Douglas High Baseball preview: Tigers come into year loaded with veteran talent

Douglas High baseball coach John Glover shouldn't have too much of a problem picking his No. 1 starting pitcher this season.

All he really has to do is pencil in the name "Tyler" on the lineup card.

The only real question there is going to be, "Do you want righty Tyler or lefty Tyler?"

The Tigers enter the year with perhaps the strongest 1-2 pitching combination in the Northern 4A. One is entering his fourth year starting at the varsity level while the other is coming into his third.

Senior righthander Tyler May has posted 13 career wins, has never lost a playoff start and is 9-1 over the past two seasons (He missed most of last year with a shoulder injury). Senior lefthander Tyler Hoelzen went 8-2 last year, winning all seven of his league starts and tossing a no-hitter against North Valleys. He struck out 60 batters along the way. As a sophomore, his first career start at Tiger Field was the Northern 4A Regional Championship game.

"With those two, I don't think it matters whether they go 1 or 2," Glover said. "There is no doubt in my mind, especially after watching our scrimmages this weekends, that we are solid regardless of who we put out there. They are both throwing really well and we'll be asking them to chew up a large chunk of innings this year. It's a real luxury to have a pair of solid pitchers like that."

The storyline of seasoned veterans on the Tigers' roster carries over to every position on the field this year. Douglas finds itself with the luxury of having either a returning starter or a player who saw significant time at the position last year at every spot on the field.

All told, the team has seven players who earned all-league recognition last year.

The returning pitching staff accounted for all but two of the team's wins last year, along with all but two of the team's starts on the mound.

The team's top five pitchers in strikeouts return. Three of the top four batters in doubles return, as do seven of the top eight in triples and seven of the top eight in RBIs.

To top it all off, three starters remain from the team's last trip to the regional title game in 2007.

The thing is, they are going to need every bit of that experience this year to have any chance of taking the Sierra League title.

The Northern 4A realigned its league system heading into the school year, which moved traditional powerhouse Reno High "the team who won all but two of the Sierra League titles ever awarded (Douglas won the other two) -- to the High Desert League, along with North Valleys and Wooster (Hug dropped its varsity baseball program this year, and Wooster moved to the High Desert just for this season and just in baseball).

While the Sierra League may have lost its perennial favorite, it gained regional powers Galena and Bishop Manogue, along with an always-competitive Fallon squad.

"With the change in leagues, I think it really made the Sierra League a really, really strong baseball league," Glover said. "The league is absolutely loaded, week in and week out. It'll be fun, it'll be really interesting to see what happens.

"It's going to take a lot of mental preparation for the kids. We'll have to play as hard as we can every single day. If you have any type of let down, you are going to get beat. Someone made a comment last week that a team with six or seven losses is going to win the league this year.

"That's never really been the case in the past, but if you think about it, it's true. It'll be a war every week. It'll be about winning the series, instead of sweeping the series. What it really does is bring us closer to the real, professional style of baseball. If you want to win this league, you have to go a series at a time, a game at a time."

Glover said there is no clear-cut favorite in the league, but that the usual cast of characters like Damonte Ranch and Carson will be vying for the title with Manogue and Galena.

"You add Fallon to the league and that is going to be a very tough series," Glover said. "Tahoe is a much-improved team. That's a deal where we got beat up there last year and it really could come down to something like that this year. Manogue is the defending league champ on the other side. It'll be a real struggle every week."

Glover wasn't willing to let the Reno series fall by the wayside, even if the Huskies were in a different league. The teams will meet up for a three-game, midweek series in April.

"Reno was probably the series we would've missed the most," Glover said. "Our kids love playing Reno. It's always a great series, great baseball. Our byes happened to match up this year so coach (Pete) Savage and I worked it out. It's always a fun series."

Aside from having a host of experience at his disposal this season, Glover said he is excited about the amount of depth and flexibility his 16-player roster brings to the table.

Perhaps the biggest hole to fill on the field will be filled by one of the most seasoned players on the roster this year. Douglas loses defending Sierra League Player of the Year Jordan Hadlock (now red-shirting at Cal Poly) behind the plate, but Hadlock's backup for the past two years, Beau Davis, is ready to take the reins.

