2022 Summit League College Baseball Preview

Image credit: Oral Roberts RHP Isaac Coffey (Photo courtesy of Oral Roberts)

There’s never been a time when this iteration of the Summit League has been more competitive at the top of the conference. With North Dakota State winning the automatic bid last season, it was the third different regional team to come from the league in three years, with Nebraska-Omaha going to the postseason in 2019 and perennial power Oral Roberts representing the conference in 2018.

For a conference so long dominated by one team—in this case Oral Roberts—that’s a good thing for the overall health of the league, even if ORU would surely prefer that not to have changed.

Last season, the defection of Purdue-Fort Wayne to the Horizon League left the Summit League with just five members, which put it at risk of losing its status as an automatic bid conference if it couldn’t find replacements in short order. That was remedied, however, with the addition of Northern Colorado as a baseball-only member and St. Thomas from the Division III ranks.

Given that conference realignment isn’t quite settled yet, nothing is guaranteed for the long term, but growing to seven members has at least provided some stability in the moment.

These are five important questions for the Summit League ahead of the 2022 season.

Is Oral Roberts ready to take back the crown?

The headlock that Oral Roberts (31-22, 19-7) once had on the Summit League has loosened in recent years. The last two full seasons, in fact, are the first time as members of the conference that ORU has missed the postseason in back-to-back years.

The talent level has remained high, though—suggesting that a big part of the reason for the drop-off has been the rising quality of the rest of the conference—and there’s reason to believe that the 2022 season could signal a return to the postseason for the Golden Eagles.

The position player group is particularly exciting with the return of fourth-year junior first baseman Jake McMurray (.343/.430/.444), third-year sophomore catcher/DH Alec Jones (.337/.412/.582), fifth-year senior center fielder Joshua Cox (.293/.356/.455) and fourth-year sophomore right fielder Caleb Denny (.284/.359/.456), plus the addition of Hawaii grad transfer third baseman Dustin Demeter (.325/.392/.553) and Sam Houston State transfer shortstop Jackson Loftin (.145/.217/.197), a solid defender whose offensive skills are better than last season’s numbers suggest.

Athleticism and defensive ability among this group should be a strength, as the ORU coaching staff sees both Loftin and junior college transfer second baseman Mac McCroskey as shortstop-quality defenders in the middle infield and views all three starting outfielders—Cox, Denny and junior college transfer left fielder Justin Quinn— as center fielders.

On the mound, fourth-year junior righthander Isaac Coffey (9-2, 2.81) is a true workhorse and the reigning Summit League pitcher of the year. He doesn’t have stuff that will blow away hitters, necessarily, but he really knows what he’s doing out there.

Behind him in the rotation, the Golden Eagles project to turn to Oklahoma grad transfer lefthander Ledgend Smith (3.77 ERA, 14.1 IP) and fifth-year senior righthander AJ Archambo (6.50 ERA, 18 IP), who should be in a better place than he was last season given that he’s now another year removed from Tommy John surgery.

A wild card in the bullpen for Oral Roberts is fourth-year sophomore righthander Trey Wolf. He has the best stuff on the team, including a fastball from 94-96 mph and a plus slider, but he’s missed each of the last two years with injury. If he’s healthy in 2022, he could help answer some of the questions ORU has about its bullpen.

Oral Roberts has talent in spades, and if it can find a handful more pitchers that it trusts behind Coffey, it should be a very balanced team. Results in the regular season really haven’t lagged much at all, but now it’s a matter of getting back over the hump and into the postseason.

Can North Dakota State repeat?

North Dakota State (42-19, 20-11) had a special season in 2021, almost inarguably its best season as a member of Division I. Given that, it’s natural to expect a step back in 2022, and that very well could happen, but NDSU still does, on paper, have what it takes to get back to the postseason.

It helps that when coach Tod Brown departed for New Mexico over the summer, associate head coach Tyler Oakes, who had been with Brown in Fargo since the 2014 season, was elevated to the position. That should provide continuity for what is still a pretty veteran team.

Even with the loss of standout closer Parker Harm, the pitching staff looks like it will be a strength for the Bison. Returning to the rotation are fourth-year junior lefthander Max Loven (3-3, 4.82), sophomore righthander Cade Feeney (8-1, 3.23) and fifth-year senior righthander Evan Sankey (7-3, 4.76), who started a combined 30 games last season.

