Former WNC players shine at four-year level

By Charles Whisnand

Appeal Sports Editor

The crew as Western Nevada College baseball coach D.J. Whittemore refers to his former players has gotten off to an outstanding start this season at the four-year level.

WNC has more than a dozen players from last year's team at the four-year level this season and the group has already made its mark. It was also an outstanding weekend this past weekend for former WNC pitchers at the Division I level. "The crew's doing well," Whittemore said.

Stephen Sauer looks to have become one of the top relief pitchers at Arizona State, the No. 1 team in the country. Sauer made two appearances in three games over the weekend as the Sun Devils got off to a 3-0 start. Sauer allowed one run in three innings.

Two other WNC pitchers picked up their first wins of their four-year college careers. Dan Grubbs picked up one of the wins this past weekend for New Mexico as the Lobos opened the year by sweeping a three-game series against Eastern Michigan. Jeremy Joustra also picked up a win this past weekend as New Mexico State took two of three against New Orleans.

Another former WNC player, Tyson Jaquez, who played for the Wildcats in 2006, started the first two games at catcher this past weekend for the University of Nevada against UC Irvine.

At Division II Texas A&M-Kingsville, Thomas Miller is starting at first base and hitting third. He's hitting .289 (with two home runs and eight RBIs for the Javelinas, who are 9-4 and 6-2 in the Lone Star Conference.

At Division II Western Oregon, Taylor Mieras is receiving the majority of time at catcher where he's hitting .259 with one home run and seven RBI. Pat Grennan is also a backup outfielder at Western Oregon.

On the NAIA level, Brad Carlsen is off to an outstanding start at College of Idaho, formerly Albertson College. Carlsen is hitting .343 with two home runs and 13 RBI. Jake Bottari is also a starting pitcher in the rotation at College of Idaho and has picked up one win.

Another pitcher off to an outstanding start is Josh Brink at the University of British Columbia, an NAIA school. Brink is the No. 2 starter in the rotation and is 1-0 with a 1.00 earned run average.

Kyle Bondurant is also tearing it up at Vanguard of Southern California, an NAIA school. Vanguard plays in arguably the toughest NAIA conference in the country, the Golden State Athletic Conference. Bondurant is hitting second and starting at second base and leading the team in virtually every offensive category.

In addition, Andrew Ferguson is a starting outfielder for Bethany College, an NAIA school in Kansas, which is off to a 3-1 start.

"I'm really excited that what they did here is transpiring at the four-year level," Whittemore said. "The nice thing to see is these programs are winning. I think that's the thing that our guys bring to the table."