Davis handled the catching duties whenever Hadlock took the mound last year, and was a regular starter in the outfield so he'll be coming in with a full year of varsity starting experience offensively.

"Beau is going to be handling to lion share of the catching duties," Glover said. "We were hoping to get Ryan Moglich some time back there too, but he's not completely back from a knee injury (ACL) he had during football season.

"We've been using Moglich as a designated hitter in lot of intersquad games and scrimmages and he is doing a good job for us there. (Sophomore) Kameron VanWinkle might find his way in there behind the plate too. We'll just have to see."

The corners of the infield will provide some of the stiffest competition on the roster.

At first, Glover said he'll be looking at a battle between Hoelzen, junior Brett Hartley and junior Michael Whalin for playing time.

"You have three capable guys competing for a job there," Glover said. "It's really one of our most interesting spots. You may even see VanWinkle crop us a bit there. That competition makes guys better. It puts you in a place where you have to rise to the occasion and get the job done."

The battle may be even more fierce at third base, where a pair of returning starters -- VanWinkle and Troy Torres -- will be vying for time.

"It's a war right now," Glover said. "Both guys are playing really well. It'll be a hotly-contested spot."

The middle infield will have four players rotating between two spots. Seniors Tim Rudnick and Jeff Croziers are returning starters and all-leaguers at shortstop and second base respectively, but junior Brett Anderson and sophomore Shane Fencl will also be in the mix.

Fencl played short whenever Rudnick took the mound last season while Anderson is one of only four newcomers to the team this year, having played a strong season at the junior varsity level last year.

"Tim did a great job for us last year and he has been starting at short going on three years now," Glover said. "Jeff was a surprise. He and (right fielder) Tanner Thomas were call-ups from junior varsity last year and we didn't really know what to expect out of either of them.

"They both turned out to be fantastic players. We know what to expect with them this year and they'll need to be definite leaders for us.

"You'll see Brett and Shane out there a lot, especially early, creating that competition. Hopefully it makes the whole group better."

Thomas, a first-team all-leaguer last year, leads a talented and deep outfield group that includes May, Hoelzen and newcomers Danny King, Conner Dillon and Beau Battista.

"Danny King and Conner Dillon are two new guys we're really keeping a close eye on," Glover said. "They're probably fighting for a starting spot out there. Both guys are great athletes, they both had fantastic football seasons and we'll see how that varsity experience translates.

"May will be out there for the fourth year now, Thomas made first team last year and Hoelzen played out there a lot. Beau will be out there, and he'll be a good addition on the mound. We didn't see him as much in the summer but I'm excited about him and he's really competing early in the year so far."

Battista was called up late last year to help round out the pitching staff, and he'll be expected to throw more this year.

Whalin was the team's third starter last year and is the likely candidate for the same spot this year.

"We also got a ton of innings last year out of VanWinkle and Rudnick," Glover said. "We're going to be putting Torres out there on the mound more this year and we'll be seeing Crozier and Dillon in some relief and spot-starting roles this year too."

The Tigers open their season this weekend at the Mike Bearman Memorial Tournament in Reno, where they'll play five games in three days.

"Hopefully we get a chance to see everyone get some playing time," Glover said. "It'll be good to see what happens. We're ready to go, just excited to get the season underway."

SEASON SNAPSHOT

DOUGLAS HIGH BASEBALL

Coach

John Glover, seventh season (140-68)

2008 Season

Regional quarterfinalists, Sierra League runner-up, 22-11 overall, 16-5 Sierra

League

Key Returners

Tyler Hoelzen, sr., P/1B/OF

Tyler May, sr., P/OF

Tanner Thomas, sr., OF

Troy Torres, sr., DH/3B/P

Tim Rudnick, sr., SS/P

Kameron VanWinkle, soph., 3B/P

Jeff Crozier, sr., 2B

Michael Whalin, jr., P/1B

Beau Davis, sr., C

Ryan Moglich, jr., DH

Brett Hartley, jr., 1B

Shane Fencl, soph., INF

Top Newcomers

Brett Anderson, jr., INF

Conner Dillon, jr., OF

Danny King, jr., OF

Beau Battista, jr., P/OF

Starters Returning

9

Starters Lost

1

AROUND THE HORN

CATCHER

Probable Starter

Beau Davis, sr. (2 2B, 1 HR, 11 RBIs in 2008)

Davis spent the last two seasons as a back-up to standout catcher Jordan Hadlock, but still developed as a strong defensive player in the outfield and a solid offensive contributor.