Fourth-year junior righthander Tristen Roehrich (2-1, 5.11) projects to be the midweek starter, where his fastball up to 95 mph will give the Bison uncommonly good stuff in that role. NDSU could turn to multiple pitchers to close games, just as it did last year with Parker Harm and Wyatt Nelson.

Nelson (3.56 ERA, 30.1 IP), a third-year sophomore righthander, is back, to be joined on the back end by fifth-year senior righthander Jake Drew (4.37 ERA, 22.2 IP), who can get up to 95 mph with a fastball the coaching staff describes as electric.

The lineup will have to replace its two top hitters from last year in Bennett Hostetler and Jake Malec, but there’s still a lot to like with this group.

Already a steady contributor, fourth-year junior shortstop Peter Brookshaw (.263/.374/.388) looks ready to lead the lineup. He has some pop in his bat, plenty of speed to cause problems for the opposition on the bases, and the NDSU coaching staff says that he’s coming off of the best fall they’ve ever seen offensively.

Others who will be a big part of things include fifth-year senior outfielder/DH Jack Simonsen (.293/.365/.415), fourth-year sophomore first baseman Brock Anderson, who missed all but five games last season due to injury, and a pair of junior college transfers in the outfield in left fielder Terrell Huggins and right fielder Cadyn Schwabe, both of whom can really run. Cadyn’s brother Calen Schwabe (.246/.319/.300), a fifth-year senior center fielder, has a similar profile to his brother and will give the Bison a trio of athletic outfielders.

If the offense takes a step forward thanks to returning players improving year over year or through new faces having an impact right away, there’s no reason the Bison can’t be right back in a regional in 2022.

How well will Nebraska-Omaha reload?

Coming off of a regional appearance in 2019, Nebraska-Omaha (22-25, 14-12) took a step back last season, finishing third, well ahead of South Dakota State and Western Illinois but well behind North Dakota State and Oral Roberts at the top. Now with a revamped roster, the Mavericks will look to move back toward the top of the standings.

The centerpiece of the lineup is clearly sophomore third baseman Mike Boeve (.319/.401/.429). He looks the part at 6-foot-2 and 210 pounds and he has the tools to match. After a standout freshman season in Omaha, he led the Northwoods League in hits over the summer, and he’s also a capable defender at the hot corner.

Piecing together the lineup around Boeve is the challenge facing the Omaha coaching staff, and they are leaning heavily on transfers to do so. There projects to be as many as five transfers in the everyday lineup, including a pair of crosstown Creighton transfers in third-year sophomore second baseman Cam Frederick and fourth-year junior center fielder Will Hanafan, neither of whom had more than 33 at-bats with the Bluejays last season, but both of whom should be impact players right away for the Mavs.

Among returners to the lineup, fourth-year junior catcher/DH Eduardo Rosario (.337/.450/.530) stands out as a potential breakout player. He swung the bat well in a small sample last year and will be one of the best hitters in the Summit League if he extrapolates that out over a full season.

Fifth-year senior righthander Mark Timmins (5-2, 5.12) will lead the rotation, to be followed by a pair of junior college transfers in righthander Chandler Bell and lefthander Caleb Riedel. Sixth-year senior righthander Joey Machado (5-4, 3.84) is a very good insurance policy for the pitching staff. The steady veteran projects to begin the season as the midweek starter, but he could easily slide back into a weekend spot if needed.

Fifth-year senior righthander Tanner Howe (4.64 ERA, 21.1 IP) provides some valuable versatility to the pitching staff and junior college transfer righthander Tyler Mattingley will look to close games with his electric fastball.

If the big group of transfers has a profound impact right away, Omaha is a contender at the top of the league again. If not, it’s still talented enough to be competitive, but the ceiling wouldn’t be quite so high.

Is a bounce back in store for South Dakota State?

Historically one of the most consistent teams in the Summit League, South Dakota State (15-32, 9-19) had a really tough season in 2021, finishing ahead of only Western Illinois in the standings. It’s a really easy bet to predict that the Jackrabbits will be better in 2022. Their track record is too good for that not to be the case. But predicting any more than that takes some projection.

Had righthander Adam Mazur not transferred to Iowa after the season, SDSU might have had claim to the best rotation in the conference, but even without him, it has a chance to be quite good.

It starts with the healthy return of fourth-year sophomore righthander Nic McCay. He was very good as a freshman in 2019, putting up a 4.08 ERA and 83 strikeouts in 79.1 innings, but he’s missed each of the last two seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery. If back to full strength, his stuff is good, including a fastball in the low 90s.

