Diamond dreams begin anew for Tigers’ baseball

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (Feb. 5, 2010) – An improved Tigers baseball squad enters the 2010 season energized and focused as they look to better their 16-24 overall record from a year ago. Returning to the diamond this spring are a 11 letter winners who will be joined by 12 incoming student-athletes.

While the Tigers combine youth with veterans, their schedule will certainly be a challenging one. Oxy will open up the season at home with a set against Whitworth (Wash.) University before traveling to Anthem, Ariz. where they will play Linfield College, Pacific Lutheran University and George Fox University, all from the Northwest Conference, who have been ranked among the Nation’s Top-20 in the last two years.

When Occidental returns to Southern California they will play a three-game series with No. 4 Chapman University in March with the remainder of the schedule against Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference teams.

Six position players will don the Black and Orange again this spring. The team is young and unproven in several areas, but are much better in all facets of the game than they were last season.

Among those set to suit up this year are First Team All-SCIAC and Third Team All-West Region shortstop Jason Jebbia who led every offensive category (.389 BA, 63 H (12-2B, 3-3B, 6-HR), 32 RBI, 41 runs) and successfully swiped 26 bases for the Tigers a year ago. Joining Jebbia in the middle infield is Second Team second baseman Daniel Kelley who hit .420 in SCIAC action during his sophomore campaign.

Depth behind the plate (Dale Garrett and transfer Brenton Wunner), coupled with freshman Logan Allen, who boasted a 6.5 60 yard dash in winter camp, roaming center field and the Jebbia-Kelley double-play threat in the infield gives Occidental a very solid middle.  

“We have built our defense around the strengths of the players we have,” said head coach Jason Hawkins. “We are very excited about our ability to help our pitching staff by playing solid baseball in the field.” 

Also returning for the Tigers is senior Glenn Gray. The outfielder looks to regain the form he showed in 2006 when he was named to the Third Team All-West Region before spending most of last season injured. Casey Harms and Anthony Salsedo will also return to the outfield for the Black and Orange this spring.

Anchoring the pitching staff in 2010 will be junior Brooks Belter who earned a team-high four wins during his sophomore year. Joining the rotation will be likely be right-handed freshman Cory Popham and transfer righty Stephen Hilliard. Sophomore Tyler Eyrich, junior Nick Smallman, transfer Jake Blodgett and freshman Pedro Aldape add much-needed depth to the bullpen.

“The key for our pitching staff is consistency,” said Hawkins. “To be able to compete in the conference we are going to have to pitch more consistently and I believe we have the right guys to do that this year.”

When they aren’t on the hill, Hilliard and Aldape will see action at the corners, playing third base and first base, respectively. Garrett and Popham will also share time at first base for the Tigers when they aren’t behind the plate and on the mound. 

Offensively the Tigers are going to be significantly better as they return four proven, quality bats in the line-up in Jebbia, Kelley, Gray and utility man Kevin Ozaki. Additionally, the incoming class has shown their ability to get the bat on the ball, which will improve the overall offense for Oxy.  

Once on the base paths look for the Tigers to be a threat. Last season they stole 136 bases in 171 chances. 

“Potentially we could put five guys with sub-seven 60’s in our starting line-up, which would allow us to put a great deal of pressure on our opponents,” Hawkins shared.

Overall the Tigers are an improved squad from last season, Hawkins’ first at the helm of the Black and Orange. 

“I'm very excited about our athleticism and this squad’s ability to go out everyday and get better” stated Hawkins. “They are also developing chemistry off the field that will be very important to us down the stretch. This is a very fun club to step onto the field with every day.”