Adapting to circumstances and changes in scheduling and new mandated bats is what the 2011 baseball season is about for Allen County Community College’s Red Devils.
“We lost four pitchers in the last three weeks of summer. So we’ve had to go a different direction with our pitching staff,” said Val McLean, ACCC head baseball coach.
The Red Devils were scheduled to open the 2011 season today at home with a doubleheader against Bethany College’s junior varsity. But this morning’s rain pushed the season opener to Saturday on the road for the Devils at Rose State College.
The Jayhawk Eastern Division schools adopted what Jayhawk Western Division schools had done for awhile — play conference series baseball. This year conference games are scheduled in four-game series on the weekends.
For example, next Saturday and Sunday, Allen County hosts Neosho County for doubleheaders on each day. In each conference doubleheader, the first game is seven innings and the second is a nine-inning game.
“The west side has been using this schedule for awhile. It really comes down to our players missing less class time over the course of the season,” McLean said.
Another change baseball teams are dealing with this season is the composition of bats. The NJCAA followed the NCAA in adopting the new standard called Batted Ball Coefficient of Restitution (BBCOR) .
“The new bats are designed to reduce the velocity of the ball coming off the bat. It has to do with safety. The year we really have a lot of power at the plate the new bats go into effect,” McLean said.
“We’ll still hit with power. Every team has to adapt to the new bats; so will we.”
McLean said the Red Devils hit the baseball very well during fall ball. He expects the same during the spring season.
Allen County will be a strong defensive team also, according to McLean. He said the Red Devils have good fielding players on the infield and in the outfield for 2011.
“Pitching is our big question mark right now. What we had to do was go down our roster and look at guys who pitched in high school. They will be playing a position plus pitching during the season,” McLean said.
“We also had two walk-ons, gifts from heaven, who have developed well for us.”
Among the pitchers ACCC lost before school began this year was Jayhawk Eastern freshman of the year Aaron Burke. Burke, who led the nation with a 0.57 Earned Run Average as ACCC’s closer last year, signed to play baseball at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, S.C.
“We’ve gone from our normal four-man rotation to a six-man rotation,” McLean said.
He said for conference series look for sophomores Cody Wren and Dylan Bowman, both right-handers, freshman left-hander Patrick Garner and freshman right-hander Kaleb Clark. Wren and Bowman had limited pitching duties last year. Wren was 4-4 with a 6.92 ERA.
“Cody has really improved. He and Dylan have developed and matured and had good fall seasons for us,” McLean said.
Garner has “great, great stuff and coming from the left side is really effective,” McLean said. Clark, who is under draft to the Los Angles Dodgers, had a lot of potential on the mound.
In non-conference games during the week, look for sophomores Curtis Bunch and Brad Alberts. Bunch and Alberts return as starting third and first basemen for the Red Devils.
“Curtis and Brad pitched in high school and were very good. Curtis has a strong arm throwing in the upper 80s. Brad comes at the plate side-arm with upper 80s and low 90s speed. He has nasty stuff,” McLean said.
Alberts was ACCC’s second-leading hitter a year ago at .378 batting average. He had eight doubles, three home runs, drove in 28 runs and scored 23.
Bunch hit .361 with nine doubles and four home runs. He had 31 RBIs and 25 runs scored.
Brandon Spear is a walk-on from Pittsburg. Spear is designated as the ACCC closer to open the season. Also in the bullpen are freshmen Travis Stafford, who also is a position player, Zak Michens and another walk-on Tanner Wittman. Sophomore left-hander Nick Fountain, who is the starting right fielder, will pitch as well.
“Our pitching is pretty good. The questions are do we have enough and can our double–duty players stand up to the rigors of a spring season? We did all right in the fall but spring is much, much different,” McLean said.
McLean said he and assistant coach Seth Beason were excited about this season’s team.
McLean called his team “a great bunch of guys to be around. We have great leadership from our captains — Bryce Williams, Brayden Brumley, Curtis Bunch and Brad Alberts.”
Brumley returns as starting shortstop. He earned Jayhawk East honorable mention hitting .347 and leading the Red Devils with 38 RBIs. He hit 12 doubles, two triples and three home runs. He was 11 of 14 in stolen base attempts.
At second base will be medical red-shirt freshman Riley Price who bats from the left side and will be the Devil leadoff hitter. Garret Harris, freshman, will play some first base and be designated hitter with a lot of power.
Behind the plate are sophomores Michael Schell and Miles Sanderson,w ho will split most of the time. McLean said freshman Kaleb Hoffman will work in to the rotations of “three solid catchers.”
Along with Fountain in the outfield will be Bryce Williams, who hit.259 last year with 12 RBIs and 28 hits, in center field and freshman left-handed hitter Kyle Johnston in left field. Freshmen Tevin Kendall and Nate Russell will get some time in the outfield also.
ACCC hosts five conference series this season.
Allen County Community College
2011 Baseball Schedule
Feb. 24 — Bethany College JV (pp)
Feb. 26-27 — Rose State College
March 5 — Neosho County, 1 p.m.
March 6 — Neosho County, 1 p.m.
March 10 — Central Christian JV, 3 p.m.
March 12 — Fort Scott, 1 p.m.
March 13 — Fort Scott, 1 p.m.
March 17 — Evangel University JV, 3 p.m.
March 19 — Kansas City, 1 p.m.
March 20 — Kansas City, 1 p.m.
March 22 — Brown Mackie, 3 p.m.
March 24 — Seminole, 2 p.m.
March 26 — Johnson County, 1 p.m.
March 27 — Johnson County, 1 p.m.
March 31 — Central Christian JV, 3 p.m.
April 2 — Cowley County, 1 p.m.
April 3 — Cowley County, 1 p.m.
April 5 — Ottawa University JV, 3 p.m.
April 9 — Coffeyville, 1 p.m.
April 10 — Coffeyville, 1 p.m.
April 12 — Ottawa JV, 2 p.m.
April 14 — Brown Mackie, 3 p.m.
April 16 — Independence, 1 p.m.
April 17 — Independence, 1 p.m.
April 20 — Butler, 3 p.m.
April 22 — Labette, 3 p.m.
April 23 — Labette, 1 p.m.
April 28 — Butler, 3 p.m.
April 30 — Highland, 1 p.m.
May 1 — Highland, 1 p.m.
May 7-9 — Region VI tournament, TBA
May 14-16 — Region VI Super Regional, TBA
May 28 -June 4 — NJCAA World Series, TBA
Home games in bold.
