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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Locals starting to play at home

With the weather as sunny and bright as it’s been, one might think the college baseball teams in the Inland Northwest have been taking advantage.

But Whitworth’s series with Pacific University last weekend were the first home games the four local schools have played.

Such is the life of an Inland Northwest baseball player.

Despite the late local start, all four schools are into their seasons. Here’s how they have been faring:

Washington State

The Cougars are better than .500 (10-8), they have been getting solid pitching (two starters with earned run averages under 2.00) and they’ve been hitting pretty well (a team batting average of .301, led by Zach McAngus’ .364 mark).

But one thing has let them down.

“Our defense has been our Achille’s Heel,” said first-year WSU coach Donnie Marbut. “It’s cost us more than a handful of games and it’s a part of the game where I thought we would be better. It’s just one of those things that can get contagious and spread to everyone.”

Despite the fielding struggles, highlighted by third baseman McAngus’ 11 errors, the Cougs have pitched well, paced by fifth-year senior James Freeman’s 4-0 record.

Freeman, a left-hander who limited Gonzaga to four hits over seven innings Thursday, was 1-1 last year and has never pitched more than 22 innings in a season.

“He’s one of those guys that things just didn’t go his way here the first few years, for whatever the reason,” Marbut said. “This summer we decided he had to be one of our starters. When we told him, you could tell it helped his confidence, it just got it going. Now he feels he can beat anyone.”

With Wayne Daman, a right-hander who was 3-4 with a 4.74 ERA last year as a freshman, and Jayson Miller, a soft-throwing freshman left-hander who, according to Marbut, hasn’t been as sharp as he would like but still has a 3.65 ERA, the Cougs have three solid starters.

They are still looking for a fourth (Travis Webb of Lewis and Clark, a transfer from Arizona State, and North Central’s Matt Oye have been in the mix) starter and to solidify the pen.

They are also looking to get the offense revved up by the time Pac-10 play starts March 24 at California and took a giant step last weekend. They won the Banana Belt Tournament, scoring 37 runs in four games.

The Cougars were a unanimous choice of the league coaches to finish last in the Pac-10, though Marbut says, “We aren’t going to be the ninth-place team in the Pac-10, and you can print that.”

Jay Miller (.342, 13 RBI) and McAngus have been solid, but Kaeo Rubin, who hit .341 last season, and Jason Freeman, .344 last year, got off to slow starts.

Gonzaga University

The Zags are also off to a winning start despite not even being able to practice on their home field until next week. Their 9-8 record following Monday’s 5-4 loss to Dallas Baptist in the first game of the Pepsi/Johnny Quick Classic in Fresno, Calif., has been built on the road.

GU has yet to start on an on-campus facility to replace the stadium lost to the McCarthey Athletic Center.

“It makes it a little more challenging,” said GU coach Mark Machtolf, who noted demolition should start soon of the postal annex at Trent and Cincinnati, where the new field will be built. “We may be a group of homeless kids, but the players are almost using it as a rallying point. I’m proud of the way they are handling it.”

Machtolf is also proud of his starting pitching, especially his top two, juniors Josh Monroe and Pat Donovan.

Monroe, who was 1-4 in his first two years at Gonzaga, is 2-1.

Donovan, from North Central High, has been even better. The left-hander is 3-1 with a 1.57 ERA.

Left-hander Jay Bryner, a transfer from Bellevue Community College, is the third starter and, though he has a 2-2 record, Machtolf thinks the best is yet to come.

“He’s still trying to get comfortable,” Machtolf said. “JC guys, especially the ones from the Northwest who pitch in their wood-bat league, sometime take a while to get used to pitching against Division I guys with aluminum bats. It can take a while to get adjusted.”

One who has adjusted quickly to new surroundings is freshman Darin Holcomb from Shadle Park. The third baseman, who will hit leadoff this week due to an injury to outfielder Jackson Brennan, started slowly but has raised his average to .320.

“What he’s done as a true freshman is remarkable,” Machtolf said. “He struggled his first couple games but then he made the adjustment. We had some guys come in here who were really good but it took them a couple of months to make the adjustment. He did it in a couple of at-bats.”

One area the Zags need to improve is their offensive consistency. Their lineup features six players hitting better than .315 – including junior catcher Kiel Thibault, a returning All-American – but three hitting less than .250.

“It’s been feast or famine for us,” Machtolf said. “We will have a couple of games were we’ll have trouble scoring runs, then turn around and score 15 two games in a row. We have to get more consistent.”

Scoring was a problem Monday. Although the Bulldogs outhit Dallas Baptist (8-8) 10-8, the top two hitters in the lineup, Holcomb (two) and Scott Campbell (three), combined for half the total. Campbell drove in two runs.

Cody Montgomery was 2 for 4 with a triple and his third home run, drove in two runs and scored two to lead Dallas Baptist.

Whitworth College

The Pirates got off to a strong league start last weekend, taking two of three Northwest Conference games from visiting Pacific University. But the wins may have come at a heavy price.

Pitcher Steve Hare (North Central), who had a 1.93 ERA, went down with a knee injury Saturday while fielding a bunt. More tests are expected this week, but the loss jumbles the Whitworth staff.

“Losing him is worse than losing two games Sunday,” said Whitworth coach Keith Ward. “We have a real good rotation and we had our bullpen set. Now we’ll move Trevor Sheffels into the rotation, and that take’s our left-hander from the bullpen. But we have good depth, more than we’ve had in a while.”

Sheffels, a junior from Wilbur, had a save and a win Saturday.

The Pirates (4-3) are emphasizing the fundamentals this year and so far they’ve worked, according to Ward.

“We’ve done a good job advancing runners and we’ve played well defensively,” he said. “We’re really strong up the middle and we have some outfielders who have been playing a while.

“Though we lost a lot of guys, we’re a veteran team with mostly upperclassmen who have been around a while, waited their turns and are now playing well.”

Many of those returners are Spokane-area products, like outfielders Danny Pecka (Mead), Dustin Frank (Lakeland) and Joel Clark (Mt. Spokane).

One standout this season, though, is a newcomer, shortstop Nick Froman, a transfer from Gonzaga.

Community Colleges of Spokane

Like Whitworth, CCS will rely heavily on Spokane products.

Coach Dave Keller is pinning much of his offensive hopes on outfielder Alex Scarpelli (Shadle Park) and designated hitter/third baseman Hank Anderson (Ferris), who played last year at Yakima Valley CC.

The defense will be anchored by the team’s sophomore captains, shortstop Ryne Webb (Shadle Park) and second baseman Bryan Winston from Richland.

Local products are also expected to steady the pitching staff, with Travis Bertholf (Rogers) serving as the closer and left-handers Jordan Moore (Lakeside) and Casey Van Sickle (University) starting.