2007 BASEBALL PREVIEW:Questions abound for Lions

The Vanguard University baseball team’s pitching staff is an enigma that just happens to feature a Riddle.

Senior Andrew Riddle, who had eight saves in 17 appearances in 2006, is the only familiar face among those expected to lead the mound corps this season, which begins Saturday with a doubleheader against Golden State Athletic Confernece visitor San Diego Christian, beginning at 11 a.m.

There are plenty of question marks elsewhere for Coach Scott Mallernee, who enters his third season after posting a 22-22 record last season, 14-18 in the GSAC. He is 35-54 at the Vanguard helm.

Senior third baseman-outfielder Matt Vorhies and sophomore catcher Randy Smith top the returning hitters.

Vorhies hit .329 with eight homers, 27 RBIs and a team-leading 32 runs. Among his 50 hits, 23 were for extra bases, helping him amass a team-best .599 slugging percentage. The eight homers tied him with Erik Komatsu for the team lead.

Smith, expected to also see some time as the designated hitter, hit .336 in 44 games last season, including 36 starts. He had one homer and 21 RBIs.

Komatsu, who along with Smith and departed senior Isaac Salazar were the only Lions to play in every game last season, would have been among the featured returners. But after hitting .329 with eight homers, a team-leading 33 RBIs as a freshman last spring, he elected to transfer to Cal State Fullerton. He is spending this season attending Oxnard Community College.

Komatsu’s departure was a big blow to the lineup, but the biggest concentration of those gone from last season was on the mound.

Clay Brown, who had a breakthrough season as a senior, was the only Lion named All-GSAC in 2006. He went 8-5 with an impressive 2.43 ERA, surrendering just 79 hits and striking out 59 in a staff-high 89 innings.

Michael Guernsey (5-6, 3.88), Matt Franco (3-1, 3.98), and Daniel Brown (2-2, 5.60) are among the departed hurlers who earned 19 of the team’s 22 wins last season.

Mallernee went about filling his pitching staff with transfers, including sophomores Dustin Jones and Chris Carls.

Jones, who went to Baylor out of high school [he redshirted for the Bears in 2004], comes to Vanguard after a stop at McLennan Community College in Texas.

Carls, out of Resurrection Christian High in Colorado, was 1-4 with a 4.15 ERA and one save in 43 1/3 innings for Cornell last spring.

Mallernee said Jones and Carls figure to be the team’s top two starters.

“Carls is a plus-fastball guy with sink and a bulldog-type mentality,” Mallernee said. “He’s a smaller guy (5-foot-11, 180 pounds), but he has a good arm, a plus breaking ball and he throws both the fastball and the breaking ball for strikes.”

Jones, the son of Doug Jones, who amassed 303 saves in 16-year major league career that ended in 2000, gets most of his outs by locating his pitches, Mallernee said.

Riddle and junior Nick Vaughn, who redshirted at Texas Tech last season after earning All-Northern California honors at American River Community College in 2005, should also be contributors on the bump.

Vaughn, who should also see time at first base, was 4-1 with a 2.65 ERA on the JC level in 2005. He also hit .404 that season with four homers and 35 RBIs.

Junior Brian Ducy a transfer from Consumus River Community College and one of only two left-handers on the staff, will also be counted upon.

Richard Jessup, a sophomore who struggled in 15 2/3 innings last season (a 9.19 ERA and 30 hits allowed), is also expected to contribute.

Derrek Craddock, a sophomore returner who also plays first base, was 2-2 on the mound last season with a 6.20 ERA in 24 2/3 innings. He will add pitching duties to his role as a position player. He hit .273 with 12 RBIs in 77 at-bats last season.

“It’s not a lot of [pitching] depth, in terms of numbers,” Mallernee said. “But we’re deeper in ability. I feel like I have eight guys who I have confidence in. I think those eight will give us a chance to compete and be in games.”

Vorhies could play third base or in the outfield, depending on how things shake out, while Vaughn and Craddock figure to be the primary first basemen, Mallernee said.

Foremost among the variables that will decide where Vorhies lands defensively, is the play of sophomore returner Sonny Behrends at third base.

Behrends had just two hits in 20 at-bats last season.

Freshman Keegan Freeman, out of Buchanan High in Clovis, is the front-runner for the starting nod at second base, a spot expected to he handled by senior transfer eter Gundolff. But Gundolff, from Amstrong Atlantic State University in Georgia, suffered a season-ending arm injury in the fall.

Sophomore Zach Leighton, who started 42 of the 43 games he appeared in last season, returns at shortstop. He hit .233 with 30 hits and 10 RBIs in 2006.

Freeman could back up Leighton, while freshman Ethan Gentry could see some action at second base.

Returners Luke Iverson, a junior, and sophomore Jason Machado have some experience in the outfield and are penciled in to open in left and right field, respectively.

Iverson hit .275 with one homer and nine RBIs in 102 at-bats last season, when he lead the team with 14 stolen bases in 16 attempts. He hit .260 with 23 RBIs as a freshman.

Machado hit .207 in 92 at-bats last season, when he was one of seven Lions with at least five steals (five for eight).

Freshman Tyson Leighton, Zach’s brother, could open the season in center.

Freshman Dan Black, an all-region performer at Mountain Pointe High in Arizona, is in the picture in both left and center, while Vorhies is most suited to right field, should he be summoned to play the outfield.

Senior returner Adam Hastings and junior Ben Linn, a transfer from Santa Ana College, will share time with Smith behind the plate. Mallernee said both Hastings and Linn could also get some at-bats at designated hitter.

Iverson is most likely to lead off, though Mallernee said Machado could be a fit in that spot.

Mallernee said Smith is expected to hit in the middle of the order somewhere.

“Our two-through-five spots will change, depending on whether we’re facing a left-hander or a right-hander, as well as other variables,” Mallernee said.

The Lions play 36 conference games this season [four times against each opponent], leaving them with only 11 nonconference games on the schedule.

Further, the Lions’ only two games outside of Southern California are a March 3 conference doubleheader at Fresno Pacific.

The Lions were supposed to open the season before Saturday, but a scheduled opponent backed out, Mallernee said.

Though young — 13 underclassmen on the 22-man roster (not including redshirts) — Mallernee said his team has enough talent to win more than half itsgames, which Vanguard last accomplished in 2001.

“I think we can absolutely improve on last year’s record,” Mallernee said. “I feel like this group is as talented as any team I’ve had here.”

THE LIONS

1 Ethan Gentry So.

3 Sonny Behrends So.

4 Keegan Freeman Fr.

5 Chris Carls So.

6 Tyson Leighton Fr.

7 Zach Leighton So.

9 Pete Gundolff Sr.

10 Shea Alderete Sr.

11 Todd Merz Sr.

12 Richard Jessup So.

13 Adam Hastings Sr.

14 Dan Black Fr.

15 Nick Vaughn Jr.

17 Derek Craddock So.

19 Randy Smith So.

21 Luke Iverson Jr.

22 Brian Ducy Jr.

23 Andrew Riddle Sr.

24 Dustin Jones So.

25 Jason Machado So.

26 Ben Linn Jr.

27 Nick Peterson Fr.

30 Matt Voorhies Sr.

Coach: Scott Mallernee

(third year)