SALEM, Ore. – With a year of experience now under his belt in the Pacific Northwest, Corban University Baseball head coach Ryan Harris is filled with confidence heading into the 2025 spring season with the newly revamped roster he has assembled, as the Warriors are primed for a resurgence within the ever-competitive Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) in hopes of returning to the NAIA National Tournament for the first time since their 2021 breakout season. The Warriors finished the 2024 season with a 9-37 overall record and were 4-20 in conference play to finish seventh within the conference, but have an unbelievable amount of upside for 2025 with a new look lineup.
"Our non-conference games were built to prepare us for our conference," began Coach Harris when asked to detail his second season at the helm of the Corban baseball program. "Some very competitive teams that allow us to gauge where we are and how we can improve. The CCC is a highly competitive conference and has a track record to continue to improve with each passing year. With adding a team and more conference games this year, it is imperative to be very intentional with how we prepare and ultimately play this year because there is now an additional spot into the conference tournament."
Entering the 2025 season with a seventh-place prediction based on the CCC coaches' preseason poll, the Navy and Gold have one of the highest upsides among the entire eight-team conference with a completely revamped lineup and promising schedule that will see the program take advantage of their home turf field following the installation late last winter, as they'll host some non-conference matchups for the first time in a number of seasons while welcoming the top three squads from the 2024 standings to Volcanoes Stadium at some point during this year's campaign. Meanwhile, their entire travel schedule for this conference season will either take place within the state of Oregon or just over the eastern border into Idaho, with the furthest road trip stretching barely over seven hours without having to make trips to northern Idaho or British Columbia.
Key matchups during the non-conference slate for the Warriors will be this upcoming weekend when they flip an expected road trip to northern California into an unexpected home four-game series against Simpson University, in addition to a three-game set next weekend when they travel to No. 10-ranked Arizona Christian University.
Within conference play, Corban baseball will host first-year program Warner Pacific University on February 21st and 22nd at Volcanoes Stadium for their introductory matchups, followed by a two-week road trip that concludes with back-to-back home weekends against No. 7-ranked Lewis-Clark State College and No. 24-ranked University of British Columbia in their host weekends of the 2025 season. The final programs the Warriors will host this spring include I-5 rival Bushnell University to begin April and Oregon Tech on April 18th and 19th, with that Saturday representing the team's Senior Day contests.
To view the Corban baseball schedule for 2025 in its entirety, click HERE.
"We believe that our team compliments each other very well," Coach Harris explained regarding his revitalized roster. "Having senior leadership in Ryan Clay, Josh Miyazawa, and Fran Gross leading the charge and adding great players such as Isaac Bateman and Peyton Rickard to elevate our lineup allows our role players to be themselves."
A majority of the key returning student-athletes from the 2024 starting lineup are represented around the diamond and in the outfield for Coach Harris, with only three of their key rotation arms on the roster in 2025. Senior third baseman Ryan Clay and redshirt junior catcher Joshua Miyazawa represent the only four-year Warriors returning to have played within the program since their true freshman season and started in over half of the contests played last season, with the duo firmly planted within the top three of most statistical categories at the plate.
Other key positional returners from the 2024 roster include sophomore outfielder Lucas Mertlich and senior Fran Gross, who both expect to see more playing time within Coach Harris' lengthy lineup card. A 35-man recruiting class to over double his roster from last season will provide a hefty amount of depth at each position, with junior infielder Isaac Bateman and junior utility player Peyton Rickard leading the pack early as junior college transfers.
Coach Harris continued with his roster explanation by sharing, "Our pitching staff has greatly improved, with players like Avery Williamson and Sam Greenhalgh having a lot of experience and competitiveness and adding starters Chris Shaffer, Josephan Gonzalez, and Jackson Young with their work ethic and leadership has been outstanding, and they elevate our bullpen with how they attack their preparation and how they play."
The Warriors' pitching staff has been decimated over the past two seasons, with just two returners having just a single year of experience among the starting pitchers and only four of their bullpen arms seeing mound time in 2024. Senior righthander Sam Greenhalgh and redshirt junior righthander Kyle Blohm are the lone arms to have been with the program for more than a season to have returned in 2025 out of the bullpen, while sophomore righthander Avery Williamson and sophomore southpaw Aidan Bray both become starting forces for Coach Harris in his first season leading the program and will look to provide that same depth and reliability once again this spring.
From the robust recruiting class that Coach Harris orchestrated, senior lefthander Chris Shaffer from NCAA DII Cal State University San Bernardino and junior righthander Jackson Young from Wenatchee Valley College will both help bolster a depleted pitching staff, while the 21 remaining arms from the class are all capable of stepping up and providing quality innings for the Navy and Gold.
To view the entire 54-man Corban roster eligible for 2025, click HERE.
To read up more on the 35-man recruiting class Coach Harris introduced earlier this week, click HERE.
With the 2025 CCC Tournament welcoming the top five teams in the conference standings as opposed to the top four that have been invited in years past, the Warriors will have numerous opportunities to prove their worthiness over the course of the next 13 weeks before the postseason begins at the end of Week 14 at the home field of the eventual regular season champion.
As the years progress, NAIA baseball within the Pacific Northwest has continuously improved from the top to bottom of the CCC, and the Corban baseball program is well within reach of reclaiming their postseason seed and demonstrating what it means to play ball in the Navy and Gold pinstripes for His glory.
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