CSR (2005 Calvin College Baseball Preview)

(1st in a series of Calvin spring sports previews)

Baseball Season Preview: 2005
Written by Calvin Sports Information Student Assistant Colin McWhertor

The 2005 Calvin College baseball team will have a few new faces this spring,
except most of it is off the field. Long time coach Jeff Pettinga stepped down
after the 2004 season, allowing Jim Timmer Jr. to take the helm of the Knights
this upcoming season. Timmer, a 1991 graduate of Calvin and a four-year member
of the Calvin baseball team, also brings two new assistant coaches into the
program in Bryan Ganzevoort and Joe Brower.

Timmer is excited about the opportunity to lead the club but allowed that
there will be some tough adjusting to do. "Coach Pettinga ran a great show
here for years, but I am of a little different mentality when it comes to my
players, so the players will have to get a feel of how my assistants and I
work. Likewise, I will have to get used to all of the players tendencies. I
feel like we will work well together once we get to know each other more. But
we have a excellent tradition of baseball to keep up here at Calvin."

Coach Timmer brings eight years of experience as an assistant baseball coach
at Baldwin Wallace College in Ohio to the program. He is in his second year as
an associate professor in the HPERDS at Calvin.

While the coaching staff completely changed, much of the roster has stayed
intact from last season, when the team finished 15-25 and 6-12 in the MIAA.
Fifteen players return from last year's squad, including seven pitchers.

"I am fortunate to inherit a good group of returning players," said
Timmer, "that should make the transition easier for me because these guys
have experience, which is valuable if you want to have success."

One new direction Coach Timmer is going to take is regarding where he plays
his players. He will fit players into the lineup as he sees best for the team,
rotating players through different positions and even having a few of the
pitchers see a considerable amount of at bats.

"Some of our pitchers are too good of athletes to keep the bat out of their
hands, I think they can help our offense." Timmer spoke of competition for
playing time also, "I am going to try to be flexible, play guys at different
positions, and see how things shake out. If a player hits well, I will find a
place for him in the lineup."

The Knights will have solid defense up the middle, with senior Josh Vriesman
at shortstop and Junior Tyler Van Eps at second in the infield. Both players
are graduates of Denver Christian High School and played together in high
school. "To have those two guys in the middle is great," said Timmer,
"they have played together for a long time and they are both gamers."

While the middle defense is set on the infield, the corner positions have a
few players who can handle the load. Junior Kyle Hollemans(East Kentwood) and
junior transfer Kyle Snoeyink(Calvin Christian) will see a lot of the playing
time at first and third bases. Other players who will see time on the infield
are junior Mark Tigchelaar and sophomore Eric Boer, who were teammates at Grand
Rapids Christian High School. Freshman Scott Larson from Hastings will also
get a chance to prove he can handle the infield positions.

"Kyle Hollemans has worked hard in the off-season, so he seems determined to
improve from last year," said Timmer on his infielders, "and Snoeyink does
well too, but he also pitches, so we will need some other guys to step in, and
we have some that I think will do well."

One new first baseman coach Timmer will have to utilize is senior Jim Deters.
Deters is the ace of the Knights pitching staff but played first base in high
school while at Kalamazoo Christian. "I think we could be surprised with how
he hits, "said Timmer, "he is a great athlete and I think he can contribute
offensively and defensively when he is not pitching."

The catching duties will be handled primarily by junior Mike Aggen(Evergreen
Park, IL), who was the backup last year but saw considerable time in the
designated hitter position in the lineup. Others who will handle the pitching
staff include junior Nick Caudle(Calvin Christian) and freshman Pieter
Groot(Uxbridge, MA).

The outfield is less settled than the rest of the team. Two regulars from
last year's team graduated, leaving Timmer without a lot of experience.
Junior Mark Asma(Kalamazoo Christian) returns and will play center field where
he is quick enough to cover a lot of ground. Asma was hurt for much of last
season and coach Timmer looks to him to fill out the Knights great defense up
the middle.

"I am a big proponent of having good defense up the middle, and with Mike
catching, Josh and Tyler in the infield, and Mark out in center, we should be
in good shape."

Joining Asma in the outfield will be junior Tim Stoeffler, who will see a lot
of time in left field. Stoeffler was a transfer from Grand Rapids Community
College last season, playing some outfield and also pitching. His role will be
the same this year, as his speed and defense will be valuable in left field.

Timmer says the right field job is still open. "I have a number of guys who
could step in there, but right now I will play whoever shows they deserve it.
The outfield will have a lot of rotation, especially since Tim will have to
pitch some also."

