Feb. 16, 2005
As unpredictable as the weather in the Midwest, the Wright State baseball team has been up and down past few seasons. While the Raiders have won at least 20 games each of the past four seasons, the only winning campaign came in 2001 when WSU won 31 games. In 2005, the Green and Gold have a fresh new look led by first-year head coach Rob Cooper, a young, yet experienced, cast of ballplayers and the welcoming of a solid group of newcomers to the WSU family.
After losing only nine players from last year's squad, the Raiders add 12 to the 2005 edition, including five junior college transfers. Wright State fills their 30-man roster with a balanced 15 pitchers and 15 position players, along with four left-handed pitchers in the mix. Expectations and anticipation come along with the new beginning to baseball as the Green and Gold start this season with a clean slate, tough schedule and a return to tradition.
opening a new chapter in raiderville
The season marks the end of the Ron Nischwitz era and starts a new chapter in the Raider baseball tradition with the hiring of Rob Cooper. Cooper, a former assistant at Oral Roberts University, comes to the Raiders after stops at Miami (FL), Sacramento City Community College, Tulane and Oral Roberts and looks to inject life into the Green and Gold. Cooper, only the fourth headman in the program's 35 years, has brought a renewed enthusiasm and winning attitude to the table at Wright State, which starts with his involvement in the community and continues on the recruiting trail and onto the field.
Along with Cooper come three assistants in Brennan Hall, Greg Lovelady and Kurt Palmer, who have all been associated with winning programs before their arrival at WSU. Hall joins the staff as the relative newcomer after helping lead the Cardinals to their first-ever postseason appearance in 2002. Lovelady joins the Raiders after three seasons as an assistant at national powerhouse Miami (FL), where he was also the starting catcher on the 1999 and 2001 National Championship teams. As a catcher for the Hurricanes, Lovelady, a co-captain his senior season, was chosen as the Arnold Novins Memorial Award winner for the "most popular player" at UM. While an assistant, Lovelady worked primarily with the catchers and assisted with hitting instruction. Palmer, the former head man at Southern Utah University, spent five seasons battling with Oral Roberts, Cooper's former team, in the Mid-Continent Conference. The Thunderbirds met the Golden Eagles in the conference championship game four out of the five seasons Palmer was at SUU. During his tenure, Palmer led the Thunderbirds to a 111-159 record, 68-49 in Mid-Con play.
a new look schedule, with an old school feel
The Raiders have began to move in the right direction on paper and have continued to purse the next level as their schedule consists of two Top 30 teams and many of top-of-the-line non-conference opponents. The Raiders will open on the road with the usual suspect of Western Carolina as Wright State has opened with the Catamounts for each of the past 20 seasons. After the Western Carolina series, WSU will make three trips to Kentucky to take on Morehead State and Murray State in weekend play and also renew a rivalry with the Cardinals of Louisville. Following a stop in Evansville to take on the Purple Aces, Northern Illinois and Austin Peay as a part of the Aces Diamond Classic, the Raiders head back to the Carolinas to take on Duke for the first time and meet up with preseason #25 Winthrop. After hosting Akron and traveling to Eastern Kentucky and IPFW, WSU heads to the desert to face preseason #9 Arizona State, a team Wright State last faced at the 1994 NCAA Regional in Knoxville, Tennessee. Wright State then has an encounter with Bowling Green before swinging into Horizon League action with UIC, Cleveland State and Youngstown State at home and visits to UW-Milwaukee and Butler to close out the season. Along the way, the Raiders also face Division II national runners-up Grand Valley State for the first time and take on Dayton, Miami (OH), Mount Vernon, Kent State and Ball State to close out the 56-game schedule.
playing catch
The Green and Gold look to an experienced unit of arms and familiar faces behind the plate to start the 2005 season. Along with sophomore Kyle Kearcher, junior Chris Snyder and senior Matt Crawford, the Raiders also return senior left-hander Aaron Braden from arm surgery and junior iron man Chris Coleman, who led the team in innings pitched in 2004 with 92 1/3 innings pitched. Coleman, Kearcher and Snyder combined for 13 of 22 wins during the 2004 season. The nucleus of starters will be flinging the ball at the duo of Jack Leopard and Bryan Vickers, who combined to start 44 of 55 games last season behind the plate. Vickers was the Raiders' lone First Team All-Horizon League performer a season ago and will look to add to an already impressive 36 career home runs, which included 16 round-trippers last season to tie a WSU single-season record.
have a heart for the dramatic
The Raiders have a solid core of relievers heading into this season with Joe Smith, Nate Stevens and Ross Vagedes returning to sure up the bullpen spots vacated by the departures of Kevin Kuntz and Kyle Young to graduation. Smith was the team leader in earned run average last season, posting a 2.87 ERA in 19 games while striking out 36 batters in 31 innings work. Stevens started the season strong with two saves in his first four appearances, but was sidelined with mono in midseason and picked up just one save the remainder of the season. Vagedes made only one appearance last season, throwing an inning at Kentucky, but appears to be a solid arm in the bullpen after a strong fall season.
the "dirtbags"
The Raiders are sure up the middle, looking to minimize mistakes and turn two whenever possible this season. Two new faces join sophomores Ross Oeder and Brian Shoup in the infield this season as Brendan Rubenstein and Travis Migliorini add depth and experience to an already solid group. Oeder, who was the only WSU player to start every Horizon League game a season ago, will again man shortstop and team with Migliorini, a transfer from Glendale Community College in Arizona, as the Raider tandem up the middle. On the corners will be redshirt sophomore Brian Shoup at third base and junior college transfer Brendan Rubenstein at first. Shoup, who appeared in 46 games as a freshman, will move to the hot corner after seeing action in 2004 as a first baseman and designated hitter. Rubenstein, a transfer from Monroe Community College, will take over at first base for Pat Masters who is recovering from shoulder surgery.
raiders in the outfield
The Raiders will have their choice in the outfield this season as the Raiders have depth, skill and athletic ability in seven potential outfielders. The pre-season outlook places Chris Coleman, Amin Abusaleh and Justin Wilson in the three starting positions. Wilson adds speed in centerfield and a versatile offensive threat at both the plate and on the base paths. Wilson started in 26 games last season and in 89 plate appearances overall, hit .315 and swiped four bases. Like 2004 when he started 31 games, Coleman will roam leftfield when not on the mound and gives the Raiders experience as he batted .273 with 22 RBI. The newcomer to this group, Abusaleh, from L.A. Pierce Junior College, brings a .376 average and First Team All-Conference honors to the Raiders. Also vying for time in the luscious grass of Nischwitz Stadium will be freshman John Kopilchack, sophomores Ross Vagedes and Matt Harris and senior Adam Morton.
