Tigers have components for success in 2010

Posted: Friday, April 23, 2010 1:37 pm



by Peter Adelsen

The 2010 Northwestern Tigers (17-8, 5-2 MIC in 2009) come into this baseball season wanting to play good baseball and would like to contend for the conference and sectional championships.

Coming into the season, the Tigers did not have any set objectives in mind. They just wanted to play good baseball.

"We really didn't have any goals coming into the season," Northwestern coach Ryan Berryman said. "We just wanted to play well and put together a good team. We have a lot of guys returning, so I feel we have a lot of key components to have a lot of success."

So far this season, the Tigers have put together a strong team with a record of 8-1 as of April 21.

Northwestern returns seven seniors to this year's line-up. They are Eric Osentoski, Toby Richards, Luke Miller, Cal Cossell, Danny Turner, Ray Schaaf and Trevor Gibson.

Around the infield, Berryman said his key returners are Miller and junior Austin Henderson.

"Luke has done a lot of key stuff for us for the four years," he said. "Austin has been a good power hitter for us. We're looking for them to continue to be hot."

As for the whole team at hitting, Berryman is optimistic this year.

"Up and down the order, I think we have enough to score runs and move the ball," he said.

As for pitching, the Tigers can go 10 or 11 deep on the mound. This year's pitching ace is junior Bryan Beachy.

"(Bryan) does a nice job mixing it up and keeping the ball down," he said. "He gives us an opportunity to win every night he gets out there."

A leader coming out of the bullpen is senior Trevor Gibson, who can also start for the Tigers.

For a look down the road this season, Berryman thinks he has a championship caliber team.

"I would like to think that we contend for MIC and sectional championships," he said. "We just got to continue to play good ball."