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Baseball Preseason Outlook
February 13 marks opening day for the Swedes baseball team with a road game at Mid-America Christian University in Oklahoma. The Swedes start the season with a national ranking of 22nd in the NAIA polls. The Swedes have been a perennial top 25 ranked team the last three seasons, including last season’s 41-15 record.
Coach Matt Tramel will be entering his fourth season as Bethany College’s head coach. Coach Tramel has led the Swedes to 121 wins and 51 losses in the last three years, compiling two of the best seasons in KCAC baseball history.
The Swedes are looking to return a core of 17 seniors that helped lead the 2006 baseball team to the best batting average in the nation at .371. The pitching staff that put up some of the best numbers in the country will return with experienced and skillful upperclassmen for the major innings.
The coaching staff will be looking to build on a stronger season with a talented group of solid incoming players. The team will travel early in the season to Colorado State-Pueblo for three days of games, as well as a long trip to play several games at the Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minn. in early March.
“With our reliable and dependable seniors and returning players, we feel we will be a force in the region again,” said Coach Tramel. “This is a special group with the experience and team chemistry that will be able to take us a long way to achieving our goals and the high expectations of the Bethany College baseball program.”
Top returning players for 2007 are seniors Charles Brown, Los Angeles, Calif.; Ben Schmidt, Torrington, Wyo.; Nick Miles, Salina, Kan. and Shawn Ravenscraft, Muscatine, Iowa.
During KCAC media day held at Friends University Feb. 5, the Swedes were picked by the coaches to finish first.
Full coach’s poll:
1. Bethany College
2. Ottawa University
3. University of Saint Mary
4. Friends University
5. Kansas Wesleyan University
6. Sterling College
7. Tabor College
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