The Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU) baseball squad is off to a solid start so far in the 2008 season, despite losing all four of the club’s starting pitchers from last season. The Sea Lions are 11-8 overall and 6-5 in the highly competitive Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC).
Two impact players who have returned this season are third baseman Andy Reilly, a senior, and center fielder Kurt Steinhauer, a junior. Reilly led PLNU in batting last season with a .371 average. The Poway native is leading the Sea Lions again with a .453 average, two home runs and 45 runs batted in through the first 19 games of the year.
Steinhauer, meanwhile, has returned from an injury that sidelined him for the entire 2007 season. He is picking up where he left off in 2006 when he hit 9 home runs and had 45 runs batted in. So far this season, Steinhauer is hitting .333 and has 3 home runs and 14 runs batted in through 19 games.
In addition to Reilly and Steinhauer, there are two other players batting .333 or better out of the minimum of 60 at-bats: outfielder/right-handed pitcher Kaohi Downing (.385), a junior, and outfielder Mike Reynolds (.339), a senior.
Coming into 2008, the biggest concern for co-head coaches Jack Northam and Joe Schaefer was how to replace the starting pitchers with a relatively inexperienced group of players. Yet the Sea Lion bats have added some much-needed run support for the young staff, averaging almost 6 runs per game while the pitching staff has surrendered only four runs per game.
Another positive sign for the Sea Lion pitchers is the arrival of pitching guru John Gunther during the off-season as the new pitching coach. Gunther, a longtime San Diegan, has coached at the collegiate level across the San Diego area, including stops at Mesa College, San Diego State University, University of San Diego and most recently at the University of California, San Diego from 2003 thru 2006.
The Sea Lions hit the road this weekend with GSAC contests against San Diego Christian College (today) and a doubleheader against California Baptist (Saturday) before returning home to Carroll B. Land Stadium to face GSAC rival Vanguard on Feb. 12 at 3 p.m.
