University of Illinois Springfield baseball coach Mike Zandler has filled his roster with new recruits from winning programs.
“We lacked depth positionally, and then we lacked a little bit of experience on the mound,” said Zandler, who coached the Prairie Stars to an 8-35 overall record in his first season. “Coach (Richard) Dennis and myself went into this saying we need to improve across the board.”
Thirteen of the 17 new players are transfers. Five played last spring for Black Hawk College, which won a school-record 44 games in 2012 and 2011. Third baseman Kendal Hocker was the Arrowhead Conference’s Most Valuable Player in the infield and hit .397.
Second baseman Nick Sanders hit .309. Logan Frye is an outfielder and Tyler Leffel is a pitcher from Black Hawk. Left-handed pitcher James Matson had a 2.54 earned run average in 28 1/3 innings.
The team was featured by the State Journal-Register on August 29, 2012.
Read the article online
