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Water polo teams qualify for Junior Olympics
Bruins rack up more awards
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Waiting for a baseball career |
George Fox University's Dan Wentzell hopes to
be a selection in next week's Major League Baseball draft |
By B. Scott Anderson, Newberg
Graphic sports editor
E-mail Scott at banderson@eaglenewspapers.com
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It seems as if there’s an award for
players in Division III baseball, Dan Wentzell has won it.
The George Fox University right fielder has been named an academic
All-American, an all-west region first team player, a D3baseball.com
All-American and an academic all-district VIII All-American. And
it’s all happened in a span of about nine days.
“For that to happen to you, it’s kind of eye-opening and it lets
you know what people think of you as a player because sometimes you
have doubts,” Wentzell said. “But it’s definitely rewarding and
fulfilling that all the hard work has paid off.”
Wentzell hopes to
transform the hard work and awards he has won into a professional
baseball career. He’s hoping his name is called when the Major
League Baseball draft runs Thursday and Friday.
Wentzell’s coach at George Fox, Pat Bailey, can’t rave enough about
him.
“He’s a leader and a great guy,” Bailey said. “I’d love to have 25
guys just like Dan Wentzell. He’s a good as captain as I’ve ever had
in all my years of coaching.”
As the player of the year in the Northwest Conference this season,
Wentzell ranked first in slugging percentage (.667), RBI (55) and
total bases (98); second in batting (.388), doubles (15, tie), home
runs (eight), hits (57, tie) and sacrifice flies (five, tie); and
third in on-base percentage (.484). Wentzell ranked seventh
nationally in RBI per game (1.41) and 36th in total home runs.
Wentzell said he hopes the fact he played at a Division III college
where athletic scholarships aren’t allowed doesn’t effect his
chances of being drafted. The stereotype of most D-III players is
that they simply aren’t up to par with players at Division I
colleges.
“It’s somewhat justified, but at the same time I think there’s a
quality group of Division III players that can play at the next
level and there are some people that can’t,” Wentzell said.
Wentzell came to George Fox in 2004 — the year the Bruins won their
lone national championship — after attending nearby Tualatin High
School. His freshman year, he started 38 of the team’s 43 games and
hit .302 with six home runs. Going from a high school team to a
college program that is a perennial winner was a drastic change for
Wentzell.
“Growing up, I was never on a team that was really that
successful,” he said. “After high school, I was on a (summer) team
that was somewhat successful, but to get on a team where you didn’t
really expect success that way and to get into a program that
expected success was kind of a different thing for me.”
Wentzell, who graduated in April from George Fox with a 3.97
grade-point average and a degree in accounting, said winning the
national title set a precedent for the rest of his career. He knew
winning a championship was not only possible, but realistic. The
Bruins however, have been unable to return to the D-III World
Series, even though the team had a combined record of 131-48 while
Wentzell was in the program.
This past season, the Bruins got off to a hot start, winning 19 of
their first 20 games. George Fox was then swept at Pacific Lutheran
and the Lutes went on to win the league title. The Bruins finished
second in the NWC and qualified for the west regionals where they
fell to the University of Texas-Dallas and No. 2-ranked Chapman. The
Bruins ended the season on a five-game losing streak and finished
30-11.
“It ended pretty dramatically,” Wentzell said. “It was a drastic
change from the beginning of the season and winning all those games
...”
Injuries played a key role in the fate of the Bruins, forcing the
team to scramble to fill positions with inexperienced players. By
the end of the season, four players ended up having surgery.
“Injuries played an important part, but they weren’t the biggest
thing — it was our mentality,” Wentzell said. “It was a mental thing
where guys didn’t think we could do it, but the seniors knew we
could do it so it was kind of a change where half the team was here
and half the team was over there.”
Wentzell remained injury free and started all 41 games for the
Bruins this season. Now he’s focusing on himself by working out and
taking batting practice routinely. As the days of the draft
approach, Wentzell isn’t nervous. He’s more excited than anything.
“I’ve put the time and effort in with the practice, and working out
and basically (done) everything you could do, so I basically feel
I’m justified to be there with those other names,” he said. “But if
it doesn’t work out, it wasn’t meant to be. But if it does, great,
I’ll be there.”
Wentzell said he won’t be all that worried if he’s not drafted.
Three recent George Fox players — Derrick Jones, Greg Dombek and
David Peterson — were signed after the draft to free agent
contracts. Wentzell thinks he could do the same if he’s not drafted.
“From the people I’ve talked to, I feel like it’s a good
possibility that something will happen with a free agent signing,”
he said.
Bailey said he hopes Wentzell gets a chance to prove himself.
“He’s smart and he’s got an opportunity to possibly do something and
I know he’s going to work hard to get better and listen to what they
say,” he said. |
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From
June 2, 2007, Newberg Graphic
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