The IUS Baseball team will kick off the 2009 season on Saturday, Feb. 21, against Lambuth University.
The Grenadiers, led by new head coach, Ben Reel, enter the season with a first place preseason conference ranking after winning 32 games last season and taking home the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular season and tournament titles.
Reel has high expectations for his team this season.
“We could have one of the best teams in school history,” Reel said. “I think we have a shot at winning the National Championship this year.”
Reel, 25, who has been coaching at IU Southeast for four years, is a graduate and former player for the Grenadiers.
Although he is one of the youngest head coaches in college baseball, Reel has had three years of coaching experience at IU Southeast, serving as the recruiting coordinator while he was still playing for the Grenadiers.
With the loss of only four starters from last season and a total of seven graduates, Reel has a reason to be optimistic about this year’s team.
“If we want to win a national championship, pitching and defense will be out staple,” Reel said. “Right now we have four number one pitchers – guys I could go to at any point.”
The Grenadiers have a veteran squad consisting of 10 seniors and 16 juniors, but Reel is very pleased with this year’s recruiting class.
“We’ve got a lot of big name guys that are legit D-1 prospects,” Reel said. “I’m impressed geographically and academically about the guys we’ve recruited.”
In addition to their new players, the coaching staff has seen a major change since last season.
Assistant coaches Matt Vincent, Beau Manning and Andrew Stanley are all serving their first seasons as coaches at IU Southeast, while Joe Natterman returns for his third year.
Perhaps the player that these coaches are most excited about is senior outfielder Ben Wyatt.
Wyatt earned All-Region XII and first-team KIAC honors last season, while accruing a team-high .408 batting average and 61 RBI.
“He’s our best player hands down,” Reel said.
Other players to watch are junior first basemen Jeff Klump, senior shortstop Drew Locascio, junior outfielder Kyle Lenn and junior catcher Paul “Kirby” Dunagan.
“Jeff, who’s a marine reserve, is the heart and soul of our leaders, Kyle is probably one of the best pure hitters, Drew is the brains of our defense and Kirby is probably our biggest impact player,” Reel said.
As for their first game against Lambuth University, Reel is seemingly confident in his team’s chances.
“They are very well coached and are in a very tough conference, but we are going to step off the bus ready to win a National Championship.”
By HUNTER EMBRY
Staff Writer
ahembry@ius.edu