Story by Haley Stoklosa
The Bellarmine baseball team is looking to its 23 new players this season, including 17 transfers and six freshmen, to improve on last year's 13-42 record. The new players come from all over the United States and divisions of college baseball.
The team's dynamics changed this year with over half of the players being new to Bellarmine.
Will Aubel is a fifth-year senior from Addieville, Indiana, who has been at Bellarmine for all of his college career. Aubel said it is different because he is used to having the same guys around every year but new players can help build the program.
“Getting some fresh faces in there is really nice for the program. I think they are going to take the program to the next level over the next few years,” Aubel said
Senior Blake Donnan is a transfer from St. Edwards University in Austin, Texas. He is looking to be a starting pitcher.
“I'm looking to accomplish maintaining my role as a starting pitcher on the team and do anything I can to help the team win,” Donnan said.
In addition to Donnan the other new faces of the baseball team are:
Andres Castro: redshirt junior infielder/outfielder from Tulane University/Monroe College
Cameron Combs: freshman catcher
Landon Akers: freshman shortstop/ second base
Jacob Rowold: junior outfielder from Southwestern Illinois College
Jake Agarwal: junior outfielder/ second base from Tulane University/Butte College
Hudson Cornett: junior pitcher from Bryant & Stratton College
Mike Sokol: redshirt junior pitcher from Wabash Valley College
Jackson Irwin: junior pitcher Frank Phillips College
Nate Lang: freshman outfielder
Carson Brower: freshman pitcher
Sam Matherly: freshman pitcher
Chase Carver: freshman pitcher
Thomas Sylvester: graduate student pitcher from Kalamazoo College
Matt Flaherty: redshirt junior catcher from Triton College/Abilene Christian University
Zac Jones: redshirt sophomore infielder from Ball State University
Holden Groher: redshirt sophomore pitcher from Butler University/John A. Logan College
Ross Goldschlag: graduate student pitcher from Sonoma State University
Luke Stevens: redshirt sophomore pitcher from North Iowa Area Community College
Cole McMichael: redshirt sophomore pitcher from Lincoln Trail College
Ben Tedesco: sophomore pitcher from Gulf Coast State College
Cooper Hellman: junior pitcher from Western Kentucky University/Indiana University
Tyler Talbert: redshirt sophomore pitcher from Dallas Baptist University
Freshman Landon Akers said coming to play a college sport is a bigger change than he expected.
“It has been a big change from high school to college, but my teammates have made the change so much smoother and less intimidating,” Akers said.
Head coach Chris Dominguez said he is most excited about having a good mix of new and returning players. Many of the players coming in have never played at the Division I level.
“It’s always a challenge when you bring in new players. You never know how it’s going to go, but I'm excited to see how they collectively play as a team,” he said.
A photo from Bellarmine baseball’s Instagram shows the captains picked this season: Will
Aubel, Davis Crane, Blake Donnan, Nolan Pender, Luke Scales and Casey Sorg.
Aubel and Donnan were both named team captains this year by their teammates.
“I just try to use everything I've learned and to try to teach and help each and every one of the younger guys, especially the freshman because I know how scary it can be,” Aubel said.
Both Aubel and Donnan said the team's main goal this year is to make it to the Atlantic Sun Conference tournament for the first time since going to Division I.
“As a team I believe our biggest thing is making that conference tournament. I think it’d be a really good steppingstone as a program,” Donnan said.
Dominguez’s message to the team this year is to prepare the best for each game and the wins and losses will take care of themselves.
“I never put numbers on like wins and losses so for me... my main goal is to prepare them each game and prepare them to play,” he said.
The team will host their first home game against Oakland University on Feb. 28.
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