2011 Baseball Media Guide - College of Southern Idaho Athletics

5
2011 Outlook
In the infield, the Golden Eagles will look to returning starters Ryan Cooperstone at shortstop and national
Golden Glove winner Blake Lively at third base for experience. Cooperstone hit .273 and Lively hit .278 for
CSI. Other infielders include returning sophomore Vincent
Giron of Salt Lake City and incoming freshmen
Kendal Maier of Missoula, Mont., Andrew Freter of Meridian,
Idaho, Chase Harris of Meridian, Idaho, Christian
Snuffer of Sandy, Utah and Ben Douglas of Moose Jaw,
Saskatchewan.
The only outfielder with experience is JC Paquin. The
6-2 sophomore played a majority of his time at the designated
hitter position as a freshman, hitting .226 in 53
games. Newcomers include Andre Ashton of West Jordan,
Utah, Parker Webster of Sandy, Utah, Ben Douglas
of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan and Tyler McCarty of
Chehalis, Wash.
“I feel like we have more of a core group that is willing
to sacrifice to win this year,” Walker said. “I think
our hitting throughout lineup will be strong. We will be
able to put nine guys all the way through that can swing
it.”
The Golden Eagles start the season on the road in
Phoenix, Ariz. before coming home for a weekend series
with non-conference foe Prairie Baseball Academy.
On March 4, CSI opens the
Scenic West Athletic Conference
season in Price, Utah
against College of Eastern
Utah. While it’s tough to
know this early who the team
to beat will be, Walker said
he expects Western Nevada,
Southern Nevada and Salt
Lake will continue to be good.
College of Eastern Utah is
much improved and he expects
Colorado Northwestern
to be similar to last year.
“I think overall the league is
down a little bit just because
we lost the best player in the
country,” Walker said referring
to first-round draft pick
Bryce Harper who led the
College of Southern Nevada to a third-place finish at the JUCO World Series.
The winner of the SWAC regular season will host the Region 18 Tournament May 11-14th. The Region 18
champion will need to win a district playoff May 19-21 to advance to the JUCO World Series in Grand Junction,
Colo. May 28-June 4.