SALEM, Ore. – Extending from a fresh coaching staff all the way to a brand new turf field, the Corban University Baseball program has experienced and continues to explore uncharted territory as the Warriors are set to open the 2024 season this upcoming Friday with buzz surrounding the team. Newly appointed head coach Ryan Harris has the squad revamped for a return to the diamond in his first year as the Navy and Gold skipper, with a handful of key returners and newcomers prepared to fill the void of one of the program's largest graduating classes from the 2022-23 school year.
"We're really looking forward to this spring season," Coach Harris shared when asked to detail the 2024 expectations. "Incredibly proud of the team and what they accomplished over the past fall. They've worked hard, competed, fought through adversity, learned valuable lessons, and they've truly grown together as a team. Now this group has a fantastic opportunity this spring."
As originally announced by the Keizer Volcanoes organization this past fall, Volcanoes Stadium, the home site for all Corban baseball contests, has already undergone a majority of their transformation into becoming the first full artificial turf facility with multi-use attributes in the mid-Willamette Valley. In the grand scheme of Warrior baseball, this will provide Coach Harris and his staff with a more competitive advantage in structuring their non-conference schedules to include more home matchups in the Salem-Keizer area throughout late January and into February, while also providing the program with more reliable practice facilities as the Oregon winter temperatures progress into rainy spring forecasts.
However, due to the completion of the stadium upgrades progressing into 2024, the Warriors will look to take advantage of their new "home field advantage" for the early season weekends starting in 2025, as the program is set to kick off the regular season with five-straight road series that stretches from southern California up into the northwest and northeast corners of Oregon.
Three-consecutive road trips crossing Oregon's southern border spread out over the first three weekends of the regular season will provide Coach Harris' team with plenty of opportunities to prove their worth, starting in Atherton with four matchups against Menlo College on January 26th and 27th. The next two weekends will see the Navy and Gold make stops in Lancaster and Lincoln, where the University of Antelope Valley and Jessup University will play host for a pair of four-game series.
The Warriors will remain in Oregon for the remainder of the non-conference slate and won't even leave the state again until late March. They'll make stops in Forest Grove and La Grande to end the month of February with three games scheduled against NCAA DIII Pacific University and four more with CCC foe Eastern Oregon University, respectively.
A total of 19 regular season games will be played out before Warrior Nation will have their first opportunity to see the fresh faces in their newly printed uniforms on a pristine field with their first home date scheduled for March 8th against the defending Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) regular season champions, the (RV) Oregon Tech Owls. That four-game slate will represent the final non-conference series of the 2024 season for the Navy and Gold before opening the conference schedule the following weekend at home against the reigning NAIA National Tournament runner-up program, No. 3-ranked Lewis-Clark State College.
Corban will host their conference mascot twins on March 15th and 16th at Volcanoes Stadium before hitting the road for the remainder of March, with their last long road trip of the year taking them north of the United States border and into Vancouver, British Columbia to battle the (RV) University of British Columbia Thunderbirds.
The only midweek contest of the entire 2024 season will take place on Tuesday, March 26th on the road against NCAA DIII Lewis & Clark College, where the Pioneers will host Corban in a single regular season matchup at the newly renovated Huston Sports Complex to keep their arms and legs fresh during the team's bye weekend.
Conference play will resume the first weekend of April back on their home diamond when the Warriors host the Mountaineers for the four-game series rematch before making the short trip down the I-5 corridor to face off with Bushnell University on April 12th and 13th.
Senior Weekend will take place on April 19th and 20th for the Navy and Gold when they're scheduled to host The College of Idaho in the final home series of the regular season. The team's final contests scheduled thus far will be on the road in southern Oregon against the same Owls they opened their home season against, with postseason implications at an all-time high.
Should the Warriors earn a top-four placement in the CCC standings by the end of their OIT road series, they will be granted the right to participate in the 2024 CCC Tournament, hosted by the regular season champions. The winner of said tournament will earn the conference's only automatic bid to the NAIA National Tournament and either plan to host or travel to an Opening Round location.
"This spring, we expect to compete in each opportunity that we have," said Coach Harris. "Our guys understand the value of the opportunity that they have each game, and they know what they are in control of. Now, it comes down to preparation and execution. From there we grow, we learn, and we celebrate as a team."
