Feb. 19, 2009
OREM, Utah - Year one of the Eric Madsen era at Utah Valley begins on Friday, with the Wolverines scheduled to open the 2009 baseball season at Portland with a three-game series beginning Friday at 3 p.m. MT. The two teams will also play a Saturday doubleheader at noon MT. Live stats and audio can be found by going to PortlandPilots.com.
Madsen has been in the program for five years as an assistant and takes over after Steve Gardner's retirement following the 2008 season. It will be his second stint as a head coach but his first at the NCAA Division I level. Madsen spent seven seasons as the head coach at Eastern Utah, a junior college located in Price, Utah.
Utah Valley returns six starters from last season's squad, although none of the six are pitchers. The offensive stability gives Madsen an idea of what to expect at the plate, but the youth and inexperience of the pitching staff is something that the coaching staff has taken a wait-and-see approach with.
The new coaching staff includes pitching coach Dave Carter, who is in his second stint at Utah Valley. Kevin Lofthus, Mike Martin and former Wolverine player Adam Openshaw round out the staff.
"I'm definitely excited and certainly hopeful for things to go well," said Madsen. "I think we've got a great coaching staff here and that will help make the transition easier and make this first year exciting."
OFFENSE
Five of the top six hitters from last year's 17-36-1 club return including junior third baseman Jace Brinkerhoff, who hit .328 and had team-highs of eight home runs, 45 runs batted in and slugged .539.
Seniors Ryan Jones (.321), Josh Hinckley (.309) and Cole Anderson (.293) also will be back in the lineup along with sophomore shortstop Jake Rickenbach, who eclipsed the .300 mark on the final day of the season to finish with a .302 batting average. Rickenbach, who hit .439 with runners in scoring position, stared 41 games at short in 2008 and flashed a solid glove that made just eight errors during the year.
Anderson returns after being granted a medical redshirt for a season-ending injury early in the 2007 season. Anderson finished with three home runs and a team-best 12 stolen bases. After sharing time early on, he batted .363 over the final month of the season and started 21 of the final 22 games of the year, during which UVU went 10-12.
Junior Kevin Arendse will be back behind the plate for the Wolverines. Arendse hit .281, with four home runs including two during the final weekend of the year at Hawai'i.
Chris Benson will also be back in the lineup after serving an LDS mission. Benson was second on the team with a .367 batting average as a true freshman in 2006 and will move to the outfield after playing his rookie season at third. Benson will begin the season on a 17-game hitting streak dating back to 2006.
Madsen will also rely on several newcomers including true freshman Goose Kallunki, who will likely be in the lineup at first base on opening day.
"Our hitting is going to be our strength. We had a very good fall at the plate," Madsen said. "We have guys that, with the fall that they had, that's something we're going to rely on as we start out. You never know with hitting but I really expect a lot out of this club offensively. I see us as a team that's going to slug it out a little bit. We'll run when we need to, we'll bunt when we need to. We're going to try and be a run producing team and allow our guys to hit and see if we can pick up every RBI we have a chance to."
PITCHING
While the core of the 2008 lineup returns, the pitching staff will boast almost entirely new faces. Gone is Marcus Moore, whose 10-5 record, two shutouts, 2.86 ERA and 97 strikeouts carried the staff. The only two returning pitchers that saw time on the mound last year are senior Jory Jensen (0-1, 5.32) and sophomore Kole Mickolio (0-0, 4.20).
The other lone returner will be Kyle Beecher, who pitched in 2006 prior to an LDS mission. Beecher was 2-1 with a 4.60 ERA in 19 appearances as a true freshman.
The opening day starter will be junior college transfer Justin Smith, who followed Carter from Southern Idaho. At CSI, Smith led the Scenic West with 100 strikeouts and finished 6-5 with a 2.23 ERA in 84 innings of work.
Brock Sargent, who played sparingly in '08 behind the plate, has converted to the mound and will begin the year in the starting rotation.
Of the 13 pitchers on the staff, six are true freshmen including UVU's first player to hail from New Jersey, Jake Menzo. Madsen will turn to several of those freshmen early and often, including Zach Bennett, from Highland High School in Salt Lake City, who is scheduled to make his first start during the opening weekend.
"Our staff is going to be very young and that will kind determine how we well we achieve our goals. Dave (Carter) has done such a good job with those guys and has such a good track record that I know they're going to be a good and talented group," said Madsen. "Smith spent two years with Dave and was heavily recruited and we feel very fortunate to have him in here. We really like our staff, as far as the depth that it brings. It's going to be interesting see how their experience goes."
SCHEDULE
After playing just 11 home games last year, there are 18 games scheduled at Brent Brown Ballpark in 2009 including series with St. John's and Dallas Baptist, a 2008 NCAA Tournament team. In state teams are on the schedule 10 times with half of those coming against Southern Utah.
The Wolverines will also play tough road series at Gonzaga, No. 25 Oregon State, Nevada, Dallas Baptist and Hawai'i.
"In a lot of those series no one expects us to win, we've got the underdog attitude and it's exciting for the players," said Madsen "Obviously wins are important and we feel like the games we can win we need to win and then win some of those games that people don't expect us to."
