04 Baseball Gd P01-30
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2006 Season Outlook Junior Outfielder Brennan Boesch 2006 CALIFORNIA GOLDEN BEAR BASEBALL 7 2006 SEASON OUTLOOK NO DOUBT 2006 GOLDEN BEARS HAVE SIGHTS SET ON NCAA The 2006 California baseball team wants to “Leave No Doubt.” That is the rallying call for Golden Bears after being snubbed by the NCAA selection committee following a 2005 campaign in which Cal finished 34-23 overall and 13-11 in the Pac-10 – a record that normally would have warranted a postseason berth. The 2006 Bears, ranked 25th in Baseball America’s preseason Top 25 poll and featuring three preseason All-Americans, believe they have enough talent, with plenty of motivation, to get into an NCAA regional. “After what happened to us last year, the team should have motivation,” said head coach David Esquer. “We should be able to work off the momentum we had at the end of last season after playing well against teams that did advance to the NCAAs. We tasted that success, and now we want to leave no doubt in anyone’s mind that we deserve to be a regional team.” Cal has a wide array of talent returning to help prove its case. The Bears feature five players who enter the 2006 campaign with impressive accolades – junior center fielder Brennan Boesch, sophomore infielder Josh Satin, junior left fielder Chris Errecart, senior shortstop Allen Craig and junior right-hander Brandon Morrow. Boesch has been selected a first-team Preseason All- American by the Collegiate Baseball Writers, and is a preseason All-American in Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball as well. The 6-5 left-hander is also on the 2006 Brooks Wallace Award list as a potential na- tional player of the year candi- date. A 2005 first-team All-Pac-10 honoree, Boesch had a team-leading .355 average last year with 21 doubles, two triples, seven home runs and 33 RBI. His 21 doubles was third on the school’s all- Junior outfielder Chris Errecart is a second-team preseason All- time single-season doubles list. American in Baseball America after an outstanding summer in Satin, high school teammates with Boesch the Cape Cod League. at Harvard-Westlake High School in Los Ange- les, was also a first-team All-Pac-10 selection mention All-Pac-10 after hitting .307 overall and .358 in conference play, and earned Collegiate Baseball Freshman All- collecting 14 doubles, eight home runs and 35 RBI. Three times during the America honors. He was the first Cal freshman to year, he began a game with a home run as Cal’s lead-off batter. be named All-America and All-Pac-10 since Xavier Another preseason All-American for the Bears is 6-3 junior right- Nady was the National Freshman of the Year in hander Morrow, who wooed the professional scouts last summer when 1998. After sitting out the 2004 season with an he struck out 24 batters in 14.7 innings with a 1.84 ERA and three injured right shoulder, Satin started all 57 games at saves for Yarmouth-Dennis. Throwing in the mid 90s with an second base last year, batting .348 with 15 doubles, impressive slider, change-up and split-finger fastball, he was a triple, five home runs and 40 RBI. He paced the selected as a Cape Cod League All-Star and is a third-team team with 26-multiple hit games, had a team-high 15- preseason All-American in Baseball America. game hitting streak and a team-best .434 average with The Bears possess much more than just the previously runners in scoring position. mentioned standouts. Several other athletes, both veterans and After a stellar summer in which he was a Cape Cod newcomers, will play key roles in Cal’s postseason chase. League All-Star, Errecart has been picked as a second- On the mound, the Bears return 6-6 junior right- team preseason All-American in Baseball America. hander Michael Cooper and 6-5 senior right-hander A left-hander who bats right-handed, he hit .303 with Alex Trafton, a pair of veterans who will provide six home runs and 22 RBI this summer for stability to a young pitching staff that includes Yarmouth-Dennis after batting .298 with 15 eight freshmen. Cooper was solid last year as a doubles, eight home runs and 35 RBI for the junior college transfer from Santa Ana College, Josh Satin was named a 2005 Bears last spring. going 3-2 with a 3.47 ERA, making 16 Freshman All-American and The veteran Craig also had an excep- appearances with nine starts. Trafton, a first-team All-Pac-10 after tional summer as he was picked as a first- side-winding reliever who was 2-1 batting .348 with 15 doubles, team shortstop on Baseball America’s with