Coach Harris is returning over half of the 2023 roster to this year's squad, as 20 student-athletes will be wearing the navy and gold pinstripes for at least their second-consecutive collegiate season of competition. Despite more returners than newcomers, a majority of the Warriors' lineup will be made up by underclassmen with a combined 23 sophomores and freshmen based on eligibility out of the 39 rostered players.
Despite representing quite possibly the youngest roster in the conference, Corban baseball returns a handful of key players from around the diamond, starting on the left side of the infield in junior Ryan Clay. He led the team last year in numerous categories, including games played/started (46/45), at-bats (159), runs scored (36), and RBI (28).
Last season's starting centerfielder, senior Brad Pellkofer, has returned for his final year of collegiate baseball and is expected to lead a young outfield core throughout the season. As a junior, Pellkofer led the team in triples with five on the season, while adding a pair of home runs and eight doubles to his offensive output.
A pair of starting pitchers represented by senior righthander Bryce Bridge and junior lefthander Hayden Van Acker will have their hands full in attempting to replace one of the program's best starters, Nate Martin, who led the team in every pitching category during the 2023 season. With both Bridge and Van Acker making double-digit appearances last season both in starting roles and out of the bullpen, finding a rhythm on the mound early in the season will benefit both the righty and southpaw as the season progresses and the team sees both returners and newcomers step up into advanced roles.
The two biggest losses from the 2023 roster comes in the form of catcher Keenan O'Brien and outfielder Kyle Clay, who both completed historic careers with the program and graduated this past spring term from Corban. O'Brien combined with Martin to become the second pitcher/catcher duo in program history to each be awarded Gold Gloves at their positions during the 2023 season, while Clay posted a perfect fielding percentage and leads the program in a handful of statistical categories for both single season and career numbers.
Fortunately for Coach Harris and his staff, the catching and outfield crews could both easily contend for the position group with the best depth charts, with multiple student-athletes ready in each opposite end of the field to either defend their starting spots, earn additional playing time, or catapult themselves into first year starting lineup scenarios.
When asked in the fall to provide the conference with a short list of newcomers that would expect to be on Warrior Nation's watchlist, Coach Harris spoke highly of three specific players in three different position groups, represented by two transfers and a true freshman.
First, Coach Harris shared the lengthy resume of senior first baseman Matthew Den Hartog, who arrives on Corban's campus to participate in his final season of collegiate baseball after a three-year campaign with NCAA DII Holy Names University. The 6'3" Los Alamitos, California native swings an incredibly heavy bat and can even play the hot corner when called upon.
Over the program's history, outstanding outfielders have always been a point of emphasis to each Corban team, and transfer junior Fran Gross fits the bill in every sense of the position. Gross will bring plenty of college baseball experience with him to the Warriors' lineup, having started in 56 of 60 games during his time with the New Mexico Military Institute. With nearly 200 plate appearances, a .277 batting average, and a .434 slugging percentage, Gross will likely contend to replace one of the two starting outfield positions that were vacated over the past summer.
Finally, Coach Harris' has expressed his commitment to making even more improvements to the pitching core that previous head coaches Derek Legg and Ethan Bragg progressed over their time as the program's leader, with freshman righthander Avery Williamson set to show what he can do on the college stage. Williamson surely has the potential to become a weekly starter for the Warriors, with his high school achievements and family prowess (father played baseball for NCAA DI University of Washington and the Twins' minor league affiliation) setting the stage for a highly anticipated freshman campaign.
"We have a mature team represented by these student-athletes that all have significant opportunities, not only athletically, but as leaders," Coach Harris shared on this season's squad. "We have some newcomers that are everyday guys that have embraced and embodied Corban and our culture since they stepped on campus, and we can't wait to see what they can accomplish on the field."
Despite the requirement of assigning "key returners" and "key newcomers" for the CCC and NAIA, Coach Harris remains adamant that this year's team is represented by more than just a couple of young men, but by the entire team composition and the hard work that every single player puts in when on the mound, in the cages, on the basepaths, and in their studies. The coaching staff, field of play, roster structure, and season expectations may change on a given year, and even more unlikely all in the same year, yet Corban baseball's longstanding culture and reliable development of student-athletes will always remain consistent.
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