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VW-Area spring sports previews: Delphos Jefferson Baseball

Tuesday, 04 March 2008

DELPHOS -- The 2008 Delphos Jefferson Varsity Baseball spring sport's preview is listed below.

*DELPHOS JEFFERSON VARSITY BASEBALL

*Coaches: Troy Montenery (4th year 27-35 record) and Jim Fisher.

*2007 Team Recap:

The 2007 Delphos Jefferson Wildcats finished 11-9 overall, 4-5 in the NWC (tied for 5th place), and lost in the Sectionals to Ottawa Glandorf as a Division III team. They lost 3 seniors: Derek Rode (starter in RF), Austin Rostorfer (OF), and Colin Kriegel (OF).

*2008 NWC Outlook:

"L.C.C. returns as the defending champ, coming off of a 9-0 record. Crestview was the runner-up with an 8-1 mark. Ada was 3rd at 6-3, and Paulding was 4th at 5-4. I look for these teams to again compete for the title, in an extremely close race. We also hope to move up from our 5th place finish of last season," Wildcats' Head Coach Troy Montenery said.

*2008 Team Summary:

"We had 15 players on the 2007 roster. We return 10 of them in 2008, including the entire pitching staff (Joseph, Fisher, Miller, Rahrig, Antalis, and Carder) and 8 position starters. These 10 returnees bring with them a collective .312 batting average, as well as 90% of our hits and RBI’s from 2007. We are an experienced, veteran team, with our 10 lettermen owning a total of 16 letters. We also have four juniors joining us on Varsity for the first time, bringing our roster total to 14 for 2008. Lastly, we make the move back to Division IV this season. For the 1st time in my four years of being the head coach, we will not have a freshman on the Varsity roster. In 2006, we had five freshmen on the roster. To give you an example how we’ve aged in the last 2 seasons, in 2006 we entered the season with 1 returning pitcher who had thrown a total of 27 innings. This year we enter the season with 6 returning pitchers who have thrown 290 innings. We’ve got more competition for positions this year than in past seasons, especially in the OF. This should enable us to have some very solid players coming off of the bench, playing specific roles to help the team.The players are excited for the season to get started, especially since we’re going for our 6th, 10-win season of this decade. To put that in perspective, we had 6 ten-win seasons total in the 40 years prior to this decade. Coach Rinehart had some outstanding teams in 2003 and 2004, and we’ve done our best to keep that momentum going," Wildcats' Head Coach Troy Montenery said.

*The Jefferson 2008 schedule, roster, the NWC standings, and other information can be found on the school’s web site at: http://www.noacsc.org/allen/dl/high/sports/baseball/Wildcatbaseball.htm

*PLAYER PROFILES:

*Seniors - 3 (in alphabetical order)

1. Damon Joseph: Damon is a 3-year letterman, a two-year captain, and has a career batting average of .270. He’s a LHP, and will also get time as a starter in LF. Damon’s career ERA is 3.52, and he led the team last year in Games, Innings Pitched, and Strikeouts. Damon has pitched in over half of our total games in the last 3 seasons, and will see time out of the bullpen as well as a starting pitcher in 2008.

2. Adam Kraning: Adam is the returning starting catcher, and a co-captain of the team. He was an Honorable Mention All-NWC selection last year, with a .382 batting average, and a team-leading 21 RBI’s.

3. Chris Wilkin: Chris is the returning starter at 1B, and had a .267 batting average last season. He led the team with a .987 fielding percentage, catching everything thrown his way.

*Juniors – 10 (in alphabetical order)

4. Matthew Antalis: Matthew is returning letterman that started most of our games in LF last season. He’ll move to CF this year, and will also be our #4 starting pitcher. Matt led the team with 3 pitching wins last season, including a no-hitter against Perry.

5. Cory Bastian: Cory is a returning letterman who was primarily a starter at DH last season, but also plays OF. He’s makes consistent contact at the plate and does whatever he can to help the team.

6. Sean Fisher: Sean is a 2-year letterman and starter at 3B. He’ll also be our #1 starting pitcher. Sean was an Honorable Mention All-NWC selection last year, with a .429 batting average, and a team leading 0.71 ERA in 7 games.

7. Matt Gerdeman: After two productive seasons on JV and ACME, Matt is ready to assume a starting role in RF. He led the team in batting average last summer, and is an aggressive, hard-nosed player.

8. Taylor Hesseling: Taylor was also a solid player for us on JV and in ACME, and he’ll provide depth at 1B and DH. He’s also a left-handed pitcher, and could provide us with some innings from the mound.

9. Ryan Kortokrax: Ryan made great strides last season as well as last summer, and is anxious to get his first crack at Varsity pitching. He’s moving from an infield position to catcher, to help give us more depth there. He could also see time as a DH.

10. Josh Miller: Josh is a 2-year letterman and starter at 2B. He’ll also be our #1A starting pitcher. He was a 2nd team All-NWC selection each of the last 2 seasons. He led the team last season in average (.458), hits (27), runs (18), doubles (7), and least strikeouts (5). He has a career record of 3-7, with a 3.38 ERA, despite pitching against many of our toughest opponents.

11. Mike Rahrig: Mike is a 2-year letterman, starting many games in the infield or on the mound. He can play any of the infield positions, and will also be our #3 starting pitcher. He batted .225 last year, with a 2-2 record and a 4.00 ERA.

12. Aaron Schuerman: Aaron is a 2-year letterman and starter at SS. He hit .276 last season, while leading the team in extra base hits and stolen bases. Aaron puts in a lot of time working on his game in the off-season, and is ready for a breakout year.

13. Adam Wollenhaupt: Adam makes the move to Varsity after contributing to the JV team the past two seasons. He’s an outfielder who looks to provide us with some depth at those positions.

*Sophomores - 1

14. Craig Carder: Craig is a pitcher who went 2-0 at the varsity level last season, after compiling an 8-0 record on JV earlier in the season. He’ll be one of our top relief pitchers, while also seeing starting time at 2B or in the OF.

*2008 Delphos Jefferson JV Baseball Information

The JV Team is led by 4th year head coach Doug Geary and volunteer assistant Chris Mercer. The JV Team currently has an 11 game schedule, opening on the road against L.C.C. on April 1st.

Their 16 player roster is as follows:

Sophomores (6) include: Travis Brown, Austin Clarkson, Caleb Geise, Braytan Kruse, John Lambert, and Dru Leach.

Freshman (10) include: Ben Babcock, Colin Barclay, Nick Cook, Derrick Erman, Spencer Fetzer, Joey Lindeman, Nik Moore, Kodey Richardson, Austin Teeters, and Jordan Vorst.