Thursday, May 10th, 2018
Lakers return to USCAA Small College World Series
By Gary R. Rasberry
Submitted Photo
Wright State-Lake Campus coach Chad Geier, left, talks to several players during a game. The Lakers are the third seed in next week's USCAA Small College World Series to be held in Pennsylvania. Photo courtesy of Kristina Becker.
The hard work and grueling schedule paid off for the Wright State University-Lake Campus baseball team with the No. 3 seed at the United States Collegiate Athletic Association's Small College World Series that begins Monday at Showers Field in DuBois, Pennsylvania.
Head coach Chad Geier's squad can't wait to head to the Keystone State.
"We played a pretty tough schedule," said Geier.
"We have a great group of guys. Some veterans (along with) new guys."
The Lakers worked their way through a season filled not only with top-ranked USCAA teams like Cincinnati-Clermont, Cleary and Robert Morris-Peoria but also with NCAA Division III and NAIA schools.
The Lake Campus finished 18-14, but thanks to the schedule, and splitting six games with Clermont, the top-ranked team in the final USCAA poll and the top seed of the 10-team tournament, the Lakers built a strong resume to take the third seed.
The squad is solid both with the bat and on the mound. Freshman Conor Schmitt leads the teams with a .400 batting average. Another freshman, Noah Greathouse, leads the team in home runs with four to go with 21 RBIs. Sophomore Dustin Lewis adds a .379 average and a team-high 26 runs scored.
St. Marys graduate Tristan Becker (.367 ave.) leads the teams in RBIs with 27 to go along with six doubles, two triples and two home runs. Fellow former Roughrider Isaac Fitzgerald is batting .236 but has 15 RBIs and has only struck out eight times in 89 at-bats.
"We have veterans at first (Fitzgerald), left (Becker) and right field (Connor Burr); a transfer from Findlay catching (Stephen Hoendorf); and a returning All-American at second (Lewis)," Geier said.
On the mound, the team boasts a solid 3.97 earned run average. While Zach Kirby (2-2) and Carson Schuman (4-3) do not have lofty win-loss records, the two are among the lowest ERAs in the USCAA at 2.41 and 2.70 respectively. Casey Grimm (3-2, 4.24 ERA) and Lucas Sheriff (2-4, 3.89 ERA) also will look to eat up innings.
The Lakers start tournament play at 6:30 p.m. on Monday against Penn State-DuBois. DuBois (27-10) got in as the host team of the tournament, but would have likely been selected regardless as it was picked the sixth seed. DuBois gave the Lakers their first loss in the tournament last season and the teams were unable to face off in their scheduled four-game series this year due to snow.
"They gave us our first loss at last year's series," said Geier, whose squad ended up finishing fifth in the tournament last season. "This will be the first time we face them since last season.
"Expectations are high. Two years ago, we went 0-2 (in the double elimination tournament). Last year, we were fifth and did better. This year, I expect to take another step forward and really focus on the first game and let the rest of the tournament play out. Losing that first game is rough because you then have to go through the loser's bracket and pitching staffs can get pretty thin really quick."
