From Baseball America Today:
DIVISION III
TOP 5—HOW THEY'LL FINISH
Rank Team 2009 Record
1. St. Thomas (Minn.) 41-13
2. Trinity (Conn.) 26-5
3. Kean (N.J.) 39-11
4. Wooster, Ohio 43-11
5. Eastern Conn. State 39-8
PLAYERS TO WATCH
C—Patrick Reardon, Sr., Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, N.Y. (.409-10-54).
1B—Mike Celenza, Sr., Salisbury, Md. (.469-12-57).
2B—Mike Moceri, Sr., Kean, N.J. (.433-2-59).
3B—Eric Groff, Sr., Keystone, Pa. (.445-13-58, 16 3B).
SS—Javier Arrieta, Sr., Sul Ross, Texas, State (.461-17-51, 15 SB).
OF—Bo Bell, Sr., Mississippi College (.425-13-73); Bobby Doyon, Jr., Keene, N.H., State (.435-13-72, 12 SB); James Wood, Sr., Trinity, Conn. (.361-4-38, 13 2Bs).
DH—Kent Graham, Sr., Trinity, Conn. (.409-10-54).
UT—Greg Van Sickler, Jr., Shenandoah, Va. (.411-7-66, 10 SB; 9-2, 2.69).
SP—Andrew Mondo, Sr., Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (11-3, 3.03); Matt Schuld, Sr., St. Thomas, Minn. (12-1, 3.25); Noah Solomon, Jr., Trinity, Texas (5-1, 1.94). RP—Steve Matre, Sr., Mount St. Joseph, Ohio (0-1, 0.41, 13 SV, 22 IP/32 SO).
Player of the Year: Greg Van Sickler, rhp/1b, Shenandoah (Va.).
Championship: Eight regionals, campus sites, May 19-23. Eight regional champions advance to CWS, May 28-June 1 at Appleton, Wis. (Fox Cities Stadium).
TOP PROSPECTS, 2010 DRAFT
1. Greg Van Sickler, rhp/1b, Shenandoah (Va.)
2. James Wood, of, Trinity (Conn.)
3. Ryan Demmin, lhp, Wisconsin-Oshkosh
QUICK HITS
• St. Thomas (Minn.), the defending national champion, will have a new coach in 2010, as nine-year assistant coach Chris Olean was named interim coach in January. Dennis Denning, 65, retired in December after having led the Tommies to national titles in 2001 and 2009. St. Thomas either won the regular-season or tournament title in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) in each of the last 14 years. Denning's clubs went 522-157 (.769) at St. Thomas over 15 seasons. This year's Tommies team returns 20 players from last year's 41-13 club, led by 6-foot-3 senior RHP Matt Schuld, who set a school record with 12 victories last season; closer Brandon Stone, and senior OF Matt Olson (.380-2-25, 10 SB), the Most Outstanding Player of last year's Division III CWS.
• Independent power Chapman (Calif.) returns a pair of key players in two-sport athlete 2B Tyler Hadzinsky and senior OF Ryan Prechtl. Hadzinky was named the athlete of the year for 2008-2009 by D-III independents, doubling baseball player (he batted .376 with a team-best 18 doubles) and soccer goalkeeper (he's posted 0.62 and 0.68 goals against averages the last two seasons). Prechtl hit .315 with seven home runs and is a four-year starter in center field.
• Anderson (Ind.) coach Don Brandon has announced that the 2010 season will be his last. Brandon ranks second among D-III active coaches in wins and is fifth on the all-time list with a 1,075-562 record, after the 2009 club went 22-18.
• Mount St. Joseph senior closer Steve Matre is closing in on some records, as he has racked up 32 saves in three seasons while going 3-7, 1.29 overall. Matre, who has a 110-17 strikeout-walk ratio over 91 innings in three seasons, led the nation in saves a year ago. The Division I career saves record of 53, set by Blair Erickson (UC Irvine), is probably safe. But the D-III record is just 35, set in 2002 by Mike Spavento of Wheaton (Mass.).
