The Newberg Graphic Online

Bruins ranked in top 20 in pre-season polls

D-III baseball — The defending Northwest Conference champs begin play Feb. 11

• Published: 2/5/2010 2:13:27 PM

   Coming off a 36-11 campaign in 2009 that saw them win the Northwest Conference and reach the finals of the NCAA Division III west regional, George Fox has been ranked in the top 20 in both the 2010 Collegiate Baseball and D3baseball.com pre-season national polls.
   Collegiate Baseball tabbed the Bruins for a No. 18 spot with 211 points; D3baseball.com picked the Bruins 19th with 137 points. George Fox finished with a No. 12 ranking in last year’s final D3baseball.com poll and was 20th in the final Collegiate Baseball poll, taken before the post-season began.
   Under Marty Hunter, who has a record of 64-25 in his two seasons as head coach, the Bruins shared the 2009 conference regular season title with Pacific Lutheran, both at 27-5 in league play.
   The Bruins knocked off the Lutes in a one-game playoff to determine the NWC’s automatic bid to the national tournament, then battled back after an opening-round loss to California Lutheran to defeat Pomona-Pitzer, Texas-Tyler and Chapman before falling to Chapman in the regional finale at Linfield College. Their 36 wins were the second-most in team history behind the 2004 national championship team that was 40-10.
   Six starters are gone from a lineup that produced a .367 batting average, the third-highest in the nation, and was eighth with a .546 slugging percentage. Regulars returning include second team all-conference right fielder Dan Winterstein and catcher Brent Trask, along with first baseman Seth Anderson.
   While the batting order is not likely to hit with as much power as last year’s lineup, the Bruins expect to rely on a solid and experienced pitching staff and continued strong defense to challenge for conference and post-season success. Third Team all-west region and first team all-NWC reliever Chad Jones gives the Bruins a proven closer, while second team all-NWC right-hander Mark Putney and honorable mention all-NWC righty Travis Schroeder anchor the starting and middle relief portions of the mound corps respectively.
   Linfield and Pacific Lutheran were other NWC teams mentioned in the polls. In the Collegiate Baseball poll, PLU (31-9) was 25th in 194 points, while the D3baseball.com poll had Linfield (28-12) 24th with 103 points and PLU listed among “others receiving votes” with 16 points.
   The season begins for the Bruins Feb. 11-14 with four games against teams from the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in the Arizona Desert Classic.

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