Behind McCay, sixth-year senior lefthander Cody Carlson (2-5, 4.27) and fourth-year junior righthander Drew Beazley (2.16 ERA, 33.1 IP) will round out the rotation, and the experience of this trio keeps the floor for the rotation pretty high.

SDSU also has a big-time returning closer in fourth-year junior righthander Ryan Bourassa (4.04 ERA, 42.1 IP), who struck out 65 batters and held opponents to a .228 batting average last season. He works with a low-90s fastball and a splitter that generates plenty of whiffs.

Fifth-year senior lefthander Bret Barnett (7.03 ERA, 24.1 IP) also brings a big arm to the bullpen, with a fastball in the low 90s and slider in the low 80s. He’s struggled each of the last two seasons, but in 2019, he had a 1.31 ERA, a .138 opponent batting average and 47 strikeouts in 34.1 innings.

The key for South Dakota State to be significantly better this season, however, is offensive production after last year’s team hit .229/.333/.345. Fifth-year senior catcher Derek Hackman (.319/.436/.542) and fourth-year junior shortstop Luke Ira (.268/.337/.391) provide a solid foundation, but others will have to step up around them.

One candidate to do so is Beazley (.203/.299/.308), who will play first base in addition to his weekend starting duties. Last season didn’t go particularly well for him with the bat, but back in 2019, he hit .275/.420/.443 and was a key cog in the lineup.

Among newcomers, junior college transfer DH Dawson Parry stands out as best being able to provide juice in the batting order. The national player of the year in his division in junior college, he hit .495/.586/1.000 with 26 home runs. Projecting junior college power production to be replicated in Division I is always risky business, so there may be some boom or bust potential for Parry, but the upside is huge, as is his frame at 6-foot-1 and 250 pounds.

Pitching will help SDSU take a step forward in 2022. The offense making a leap would help them compete with the best in the Summit League.

What can be expected from the rest of the league?

Holdover Western Illinois and newcomers Northern Colorado and St. Thomas makes up the rest of the Summit League, and while it’s unlikely any of the three are going to compete for a conference title, there are interesting things to watch with each.

Western Illinois (11-28, 7-19) showed some fight in coach Andy Pascoe’s first full season at the helm by taking a game off of Louisville on the road to begin its campaign, but that momentum didn’t last and WIU struggled to a last-place finish in the conference standings.

A rotation of fifth-year senior lefthander Jace Warkentien (2-4, 4.47), sophomore righthander Jacob Greenan (6.75 ERA, 21.1 IP) and fifth-year senior lefthander Brian Raymond (0-5, 4.73), will keep the Leathernecks competitive, as Warkentien and Raymond were the two most effective arms on the staff last season, but after losing the top four hitters in the lineup, the key for WIU to show progress in 2022 will be the development of some impact bats that can support the pitching staff.

Northern Colorado (11-36, 7-24 in the WAC) should be able to put some runs on the board with the return of fourth-year junior outfielder Hayden Heinze (.337/.363/.398), fifth-year senior catcher Josh Glenn (.297/.403/.462) and third-year sophomore infielder Shaydon Kubo (.268/.345/.389), with Glenn a name in particular to watch for Summit League player of the year honors.

The bigger question for the Bears will be on the mound after top starter Sam Leach graduated and Dylan Bowers transferred to Virginia. Fifth-year senior righthander Logan Chase (3.00 ERA, 18 IP) and 6-foot-6 sophomore righthander Dylan Day (4.57 ERA, 21.2 IP) both project to throw important innings after serving as the two most reliable relievers a season ago.

St. Thomas (37-10, 17-2 in Division III) is not only new to the Summit League, but it’s new to anything above Division III, as it skipped a level to come up this season.

It’s always tough to gauge how well a team will compete in year one after moving up from Division II to Division I, so a Division III to Division I transition is even tougher to gauge. What we do know is that the Tommies want to win games as a pitching-and-defense outfit.

Even understanding that it will be an adjustment for him, fifth-year senior lefthander Graham Laubscher (8-2, 2.40) should give St. Thomas a chance every Friday. The conference pitcher of the year last season in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, Laubscher struck out 114 batters in 82.2 innings and held opponents to a .195 batting average. Returning fourth-year junior righthander TJ Constertina (0.58 ERA, 31 IP) was similarly dominant as the team’s closer last season.

The pitching-and-defense ethos of the Tommies works pretty well in its home ballpark, which measures 455 feet to straight away center field, making it arguably the most unique park in Division I.

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