A marked team
Concordia University’s baseball team might as well have a bright, neon sign on its dugout that says “2011 NAIA National Champions,” because there’s no getting around it. Win a national title, put a target on your back.
Concordia head coach Mike Grahovac knows that other teams that come to play his Eagles see it as a chance to upend the champs, but he says the key for his team is to forget about it.
“Not living off of last year,” Grahovac said when asked what the key is to a successful season this year. “We told them at the beginning, last year was awesome but we can’t live off of that because every team we play now, it’s their national championship. They’re playing the national champs. They want to play their best game and knock us off. We have to focus on getting better every day.”
Concordia did that last year, getting better as the season went on and finishing on an incredible run to win its first national title in baseball, in Grahovac’s fourth year as the team’s head coach. The Eagles won 25 of their final 28 games, and won the 10-team NAIA World Series in Lewiston, Idaho despite going in as the No. 9 seed.
“It was awesome,” Grahovac said of the months following the championship. “There was a lot of attention brought to Concordia University and our baseball program, a lot of positive stuff. A lot of people want to come here and play baseball.
“I think a lot of top players around Southern California are realizing that NAIA baseball is pretty good around this area.”
It’s more than players around Southern California that are taking notice, and that’s a good thing for this year’s Eagles. They lost all but one starting position player from last year’s team, returning only outfielder Kyle Konicek.
But they have brought in plenty of talent from around the country, and not just from high schools and junior colleges. Players like pitcher Thomas Hoenshell (Cal State Bakersfield), pitcher Aaron Gates (Pepperdine), infielder Dave Peterson (Univ. of Hawaii) and catcher Chris Kuber (Wright State) came from four-year programs.
“Winning a national championship does help,” Grahovac said. “It brings a lot of attention to our baseball program and what we do here, and when you have players drafted [by major league teams], that shows guys at other four-years schools that there’s an opportunity here, and a chance to get a ring.”
Two of last year’s players — first baseman Bryan Nicholson and catcher John Hill — were selected in last year’s MLB draft, Nicholson in the 38th round to the Giants and Hill in the 19th round to the Phillies.
The Eagles also have some talented JC newcomers in outfielder Ty Holm from Everett College (Washington) and infielder Ryan DiMascio from Lamar (Colorado).
Josh White is the top returning pitcher, now in his fourth season playing at Concordia.
The Eagles are on a roll of late, winning 10 of their last 11 games through Saturday, improving to 13-5 overall, including 7-1 in the Golden State Athletic Conference. And like last year’s team, which lost six in a row early in the season, this year’s team sustained a losing streak early, losing four in a row. They lost to NCAA Division II teams Cal State Los Angeles (one game) and Cal Poly Pomona (three-game sweep). But it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, Grahovac said.
“We didn’t play our best games, and they played pretty good,” Grahovac said. “Those are two good teams, and it was good for us. I like to load our schedule early with Division II teams. It makes our team have to deal with adversity. We learned from it and we worked on some things.”
Winning another national championship is ultimately the goal, Grahovac says, but getting better day to day is where the immediate focus needs to be.
“So far, from Day One to today, they’re getting better, they’re having a successful season,” he said. “Now, as we get to the end, would we like to win league? Sure. Would we like to get to the playoffs? Yes. Would we like to get to the World Series and have a chance to defend our national championship? Of course.
“We still haven’t played our best game. We’re winning and we’re doing some good things, we’re getting along. But we still have not put together our top game like we did last year. It’s early. There’s a long way to go.”