The 2005 Biola Baseball season was a memorable one in many ways. The club easily captured the Golden State Athletic Conference finishing with a 27-3 conference record, winning the GSAC crown for the 5th time in the last 8 seasons.
The Eagles swept through the Regional Championship going 3-0, swept through the Super Regional Championships against University of British Columbia with a 2-0 record and battled in the 2005 N.A.I.A. Avista World Series in Lewiston, Idaho for the 3rd time in the last 5 seasons.
At the College World Series, the club pitched very well and played solid defense, but only hit for a .254 team average. In four toughly contested and hard fought ball games, the Eagles finished with two wins and two losses for a 5th place tie in the 10 team tournament.
Biola was nationally ranked throughout the whole season and ended the regular season ranked #4 in the nation.
Junior Reid Hamblet was drafted in the 5th Round and signed with the Baltimore Orioles for a substantial signing bonus and finished his summer pitching in Aberdeen, Maryland. Senior catcher Andy Kroeker was drafted in the 17th Round and signed with the Houston Astros and finished his season in Troy, New York.
Senior 2nd baseman Anthony Manuel was drafted and signed with the New York Mets and finished his season in Kingsport, Maine.
1st Team All American and closer, Jon Grijalva was signed by the Toronto Blue Jays and finished his season in Pulaski, Wisconsin.
Junior pitcher Garet Hill was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers and turned down a reasonable contract offer deciding to return to Biola for his senior season.
The 2006 season begins with Biola ranked #6 in the N.A.I.A. pre-season national ranking.The Eagles will be a veteran club dominated by seniors with a lot of familiar faces in the field and on the mound.
2005 All-GSAC, All-Region, and Honorable Mention All American players returning to the club in 2006 include Richard Fixsen (LF) .330 8HR 32 stolen bases, Chris Weems (3B) .354 5HR 36 RBI, David Mirabal (SS) .336 2 HR 26 RBI, and Garet Hill (RHP) 10-2 2.10 ERA.
Said Head Coach Verhoeven, These four guys were a major reason why we were so successful last season. They were the heart and soul of our club. They expect to win, they know how to win, and they execute the little things that are necessary to win.
Richard Fixsen was recently named on the 2006 N.A.I.A. pre-season All American team. Fix is smart and aggressive and makes our offense go. A walk is as good as a double to him. But if pitchers just lay the ball in trying not to walk him, he'll make them pay. He disrupts the heck out of pitchers and defenses, said Coach Verhoeven.
hris Weems has a killer instinct and doesn't allow himself or his teammates to be content with a lead or be emotionally down when we're trailing in a game, continued Verhoeven. Most athletes don't play as well as they are capable of when they are angry, however, Weems is an exception.
David Mirabal was also recently named to the 2006 N.A.I.A. pre-season All American team along with Fixsen. Mirabal is relentless, plays unselfish and has a way of being a thorn in the side of opponents. He will find a way to beat you with situational hitting or his play at shortstop. If David is on your club, you love him, but if he is on the other team, he is a pain in the butt, said Coach Verhoeven.
Garet Hill returns to the mound after a sparkling season in '05 when he was 10-2 with a 2.10 E.R.A. He struck out 105 batters in 99 innings and walked only 26. Opponents batted a measly .209 against him. In his last start of 2006 in the College World Series, he pitched a complete game 3 hitter against Briar Cliff (Iowa).
Garet had more wins, more strikeouts, a lower E.R.A., fewer walks, and fewer hits allowed than Reid Hamblet (Baltimore Orioles 5th Round Draft Pick) did last season and Garet continues to improve and get better.He has just scratched the surface of his abilities. His physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual maturity as a person and a pitcher has improved dramatically in the last 3 years, said Verhoeven.
Other prime time pitchers returning after a fine 2005 season include Travis Lange (RHP) 7-1 2.93 E.R.A. coming off a complete game shutout against Ohio Dominican in the 2005 N.A.I.A. World Series, Kevin Fox (LHP) 5-1 3.30 ERA, and veteran relievers Mike Casserly (RHP) 4-0 3.41 ERA, Charlie Watson (RHP) 2-1, 2 saves, 3.18 ERA, Jon Young (RHP) 3-0 4.08 ERA, and Jimmy Johnson (LHP) 1-0 1.50 ERA (missed 3/12 months of last season with a broken hand).
Said Verhoeven, With the continued development and maturity of Hill, Travis Lange, Kevin Fox, Jon Young, and Jimmy Johnson, we feel that we have more than enough starting pitching to make another run at the title.
