Western Oregon Seeks Eighth Straight GNAC Baseball Title

Coaches Poll: 1. Western Oregon (4) 24; 2. Central Washington (1) 19; 3. Northwest Nazarene 13; 4. Montana State Billings 10; 5. Saint Martin's 9. Note: First-place votes in parenthesis. Points awarded on 5-4-3-2-1 basis.

Eisenhauer

Western Oregon appears to be well-stocked to win its eighth consecutive Great Northwest Athletic Conference baseball title this spring.

The Wolves, who finished 39-19 a year ago, return the most starters and all-stars of any team in the conference.

WOU, which is the only school to ever win a GNAC baseball title, received four of five first-place votes and out pointed Central Washington 24-19 in the annual coaches pre-season poll. A year ago, Western Oregon (24-8) finished four games ahead of Central Washington (20-12) in the conference race.

The Wolves return nine starters, including three of the league's top pitchers from their 2008 championship team.

Back on the mound is Mike Eisenhauer (6-0, 185, Sr., West Linn, OR), who led the GNAC in wins (10) and finished seventh in earned run average (3.82) to earn GNAC Pitcher-of-the-Year honors.

Also available on the mound for WOU coach Jeremiah Robbins (107-54, 3 years) are Greg Bobnick (5-8, 155, Sr., Sandy, OR – Mt. Hood CC) and Mike Cusick (6-2, 185, Jr., Salem, OR - West Salem) who finished second and third, respectively, in earned run average with 3.06 and 3.22 marks. Bobnick won five of seven decisions and Cusick, who was an honorable mention all-league selection, was 5-5.

Western Oregon also returns two of last year's GNAC Top 10 ranked hitters – shortstop Cesar Lopez (5-10, 180, Sr., Walla Walla, WA – DeSales & WWCC), who batted .343 and drove in 43 runs to earn first team all-league honors and catcher Taylor Mieras (6-0, 210, Sr., Reno, NV – Pendleton Academy & Western Nevada), who hit .339 and drove in 20 runs to earn second team honors. Lopez finished ninth and Mieras was 10 th in the batting chase. Lopez also ranked fourth in RBI.

Two other 2008 GNAC all-stars also return this spring for WOU – outfielder Drew Humphrey (6-0, 195, Sr., Dexter, OR – Pleasant Hill & Lane CC), who hit .312 and drove in 41 runs and third baseman Eric Renander (6-0, 175, Sr., Forest Grove, OR – Clackamas CC), who batted .287 and had 21 RBI.

Humphrey was a second team selection and Renander earned honorable mention honors.

Central Washington, which received one first-place vote in the balloting, has almost as many returning all-stars as the Wolves with five, including three pitchers though one received his award more for his hitting abilities.

Michael McCanna (6-5, 190, Jr., Addy, WA – Jenkins & CCS) was a first team selection, McCanna posted a 6-1 record and ranked eighth in the conference with a 4.12 ERA.

Derek Shoemaker (6-0, 195, Sr., Moses Lake, WA – WVC) earned honorable mention honors after compiling a 6-5 record. He ranked sixth in the GNAC with a 3.64 ERA.

Kevin Walkenhauer (6-2, 175, Jr., Yakima, WA – West Valley), who split his playing time between the infield and the mound, was also an honorable mention selection. Walkenhauer batted .330 and had four home runs and 28 RBI. On the hill he was 2-1 with a 4.88 ERA.

Also back for the Wildcats this spring is infielder Frank Donangelo (6-0, 205, Sr., Monterey, CA ), who played both at first and third in earning second team honors. Donangelo finished the season with a .349 average and 35 RBI. His average ranked eighth in the conference.

Returning in the outfield for CWU is A.J. Gosney (5-10, 190, Sr., Veradale, WA – Central Valley & CCS), who batted .317 and drove in 36 runs to earn second team honors.

Northwest Nazarene and Montana State Billing return two all-stars each, while Saint Martin's has three 2008 all-stars on its roster.

