While the temperatures in the coming week are slated to hit 20 degrees in Peoria, the Bradley baseball team will lace up their cleats for the first time under the 80 degree skies in Phoenix, Arizona.
Coming off a campaign where the Braves started 13-3 but finished 24-27, head coach Elvis Dominguez entered an offseason where the team had to fill holes in a team that were left by the departure of outfielder Max Murphy, who was drafted by the Minnesota Twins organization.
Although Murphy, who tallied a .314 batting average and hit 12 home runs last season, leaves as one of the best baseball players Bradley baseball has seen in a while, Dominguez says there are positives in sending Murphy to the pros.
“You don’t replace somebody like that,” Dominguez said. “For him to go out to pro ball, that’s phenomenal. We’re doing something right to develop these kids.”
Although Murphy may be difficult to replace, Dominguez is confident that his team now can compensate that production, especially with the newcomers.
“A lot of the guys that were banged up last year, in surgery and so forth, are back,” Dominguez said. “The new guys have really made a push to try and get into the lineup. I think we’ll see some of the young kids play right away.”
As Dominguez has highly touted his recruiting class, he also knows the veteran talent the team already has and the effect they have on the freshmen is nothing to ignore.
“We’ve got a lot of veterans back,” Dominguez said. “We’ve got Spencer Gaa, who’s an All-American, Tyler Leffler, who’s an All-American at short, and Chris Godinez, who’s healthy for the first time. [The freshmen] came in and saw the work ethic that those guys put in and [it] just carried over into [them].”
While experience on the offensive side is helping the newcomers adjust to the college game, the pitching core returns the top starter in junior Elliot Ashbeck, along with pitchers Peter Resnick, Cameron Roegner and Matt Dennis.
The pitching staff struggled in the second half of the 2014 season averaging a 5.53 ERA over the last 24 games.
With a year of experience under his belt, Ashbeck, who is the top of the pitcher’s rotation, says the year of action should let the pitching core perform at a high level.
“Our pitching staff has definitely been the strongest it’s been in my time here,” Ashbeck said. “Everyone throwing up there on the mound should have a multitude of game experience.”
Last season, Ashbeck moved into the top pitcher’s spot on Fridays, which means he’s facing the best competition from each team they face.
This year, he solidified himself in the offseason as the Friday starting pitcher.
“It was my goal coming back into this year,” Ashbeck said. “It let myself know that I’ve competed with a lot of the best in the league. I didn’t expect anything less in starting opening day for us.”
With experience on both sides of the diamond, and an infusion of young talent along with the veterans, Dominguez believes the on the team can create success for his players.
“We have tremendous depth for the first time in a while,” Dominguez said. “I think the competition is going to create some guys to have career years for us.”
However, to start the season, the Braves face off against Summit league champs North Dakota State, as well as Omaha University and Grand Canyon University, with the latter two teams posting winning records in 2014.
Dominguez said he knows these games are an indicator for where the team is to start the year.
“I’m looking forward to our guys going out and competing,” Dominguez said. “I can’t wait to see where we’re at.”
