THIEL COLLEGE BASEBALL Gene Cusic Classic Guide 2018 @THIELBASEBALL #TCB Tomcats Look to Draw A Line in 2018 GREENVILLE, Pa. – The Thiel College baseball team heads into 2018 with a lot on the line to prove. Expectations for the season are high as the current graduating class of seniors has known nothing else but to make the Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) Championship Tournament and contend for a conference title. The Tomcats enter 2018 with three-consec- utive appearances in the PAC postseason but have not claimed a conference title since 2003. Thiel will certainly have its fair share of obstacles along the way as conference foe Both W&J and Thomas More were voted Washington and Jefferson College comes ahead of the third-place Tomcats in the into 2018 off a NCAA Division III National PAC Preseason Coaches’ Poll. Championship runner-up finish in June and Thomas More College looks to con- Thiel returns most of the lineup that tend for a title in the school’s last season in produced the third-highest batting average the conference. in the conference last year (.293) as well as the third most hits (371), doubles (78) and In 2017, Thiel placed fourth in both the triples (7). PAC regular season and championship tournament, the Tomcats collected a 21-19 The Tomcats also return 2017 All-PAC overall record and a 13-11 mark in the second team members third baseman Nick PAC. Grice and outfielder Alex Lam. as well as two All-PAC Honorable Mention honorees in shortstop Daniel Patrice and second baseman Filippo Costanzo. Grice, the Tomcat leader in on-base per- centage (.429), also tied for the team led in hits (47). Grice ranked second for Thiel in both batting average (.346) and doubles (13). Lam in 79 at bats recorded 32 hits for a .405 batting average and collected nine RBIs on the season. 3 Costanzo and Patrice, who were the main plied 48 innings last season. components of the Tomcat defense that ac- counted for a PAC leading 38 double plays, The Tomcats will have yet another exciting also had strong seasons at the plate. slate of home game at Tomcat Park in 2018. Thiel went 10-7 at home in 2017. Patrice led the Tomcats and ranked seventh in the PAC in batting average (.373) and Home nonconference games include was second in the conference in doubles Penn State Du Bois, Penn State Behrend (15). La Roche College, and Allegheny Col- lege. Thiel hosts North Coast Athletic Costanzo tied for first on the team in runs Conference (NCAC) power The College scored (30) and tied for second in RBIs of Wooster at Tomcat Park as well, Thiel (26). knocked off the eighth-ranked Scots 11-8 a season ago. Costanzo, Grice, Lam and Patrice were all named as as PAC players to watch for the Home PAC games for the Tomcats include upcoming season as determined by the doubleheaders with first-year program con-ferences’ ten head coaches. Chatham University along with Bethany College and defending PAC Champion The Tomcats will look to their relatively Washington and Jefferson College. Thiel young pitching staff to take a much more then wraps up the regular season with expanded role this season as the Thiel will Waynesburg University and Geneva Col- not return both of its top starting pitchers. lege at Tomcat Park. Thiel returns seven pitchers who collected innings in 2017 as the group the staff col- lected 100 innings. Tanner Teconchuk returns as the Tomcats most senior member of the staff as he com- 4 Joe Schaly Head Coach | 19th Season Tomcat baseball players have also excelled in the classroom, with three earning Academic All- America honors. Schaly has experienced the game at all levels, from Division I to Division III, and from NCAA to NAIA. Prior to arriving at Thiel, he was the head coach and assistant athletic director at Point Park College for six years. Point Park has a long history of success in NAIA baseball, and during Schaly’s tenure the Pioneers won the conference/district four times, and each year Schaly was named Coach of the Year. Schaly also served as assistant baseball coach The Thiel College baseball program is under at Marietta College and Kent State University. the direction of Joe Schaly, who enters his 19th During his tenure at Marietta the Pioneers season as head coach heading into the 2018 won two NCAA Division III National season. Championships and finished as national runners-up on two other occasions. Schaly took over a 2-20 program in September of 1999 and quickly managed to point the program Schaly earned a Bachelor of Arts in managerial in the right direction. During his 18 years as the economics from