Tigchelaar will see some time in the outfield as the team's utility player.
Caudle will also play some outfield. Bobby Fisher(Walkerville), a returning
sophomore who played some left field last season, will see a good amount of
time in the outfield and freshman Alex Marcus from Willmar, MN will also play a
role in the outfield rotation along with sophomore Brad Brummel(South
Christian).

The reason coach Timmer is open to having more than one or two players at a
position is because he is looking for improved offense. "We need to hit
more." He said looking at last year's production. "We do not have a lot
of power, but we can make up for that by getting on base and making productive
outs. There were too many strikeouts last year, and we just can't have that
if we want to compete."

Asma will lead off for much of the time for the Knights. Asma's speed and
ability to make contact make him the prototypical leadoff hitter for Timmer.
"Mark can get on base with his speed, unfortunately he has not been
healthy, so we haven't been able to utilize him until this year."

Vriesman and Van Eps will be high in the order as they both have been
productive the last couple of years. Vriesman led the team with a .356 batting
average last season and also in hits with 47. Vriesman, with 132 hits all
time, can take over first place on the Calvin all-time hits lists with nine
more, a feat he could accomplish on the spring break trip to Fort Myers,
Florida. Josh also led the team in runs scored(31), total bases(66), and
stolen bases(14). Van Eps led the team in runs-batted-in last season with 24
and also led the team in slugging percentage with a .513 mark. He finished the
season batting .322, third best on the team.

Aggen also returns his productive bat to the lineup. Mike batted .350 for the
season with 42 hits and 11 stolen bases.

Hollemans came on late in the season and finished with a .300 batting average
while knocking in 15 runs. Snoeyink was part of back-to-back National
Championship baseball teams at Grand Rapids Community College before
transferring to Calvin this fall; he will be in the middle of the lineup also.
Deters could also fit into the middle of the order.

"There is a lot of unknown about our offense", said Timmer, "we have
some new guys coming in, or in Jim's case, guys who will bat for the first
time in a while. We should be able to score some runs if we stick to our game
plan. Getting on base and using speed and contact are important."

Timmer believes his pitching staff will be the strength of this year's team.
 "I am very excited about the pitching." He said. "We have the best
pitcher in the league in Jim Deters, so he will always give us a chance to win.
 But we should be able to get innings from our starters and many of our
relievers have a year's more experience. I will use a pitcher if he is
rested if it means the best chance of us winning."

Deters had a stellar season in 2004 after taking 2003 off because of injury.
He went 5-3 with a sparkling 1.76 earned run average. He struck out 69 batters
compared to only 11 walks. Batters were only able to hit .204 against him for
the season.

Junior Andy Draayer will be back as a starting pitcher this year. Out of
Denver Christian High School, Draayer went 2-5 with a 3.51 earned run average
in 14 appearances. In the six games he started in 2004, he completed four of
them.

The third starter will be Snoeyink, but Timmer said he might use him in relief
some also, giving him an extra option from the bullpen. Junior Jory Trim from
Creston high School will be used as a starter and long reliever. Trim went 1-7
with a 5.18 earned run average in 11 appearances, eight of which were starts,
last season.

Other returning pitchers include the aforementioned Stoeffler, who will work
long relief and start occasionally, junior Ben Buikema(Lakewood), and two
junior lefties in Joel Bont(Calvin Christian) and Justin Roza(Burlington,
Ontario).

Two freshmen pitchers have joined the team this year. Todd LaForest(Clio) and
Aaron Davis(St. Mary's) have excited Timmer this winter.

"Our freshmen have good arms, we need to work them in, but they should
contribute this year. We don't need to rush them however, because we have
unusual depth with our pitching, especially the starters."

The MIAA should be competitive again. League Champion Albion brings back a
lot of players, as will Hope. The dangerous team to Timmer is Adrian. "The
have a lot of talent over there, with that pitching, they could surprise the
top teams."

Timmer just wants to be competitive and give his team a chance. "It is such
a short season, the pennant race is only a little over a month long, and we get
right at it when we come back from Florida. If we play well off the bat, we
could find ourselves in a good position to do something. I want the guys to
give themselves a chance, with such a short season, you never know what could
happen."

The season begins on Saturday, March 12th in Florida. The team will play 11
games in seven days and return home and begin their home schedule Tuesday,
March 22nd. MIAA league action begins on Saturday, March 26th with a double
header at home against Kalamazoo. The Knights travel to their rival Hope for
three games the first weekend in April. Calvin will travel to league champion
Albion for games on May sixth and seventh, the final games of the regular
season. The schedule features 14 home games, 12 of which are MIAA league
games.

Timmer is pleased with how the schedule shapes up. "We don't have to go
very far the first two weekends, which is good because you don't like to
travel after coming back from Florida. Having the final two league series on
the road may be tough, but we will tackle that when we get there."

Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Mon Mar 7 23:09:56 2005