Saints aim high in 2015 baseball campaign

 

Time to break out the peanuts and crackerjack: Baseball season is upon us.

As the Saints start their preseason games, Mt. Hood’s baseball coach, Bryan Donohue, talked about his high hopes for the team coming into the 2015 season.

Although Mt. Hood went 1-3 in two doubleheaders over last weekend, Donohue liked what he saw from his team in the lone win and knows what they need to work on for the upcoming season. He sees this team as one of the best he’s coached since being here and can’t wait to start the regular season, he said.

The Saints currently have two players who will move on to Division 1 college baseball next season. They are pitcher-outfielder Joe Balfour, headed to San Jose State, and first baseman Tommy Lane, set to play at Marshall University. In 2014, Lane led the Saints in RBIs (18) and home runs (4).

Newcomers to watch this season are Taylor Travess, a utility player who can pitch and play multiple positions, shortstop Jay Rogers, and pitchers Aaron Clift and Seth Rayburn.

Donohue also listed redshirt sophomore catcher Louis Wolf as a player to watch. Wolf led the team in batting percentage last season at .329 and added 28 hits.

Last season, the Saints finished 16-14 in conference play, and 19-23 overall. But they hope to have a season more like 2012, when they won the South Region and tied a 42-year-old record with 39 wins.

In the last three years, Mt. Hood has won two South Region titles, most recently in 2013. Back in 2000, the Saints won the NWAC championship.

Donohue said that this year’s Saints are one of the fastest and most athletic groups he has ever coached. The team showed strong a lot of potential during fall ball.

If they put it all together, he said the Saints have a real chance to win another NWAC title, the ultimate goal for every Mt. Hood team. This is a group that can win a lot of games if they play to their potential, which they showed during a good fall ball season, he said.

The Saints take on the Everett CC Trojans on their home Oslund Field in a pair of doubleheaders this weekend.

The two teams will play two, starting at 2 p.m. on Saturday, and starting again at 11 a.m. on Sunday.