BY JIMMY GILLIGAN | The Statesman Last year Bob Rients, the head coach of the University of Minnesota Duluth baseball team, believed his team could win every game. This year he expects it.
The baseball team kicks off the 2016 season with a nonconference at Pittsburg State this weekend. They come into the matchup with confidence after a breakout 2015 in which they nearly doubled their win total from the previous season.
“I don’t think the excitement level can get any higher, to be honest with you,” head coach Bob Rients said.
He has plenty of reasons to be excited. The Bulldogs retained a lot of talent from last year’s team, earning them preseason recognition as the team picked to finish No. 4 in the NSIC.
“(With) the guys that we have returning and the experience we got last year, we’re moving in the right direction,” Rients said. “It’s very exciting, not just for the players, but for the coaching staff too.”
They brought back Alex Wojciechowski, who for the second time in his career was voted the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Preseason Player of the Year.
“It’s definitely an honor, but I’m focused on more of the team. I’m trying to do as much as I can to help the team win,” Wojciechowski said.
The senior first baseman’s .416 batting average ranked No. 31 among all Division II players last season. He finished leading UMD in nearly every offensive category.
“He’ll be important, but I think the strength in our team this year is depth,” Rients said.
Rients also described his team as more mature than in years past.
The maturity comes as a result of playoff experience from last year, as well as a key trio coming of age in a strong senior class. Kyle Comer and Jimmy Heck join Wojciechowski as three senior infielders with nearly three years of starting experience.
On the mound the Bulldogs have another key upperclassmen in senior Bo Hellquist, who led UMD in strikeouts and innings pitched last season.
While the Bulldogs have a lot of people returning to the team, they also have some spots to fill in the field with the departure of starting center fielder John Meyer and starting catcher Beau Goff as well as several relief pitchers.
To compensate for the losses, Rients has brought in 13 freshman, including nine pitchers. Among those freshman is Tyler Wojciechowski, Alex’s younger brother.
“(It’s the) first time we’ve played on the same team—it’s been a good experience,” Alex Wojciechowski said.
Rients said he expects several freshman to see playing time early on in the season.
Leading up to this weekend’s season opener, the Bulldogs have been practicing daily in the field house. Heck is impressed with the progress made by the incoming freshman class.
“It’s been a lot of live at bats lately, it’s pretty cool to see all these guys that are squaring up baseballs, even the young guys,” Heck said. “Young guys are coming in and taking it in stride and it pushes us returners to be that much better.”
While this weekend’s four-game set against Pittsburg State isn’t conference play, it still counts toward UMD’s regional rankings, which at the end of the season could earn them an at-large bid into the NCAA Division II baseball tournament—their desired destination.
“We do expect to make the playoffs. We do expect to have an opportunity to be at the Division II World Series in Cary North Carolina—we expect that is attainable, so it’s exciting,” Reints said.
Even so, the Bulldogs know it’s a long season. They’re going to take things one game at a time.
“We’re going from an indoor facility without turf to a field, there are going to be some bumps in the road,” Heck said. “We can’t think too much of those bumps, we don’t want to be playing our best baseball at the beginning of the year; it’s what counts at the end.”