Marietta College in 1986. program’s head coach, Schaly and the Tomcats He continued his education at Kent State have won a regular-season Presidents’ Athletic University where he earned a master’s in sports Conference (PAC) championship and a PAC administration in 1989. Tournament title. Schaly served as the director of athletics at During the 2005 season Schaly became the Thiel College from 2001-06, and he remains winningest coach in the program’s history, and the assistant director of athletics. He has been he won the 400th game of his career in 2011. on numerous committees including the NCAA Entering the 2015-16 season, he needs just nine Baseball Rules Committee and the ABCA Rules wins to reach the 500-win plateau. Over the past Committee. 16 years, 82 Tomcats have been named All-PAC, 22 have received All-Mideast region recognition Schaly resides in Beaver Falls with his wife, Lucy, and two Tomcats were named All-Americans. and their two children: Hannah and Colin. 5 Matt Elko Assistant Coach | 1st Season Matt Elko two shutouts while only allow- returns to ing 13 earned runs and 42 hits the Thiel on the year. At the plate, Elko College had 55 hits and eight doubles Baseball while getting on base at a .461 team in clip. Elko was also a three-time 2018 as the All-PAC First Team selection assistant during his career. coach to Joe Schaly. Before returning to Thiel this winter Elko pitched for the A 2017 Thiel College graduate, Santa Fe Fuego in the PECOS Elko’s superb career as a Tomcat League. Elko collected two wins was capped off in 2016 as he in five starts and retired 38 bat- was named the PAC Player of ters on strikes on the year. the Year, the fifth Thiel player in school history to earn the dis- Elko currently ranks third all- tinction. In 2016, Elko led the time in program history in in- conference in batting average nings pitched (233.6) and career (.423) while having the lowest victories (21). earned run average (1.96) and opponent batting average (.191). On the mound, Elko had a 5-2 record with 72 strikeouts and 6 Lynn Jones Assistant Coach | 7th Season After more than 20 years at the major league lev- twice (1995, 1997) with the Kane County Cou- el as both a manager and player, Lynn Jones ’74 gars of the Midwest League, a Florida Marlins returned to Thiel College as a volunteer assistant affiliate. Jones was particularly successful in his baseball coach prior to the 2013 season. Jones stint with the Cougars, as he is second all-time was inducted into the Thiel College Athletic Hall for managerial wins with 275 and was a part of of Fame in 1987. the Marlins organization in 1997 when they won their first World Series. Jones, the second Tomcat to be drafted and the first to reach the major leagues, was drafted in Jones was “called up” to the big leagues once the 10th round of the 1974 MLB draft by the again in 2001, joining the then-Florida Marlins Cincinnati Reds. He reached the big leagues with as their first base coach. A year later, he returned the Detroit Tigers on April 13, 1979, going 2-for- to the minor league level as the manager of the 3 with a walk and a stolen base in his debut in Macon Braves for the 2002 season before joining center field, a 5-4 loss to the Texas Rangers. the Boston Red Sox in 2003. During his three seasons with the Red Sox, Jones coached the He played for eight seasons, making just eight outfielders, was the base running coach and was errors in the outfield while compiling six double the first base coach in 2004, when the Red Sox plays - including 1981 when he led the Ameri- broke the “Curse of the Bambino” and won the can League in double plays turned by a right World Series for the first time in 86 years. fielder (2). He collected 239 hits while playing for the Tigers and Royals, and went 2-for-3 with In 2006, Jones rejoined the team who drafted him a double and a triple in six games in the 1985 out of Thiel in ’74, the Cincinnati Reds for the World Series against St. Louis, helping Kansas 2006 and 2007 seasons as the outfield/base run- City win their first World Series championship. ning roving instructor before spending three sea- sons with the Atlanta Braves in the same capacity. He began coaching in 1990, becoming the first base coach for the Kansas City Royals. He spent “Lynn brings a wealth of big league experience the next nine seasons as the manager of several and baseball knowledge not only to our team, minor league clubs, compiling an overall record but our coaching staff as well,” head baseball of 555-630 (.468) while reaching the postseason coach Joe Schaly said.