a 3.54 ERA and a save in 21 five home runs and 40 RBI Summer All-America Team. He ex- appearances last season, was last season for the Bears. celled for Alexandria (Minn.) of the all-league this summer for the Northwoods League, batting .362 Matsu Miners in the Alaska with 12 home runs and 40 RBI. League, going 5-1 with a 1.72 ERA. Cooper should be one of the Bears’ As a junior, Craig was honorable 8 2006 CALIFORNIA GOLDEN BEAR BASEBALL Senior Allen Craig was a first- Karnofsky is a talented left-handed hitter who sat out the majority of last team shortstop on Baseball season after having shoulder surgery, but could be Cal’s main designated America’s 2005 Summer All- hitter. He has a .309 career average with five doubles, a home run and 15 American team, batting .362 RBI in 55 college at-bats. Burchett is a veteran player who will be utilized with 12 home runs and 40 primarily as a relief pitcher this season after starting 12 games in right field RBI for the Alexandria of last year. He has an outstanding arm, throwing in the low 90s with an above- the Northwoods League. average curveball and change-up. The Cal coaching staff has again brought in a top-notch freshman class with several athletes who could see immediate action, especially on the mound where the Bears lost their top four pitchers to graduation and the draft. Tyson Ross, a 6-5 right-hander from Bishop O’Dowd High School in Oakland, is already slated to be one of Cal’s weekend starters, throwing in the high 80s to low 90s. He had an impressive outing against Cuba this fall as a member of the USA Junior National Team, allowing only two hits in 5.0 innings. Crafty freshman left-hander Chris Petrini, out of Sacred Heart Cathedral High School in San Francisco, has also put himself in the running to be one of the Bears’ starters after throwing well in the preseason. Outfielder Ryan Hanlon, from Laguna Creek High School in Elk Grove, Calif., is another freshman who has impressed the Cal coaching staff with his hitting and fielding, while left-handed hitting freshman catcher Charlie Cutler, from Lowell High School in San Francisco, had unworldly stats during his prep career, hitting .636 as a junior with a California high school record 71 RBI. “Our fall practices were very competitive,” said Esquer. “This is as good of a freshman group as we have ever had. I have a lot of confidence in the weekend Pac-10 players we have returning, and a lot of confidence in the newcomers. For starters, while Trafton is the freshmen, it could be just a matter of how quickly their performance level a candidate to be Cal’s closer. matches their talent level. I am extremely optimistic about this year’s team.” As far as position players are concerned, the Bears have a solid CAL BY POSITIONS core of returnees. Sophomore first baseman Mike Van Winden, junior catcher Garrett Bussiere and sophomore in- PITCHING fielder Kyle Spraker were regulars last A big key to the success of the 2005 season and will be looked to for contin- Bears was their pitching staff, with solid ued production. Van Winden had a magical contributions from starters Eric Dworkis season as a redshirt freshman, starting 52 and Adam Gold, and superior relief per- games at first base and batting .296 with 11 formances from Travis Talbott and Matt doubles, two triples, a home run, 31 RBI Swanson. But Dworkis, Talbott and and three game-winning hits. Bussiere, Cal’s Swanson were drafted and graduated, and regular catcher the last two years, overcame Gold signed with the San Diego Padres. a slow start in 2005 to bat .262 overall and Cal is going have to replace these players .306 versus the Pac-10 with four doubles, with a few established returnees, some five home runs and 21 RBI, including a grand redshirts coming back from injuries and a slam versus Washington State. Spraker so- large class of talented freshmen, including lidified the Bears’ infield as a true freshman, four left-handers and a member of the making 44 starts at shortstop, turning 31 USA Junior National Team. double plays while batting .221 with six Junior right-hander Michael Cooper doubles, three home runs and 15 RBI. is Cal’s top returning starter after a solid Other returnees who will contend for sophomore campaign. The 6-6, 230- playing time include sophomore outfielder pounder, who was drafted in the 17th Jason Corder, sophomore catcher/utility round by the Toronto Blue Jays in 2004, man Travis Howell, junior infielder Brett started nine games for the Bears, finishing Munster, sophomore designated hitter Jor- 3-2 with a 3.47 ERA (ninth in the Pac-10).