The Crusaders have just three starters, but they do have two first-team all-stars including first baseman Jimmy Van Beek (6-1, 240, Sr., Yakima, WA – Riverside Christian), who hit .335 and also had five home runs and 42 RBI.

The only other returning starters are utility player Cory Warburton (5-10, 190, Jr., Rupert, ID – TVCC, .208, 0 hr, 18 rbi) and pitcher Andy Pottenger (6-3, 195, Sr., Lewiston, ID – WWCC, 4-3, 5.07).

Reliever Nate Slonaker (6-0, 215, So., Meridian, ID) was also a first team all-star selection after going 7-2 and saving seven games. He had a 1.45 ERA in his relief role in earning GNAC Freshman-of-the-Year honors.

Montana State Billings has the most returning lettermen with 16 and the second most starters with seven including four pitchers.

Among the returnees are all-stars Levi Johnson (6-0, 180, Sr., Great Falls, MT – Miles CC) and Jeff Ridgeway (6-0, 190, So., Billings, MT – C. of Southern Idaho).

Johnson, who split his playing time between first base and designated hitter, hit .323 and had four home runs and 28 RBI to earning second team all-star honors.

Ridgeway batted .310 with two home runs and 11 RBI and was an honorable mention outfield selection.

Saint Martin's is the only team in the conference with a new coach as Ken Garland takes over. Garland was an assistant at SMU last season and previously served as the head coach at the University of Puget Sound for six seasons.

Garland has 11 returning players off of last year's Saint team, but just three starters. All three, however, were all-stars – infielders Andy Cole (5-10, Jr., Kennewick, WA) and Shane Schoeneberg (6-0, Sr., Kennewick, WA) and catcher Luke Abbott (6-0, Jr., Chehalis, WA – West & Lassen CC).

Schoeneberg, who played third base, was the GNAC's No. 3 hitter with a .392 average and ranked third in home runs with nine. He also drove in 39 runs in earning first team all-league honors.

Cole, who played at both shortstop and second base, ranked sixth in the GNAC in batting with a .361 average and drove in 25 runs in earning first team honors.

Abbott was the conference's No. 7 ranked hitter with a .356 average. He also drove in 20 runs in earning second team all-star honors.

Three of the GNAC's five teams begin their 2009 campaigns this weekend.

Western Oregon opens with a five-game series at Chico State. Northwest Nazarene debuts with a four-game series at Simpson and Saint Martin's plays a four-game series at Cal State Stanislaus.

CWU Shortstop Nilsen Signs With Kansas City

Jamie Nilsen, who starred for the past four seasons at shortstop for Central Washington, signed a free agent contract with the Kansas City Royals last June following the 2008 season.

"I am very excited for this opportunity," Nilsen said. "(Playing professional baseball) is something I always dreamed of as a kid, and how it will become a reality and I'm very much looking forward to it."

Nilsen, a 2008 graduate of CWU with a Bachelor of Science in business administration, batted .468 with 10 home runs and 59 runs batted in this past spring.

He was named a first team Division II All-American by both Daktronics, Inc. and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association (NCBWA).

The two-time GNAC Player of the Year went undrafted in the 2008 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft ten days ago but was signed by scout Scott Ramsay and the Royals on Monday at the team's complex in Surprise, Ariz.

Nilsen will begin his first professional season with the Royals' Arizona League team on June 22. The Arizona League has nine teams and plays a 56-game schedule that concludes Aug. 29.

The 23-year-old Nilsen, who owns virtually every offensive record in the history of Central Washington University baseball and finished with a .399 career collegiate average, is the third Wildcat in the past six years to sign a professional contract.

First baseman Brian Viafore (2002-03) was a 28th round draft pick of the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2003 and spent that summer playing for the nearby Yakima Bears, and outfielder-turned-pitcher Troy Martin (2004-05) signed a free agent contract with Tampa Bay and spent the 2006 season with the team's Rookie-level affiliate in Princeton, W.Va.

GNAC Daily Reports (Including Baseball Game Stories)