to be proud of that recognition," said Bloom. “We worked hard to achieve that status. The only pressure comes from adding unrealistic expectations to a group that can’t handle them.”
UWSP lost a fair percentage of their offensive production with last year’s graduating class. Much of Point’s success will be dictated by their ability to replace it.
“We don’t necessarily try to replace one [player] with another," Bloom said. “We try to fit personnel with what best suits their strengths.”
Bloom stressed the importance of the depth of his roster, while also mentioning that his team doesn’t need star power to succeed.
“We have some great players who are surrounded by a lot of good players”, said Bloom. “Name another top-ten team that has zero pre-season All-Americans but is ranked [as highly].
When it comes to expectations for the season, it is business as usual. Bloom says his team needs to focus on what they can control if they want to continue the program’s success.
“Every program wants to win championships,” Bloom said. “It’s about what you do to attain [them].
No comments:
Post a Comment