Also in the mix: Ryan Moglich, Kameron Van Winkle.

FIRST BASE

Probable Starter

Tyler Hoelzen, sr. (7 2B, 1 HR, 13 RBIs)

Hoelzen gets the nod here at one of the most competitive spots on the roster simply because of his experience at the position late last year. This spot opens up at least once a week when he is on the mound.

Also in the mix: Brett Hartley, Michael Whalin.

SECOND BASE

Probable Starter

Jeff Crozier, sr. (3 2B, 2 3B, 23 RBI)

Crozier was an unknown commodity coming into last season but quickly turned some heads with his offensive production. He ended up being one of the bigger suprises on the Tigers' roster, hauling in all-league honorable mention honors.

Also in the mix: Shane Fencl, Brett Anderson.

SHORTSTOP

Probable Starter

Tim Rudnick, sr. (10 2B, 5 3B, 30 RBIs)

Rudnick has started at this position for the past two seasons and is one of three players left on the Tigers' roster that started in the 2007 Northern 4A Regional Championship game. He is coming off a second-team All-Sierra League season.

Also in the mix: Shane Fencl, Brett Anderson.

THIRD BASE

Probable Starter

Kameron VanWinkle, soph. (4 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 17 RBIs)

He carried a big bat as a freshman and developed quickly defensively with a strong arm across the field. This, however, will be the second-most competitive spot on the diamond for the Tigers with returning first-team all-leaguer and spot-starting senior Troy Torres vying for time as well.

Also in the mix: Torres

OUTFIELD

Probable Starters

Tanner Thomas, sr. (6 2B, 5 3B, 3 HR, 23 RBIs)

Thomas thrived in the No. 2 spot in the batting order last season and reaped first-team All-Sierra League honors for his play.

Tyler May, sr. (1 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 10 RBIs)

He earned second-team all-league honors despite only playing half the season before dislocating his shoulder. It's easy to forget with all his prowess on the mound that he is one of the strongest hitters on the team.

Conner Dillon, jr./Danny King, jr. (junior varsity)

If Hoelzen isn't on the mound or at first, he can easily slide in to left or center. When two of your prospective starters in the outfield are also starting pitchers, there will be room for others to step in regularly. Look for a number of combinations in the outfield throughout the year.

Also in the mix: Beau Battista, Hoelzen, Torres and Moglich.

DESIGNATED HITTER

Probable Starter

Troy Torres, sr. (3 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR, 25 RBIs)

Torres and Moglich could end up being interchangeable at this spot, but Torres gets the nod after garnering first-team all-league honors.

Also in the mix: Moglich.

PITCHERS

Probable Starters

May (3-0, 19 K, 9 BB)

May has won nine of his last 10 starts and has compiled 13 wins for his career, placing him near the top of the school record book. One coach called him the best pitcher in the region last season. There's no reason to think that will suddenly change this year.

Hoelzen (8-2, 60 K, 19 BB)

The first-team all-leaguer started the 2007 regional championship game as a sophomore and threw a no-hitter against a solid North Valleys squad last year. The lefty completes one of the best 1-2 punches in the Northern 4A for Douglas.

Michael Whalin, jr.

(4-2, 26 K, 18 BB) Whalin had a solid sophomore campaign on his way to all-league honorable mention honors.

Also in the Mix: Rudnick, VanWinkle, Torres, Crozier, Battista, Dillon. Rudnick and VanWinkle were the most frequent occupants of the mound last season, each taking the mound 13 times. Rudnick finished the year with 32 strikeouts and VanWinkle had 25. Torres has had 11 appearances over the past two season but should see more time this year. He is 2-1 for his career. Crozier and Battista each saw time on the mound last year while Dillon will probably get some innings early on this year.