Two huge wins on the road against a top 10 team(I'm sure that ranking will fall pretty far after this weekend). Last year was something alot of us hadn't experienced as Gopher fans and it's great to see the quick turnaround. These are the wins, plus the Santa Barbara, Hawaii, and Washington ones from the DQ Classic, that will really come in useful at NCAA tournament time.
We've got a pretty good mix of experience and youth. Last year our bullpen was a huge weakness as we gave up leads in alot of games but we also we're using alot of true freshman. Now this year our bullpen is a strength and all those freshman are now experienced sophomores.
Maytas, Fern, Sexton, Rasmussen, and Issakson are all sophomores who saw alot of innings last year and have been huge for us so far this year, as has freshman Lubinsky,
One thing of note that relates to the previous discussion about Wisconsin getting baseball back, Maytas, Fern, Sexton, Issakson, and Lubinsky are all Wisconsin kids, as is Nohelty. Not saying we wouldn't still get some of those guys but it would make things more difficult.
Our starters, unlike the pen, are two seniors and two sophomores. Buske and Handran and Rosin and Klabunde. Thats a good mix although we still lack the true #1 that is so key come tournament time.
We also have a great mix in the field. Anderson took some heat a few years ago for what was called a weak recruiting class, especially MN kids, but it looks like he will get the last laugh. The one who didn't redshirt from that class, SO. Mike Kvasnicka, is having a monster year hitting .423 with 14 RBI. Our lineup also includes three Redshirt Freshman from that class in SS AJ Petterson, 3B Kyle Geason, and 1B Nick O'Shea. Geason was the star in high school at Eden Prairie but so far has struggled at the plate hitting .225 but big things are expected of him and he will be a big bat eventually. O'Shea was a recruited walk-on from Centennial but was the talk of the program last year as a redshirt but so far he is at .232. The huge suprise has been little AJ Petterson from Minnetonka, who is a pretty slick SS but wasn't known for his bat but so far is hitting .319 and has been great at the top of the order. The juniors are also playing big. Derek McCallum has been one of our best players ever since he stepped on campus and is hitting .315 while Catcher Kyle Knudson is at .313 and two sport star Eric Decker is killing the ball at .417. We only have two seniors that see much time, Matt Nohelty obviously and Jon Hummel. True Freshman Sam Ryan, from Oakdale has also started three games. Ryan and Lubinsky appear to be the only freshman not redshirting.
The future is definately bright.