Verhoeven continued, I like the options available in our bullpen. The toughest guy to replace will be our closer last season, Jon Grijalva.At this point (early January) I'm not certain of the roles for each reliever, but we have some experienced and battle tested seniors in Casserly, Watson, Brent Hale (transfer from Cal Berkeley), and Jack Creighton (transfer from Loyola Marymount). Plus, we have two big freshmen, Charlie Gausepohl and Derek Dietzen that have live arms, good velocity, smooth deliveries and throw strikes.
Rounding out the bullpen will be a freshman left-hander, Kyle Gilbertson, coming off a fall season where he showed on a daily basis that he could get college hitters out.
Other part-time starters returning in '06 include Matt McQueen (1st Base) .271 3 HR 20 RBI, Chris Willard (RF) .314 2HR 15 RBI, Kris Cook (DH) .295 2 HR 13 RBI, Eric Bowman (DH/C) .270 3 HR 18 RBI, Matt Love (2B/3B) .265 3 HR 9RBI, and Tyler Wright (RF) .227 6 RBI.
The 2006 recruiting class was heavily bolstered with the addition of NCAA Division 1 transfers Pete Arroyo, infielder (New Mexico State), Kevin Conlin, infielder (UCLA), Brent Hale, pitcher (Cal Berkeley), and Jack Creighton, pitcher (Loyola Marymount).
Outfielder Adam Yoder, a sophomore, transfers from Vanguard University where he was an All GSAC performer as a freshman.
Junior college transfers include Tim Wells, an All Region outfielder from San Jose City College; Nick Dietzen, an All Conference infielder from Big Ben CC in Moses Lake, Washington; and Alex Miranda, a speedster from Pasadena City College where he led his club in stolen bases.
The only freshman position player recruit in 2006 is Hawkins Gebbers, an infielder from Brewster, Washington where he was the 1A State Player of the Year.He was the Eagles most consistent hitter during the fall season and will be battling for the 3rd base job.
Three academic sophomores that red-shirted last season and will make their Biola debuts in 2006 will be speedy center fielder Chris Foreman, utility infielder Jason Gonzalez, and catcher Aaron Cooper.
In the coaching department, John Verhoeven, former major league pitcher with the Angels, White Sox, and Twins, returns for his 9th year as head coach compiling a overall record of 295-122-6 (.710) and a conference record 187-65 (.740) in his first eight years. In Coach Verhoeven's eight seasons as skipper, the Eagles have advanced to the Regional Playoffs seven times, won five Golden State Conference Championships, three Regional championships, and have advanced to the N.A.I.A. College World Series in 2001, 2003, and 2005.
David Castillo, former minor league infielder with the Tigers and Twins, returns for his 7th year as Biola's hitting coach after taking last season off.Dave will also serve as the Eagle's 3rd base. Under Castillo's watchful eye, Biola hitters have consistently been one of the top hitting teams in the nation.Castillo played his collegiate baseball at Cypress JC and Chapman College.
A former pitcher in the Milwaukee Brewers organization, Ken Haringa begins his 7th season as Biola's pitching coach after spending one year as Biola's hitting coach. In Haringa's six seasons at Biola as a pitching coach, his pitchers have been named to the All America team eleven times and seven have been signed or drafted by major league organizations. Haringa played his collegiate baseball at Riverside CC and University of LaVerne.
Eric Slater begins his 2nd year of coaching at Biola working with catchers and being the first base coach. Slater had a great four year career at Biola from 1999-2002 and was named the All Conference catcher in his junior and senior years.
The new kid on the coaching block in 2006 is former Eagle relief specialist, Justin Angevine. Justin spent three seasons pitching for Coach Verhoeven in 2003, 2004, and 2005 and pitched in a total of 70 games making him number 5 all time in games pitched for Biola. He will assist with pitching and move infielders and outfielders in defensive alignments in game situations.
The 2006 schedule should, once again, get Biola ready for tough conference and post season play.
Trying to win back to back conference titles and returning to the World Series will be difficult because the conference has gotten a lot stronger and more talented. We lost one of our best starting pitchers, our catcher, our second baseman, and our closer to professional baseball. Several returning players will have to put together another solid season and some new guys will have to step up to fill in some big shoes, said Coach Verhoeven.
This club has the talent and the heart to be a championship club, said Coach Verhoeven. We still have great starting pitching, solid defense, great speed on the base paths, tight team chemistry and have re-tooled in the bullpen. I believe our hitting will be better than last year with more power throughout the whole line-up. If we continue to pitch and play defense which allows us to win one run ball games like last season, 2006 could be another exciting year for Biola baseball.