Bluejays to begin baseball season

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN BY STAFF
The calendar says it?s still the dead of winter, but the Tabor College baseball team will kick off its spring season Saturday, weather permitting, on the road against Bartlesville (Okla.) Wesleyan College.

Gary Myers returns to coach the Bluejays for his 17th season after a short two-year retirement. Myers hopes to return the Bluejays to their early-1990s form when the team won four KCAC championships and were consistently among the top small-college teams in the state.

Last year, the Bluejays finished 9-30 overall and in last place in a six-team KCAC race.

Myers said his pitching staff will be led by seniors Randy Ables and Gerard Landwehr, but the rest of the staff will be young. Included on the staff are a couple of brothers from Hillsboro, Nolan Frantz, a sophomore, and Austin, a freshman.

?If some of our young pitchers come through, we could be a very competitive ball club,? Myers said.

The Bluejays have several returning players in other positions. They include second baseman Brian Morris, first baseman Josh Parks, shortstop Jerrod Ryherd, left fielder Kris Haynes, right fielder Tim Carroll and catcher Ash Jones.

Assisting Myers will be Bryan Clasen, pitching coach, Mitch Loucks, hitting coach, and Ricky Rowe, outfield coach.

Clasen went 8-14 as a Bluejay and hurled a school record 148.6 innings?almost twice as many as any other KCAC pitcher.

Tabor?s first home game is scheduled for March 7 against Central Christian College.

The Free Press will run a more complete profile of the team in its Spring Sports Preview next month.

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