FREELAND — Defending champion Adrian has been picked as the preseason favorite to repeat as Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association baseball champions.

The Bulldogs, who have won six consecutive MIAA championships and all three tournaments since the MIAA began its postseason tournament in 2012, received seven out of eight first-place votes in the preseason poll of the league’s coaches. Hope, who was picked to finish second, received the other first-place vote.

Brandywine, Dowagiac and Niles all have players competing this spring in the MIAA.

Brandyine’s Brian Exner is a senior catcher at Calvin, while Cassopolis’ Kevin Hatcher is a sophomore infielder and Niles’ Tyler Parish a junior catcher at Olivet.

Dowagiac’s Dean Klann is a freshman infielder/outfielder at Trine University.

Hope, which finished 22-21 and third in the MIAA last year, brings back two-time All-MIAA infielder Brady VanderWeele and its four top pitchers for the 2015 season. VanderWeele, a junior, is moving to shortstop from second base after hitting .323 last season. Senior righthander Currey Thomas returns after posting a team-high five wins on the mound in 2014. He is joined by three teammates who totaled four wins apiece: junior Austin Goodyke, junior Jake Chipka and sophomore Ty Van Wieren.

Under the direction of first-year head coach John Rypel, Calvin will be seeking to continue the momentum it gained from a 28-16 campaign last spring that saw the Knights finish second in the league and reach the MIAA tournament finals. Calvin will be led by senior captains Grant VanPutten, Nate Schepers, Peter Cupery and Ben Wohl. An outfielder, VanPutten is a two-time first team All-MIAA selection and the Calvin record holder in stolen bases. Schepers and Cupery will help anchor the Calvin pitching staff with Cupery also providing a big bat in the lineup.

Kalamazoo returns several key players from a team that made the MIAA tournament for the first time last spring. Senior outfielder Scott Devine, a second team All-MIAA selection last year, led the Hornets in home runs (4), RBIs (34) and stolen bases last season. Also returning are outfielder Ian Kobernick, who led the team in hitting (.377), and junior lefthander Dylan Pierce, a second team All-MIAA selection who led Kalamazoo in earned run average (2.58), innings pitched and strikeouts. Shortstop Mitchell VanKoevering and pitcher Aaron Schwark also return for the Hornets.

Albion begins the season with catcher Spencer Bonofiglio, outfielder Michael Fischbach and first baseman Kyle Kowal among the players to watch in Division III according to the Collegiate Baseball newspaper. Fischbach, a junior, was the MIAA›s batting champion after hitting .417 and collecting at least one hit in 24 of the 28 league games last spring. Pitchers Craig Conway and Matt Temrowski return after picking up four victories apiece last spring.

Trine returns the majority of a young roster from last season. Headlining the returners is All-MIAA first baseman Jordan Baer, who led the team in batting average, home runs and RBIs last season. Joining him in the infield is Ethan Prebynski, a veteran with 120 career starts to his credit. Zach Thorn, Kory Shackle and Drew Burgess return after seeing significant time in the outfield last season. The Thunder also return six of their seven leaders in innings pitched from last season, led by senior Eddie Tomich, who has won three games each of the last two seasons.

Alma brings back most of its roster from a year ago, led by junior catcher Doug Walters, who hit a team-high .366, and outfielder Yoan Delrosa, who hit .333. Returning seniors Juan Dominguez and Blake Leddy led the Scots in runs batted in with 18. Juniors Colin Nash and Philip Jock, along with sophomore Alex Valasek, anchor the pitching staff, while senior Eric Strickler returns to his closer role from two years ago, where he was a D3baseball.com All-Region selection.

Olivet will look to 10 seniors to help the Comets improve on their 10-30 overall record from the 2014 season. Leading the way is catcher Peter Panos, a 2014 second-team All-MIAA selection, who had a .363 batting average. Jonny Zawacki returns to the field after being sidelined for the majority of the 2014 season with an injury. Other three-year starters returning are infielder Tom Kort and outfielder Drew Thompson.

Adrian is poised for another run at the MIAA championship this spring.  The Bulldogs return the reigning MIAA Position Player of the Year in sophomore shortstop Ryan Dorow, who last year won the national Freshman of the Year award from D3baseball.com. Dorow batted .392 with 21 doubles, five homers and 40 RBI. Senior Eric Schmidt, who has amassed a career record of 21-3 with a 2.99 earned run average, is expected to be the team’s ace in the rotation.

 

Preseason poll results

(first-place votesin parenthesis)

1. Adrian (7) 7 pts. 2. Hope 13 (1). 3. Calvin 26. 4. Albion 28. 5. Kalamazoo 30. 6. Trine 34. 7. Alma 37. 8. Olivet 49