By Docker Haub
Student Reporter
Coming in at No. 9 in the GAC pre-season poll, the Ranger baseball team is looking to have a breakout year in 2019.
Coming off a 24-25 record with 16 conference wins in 2018, Coach Bowen is looking to his senior class to provide the team with energy and leadership to help the Rangers make a playoff appearance in 2019.
“I’m fortunate to have a great senior class with a bunch of leaders who just want to win,” Bowen said. “They always know how to get the guys fired up.”
Among some of those seniors, Coach Bowen expects some great playmakers of the past couple years to continue to make plays.
Louis Centron, a gold-glove second baseman for the Rangers next year is expected to continue with his outstanding defensive play as well as providing some solid offense from the middle of the line-up.
From the mound, Coach Bowen expects redshirt senior Matt Goertzen to provide the Rangers with some great starts.
“Matt is just one of those guys you can always count on to perform when you need to get off to a good start in big games,” Bowen said.
Offensively, look for Daschal Johnson to be a solid lead-off hitter once again for the Rangers in 2019 and seniors Johnnuelle Ponce and Justin Bundy to provide many RBI’s.
Another Ranger who is expected to deliver some big hits for the team is senior Carlos Andujar.
“He’s one of the best natural hitters I’ve ever seen,” said Baron Phillips, a redshirt junior for the Rangers. “The power he puts behind the ball when it comes off the bat is just ridiculous.”
Coach Bowen is also expecting some freshly added talent from transfer players to mix in well with the talent from last year. Coach Bowen said his staff did a great job recruiting this year and is excited to see how some of the new players will mix into the game plan and provide plays for the Rangers.
One of those new transfer players is Tanner Rutledge, a junior from Kingfisher, Oklahoma.
“I’m very excited for this season,” Rutledge said. “We got a great group of guys who truly care about each other and care about winning ball games.
The coaching staff and all of my teammates were very welcoming to myself as well as the other new guys I came in with, I think we’re gonna do something special this year.”
The Rangers kick off their 2019 season with a home opener against Christian Brothers University on Feb. 2 at 1 p.m.
Coach Bowen said he is excited for the home opener and can’t wait for all the fans to come out and support the Rangers, and get this season started off right with a big win on Ranger Field.