Last season, the Benedictine University baseball team had one of its best seasons in program history, winning 32 games and 17 conference games en route to a NCAA Division III Tournament appearance.

The Eagles were unable to win a game in the national tournament a season ago, dropping an extra-inning game to UW-Stevens Point and falling to St. Thomas. With that in mind, the goal for 2014 is not to just make the tournament, but to be playing at the highest level at that time.

"I want to be playing our best ball in May, and last year, I don't think we were," explained Head Coach John Ostrowski. "I think we hit that peak before May. We need a commitment and a focus to play well in the tournaments, and that's our goal."

The mindset starts with the team's five captains: senior first baseman Ryan Mullin, senior outfielder Kevin Hendricks, junior outfielder Tim Hendricks, senior pitcher Nick Diessner, and junior pitcher Ty Anderson.

"We've got a group of captains that are very focused," said Ostrowski. "They have been in the program, have had success, and want to go out with a bang. Most importantly, I think they believe in our team and feel that we have a great chance to have a special season this year."

The Hendricks brothers, along with senior Mike Luschen, all return after playing key roles in last season's outfield. Tim Hendricks was a d3baseball.com second-team All-American after hitting .422 with four home runs and 18 steals. Kevin Hendricks was second team all-NACC, and Luschen hit .374 in 25 starts. Combined, the three players accounted for 185 hits, 89 RBI, and just one error.

"Offensively and defensively, it's a good group," said Ostrowski of his outfield. "Tim Hendricks had a great summer and has put on eight or ten pounds of muscle, Kevin Hendricks is in as god a shape as I've seen him, and Mike Luschen has looked very good in pre-season."

In the infield, Mullin returns after hitting .275 and recording a .983 fielding percentage at first base.

"Defensively, there is no doubt he's the best first baseman we have ever had," Ostrowski said of Mullin. "However, he's also a very good hitter. He's invaluable to us with everything he brings to the table."

Mullin will be joined in the infield by junior shortstop Max Oppenheimer, a transfer from Webster who Ostrowski believes will solidify the middle infield defense. The other two infield positions may be filled by juniors Tyler Floyd and Mike Ostrowski at third base, and junior Nicholas Fillmore and junior transfer Matthew Higgs at second base. Sophomore Tom Byrne and freshmen Erik Callaghan and Andrew Hotze also could see time at various positions, giving Ostrowski a lot of options.

"Depending on who is hot, any of those guys could be in our starting infield," said Ostrowski. "All of them have worked their tails off and have good skills. It is going to be a battle for playing time in those two spots."
 
Behind the plate, Brandon Clark returns as a catcher/designated hitter after hitting two home runs in just 41 at-bats last season, and Justin Kovalsky is back after going 11-for-29 in 16 games played.

"He is in tremendous shape," said Ostrowski of Kovalsky. "His release for a catcher is about as good as we have had, and coupled with his strong arm, I think we will be in good shape behind the plate."

On the mound, Anderson (4-1, 2.30 ERA), junior transfer Ryan Rickert, sophomore James Rooks, and freshman Dylan Smith will all see starts early in the season. Returning juniors Mike Irgang (5-0, 4.69 ERA) and reigning NACC Pitcher of the Year Chris Jordan (5-2, 2.15 ERA), along with junior transfer Cody Netzel, will all see starts as the season progresses.

The Eagles figure to have a deeper bullpen in 2014, which could include Diessner, junior Spencer Lehmann, junior Timothy Feeley, and freshmen Alex Wolfe and Jozef Palasiewicz.

"We are much deeper than we were last year," said Ostrowski of his pitching staff. "When you're playing nine inning baseball, the key to the season is the bullpen and the depth. When I look back at last year and into the conference tournament and NCAA Tournament, the bullpen was a bit down. Now, the depth of arms is there. It's a really nice group of guys."

Ostrowski also believes one of his team's biggest strengths is his coaching staff. Lou Simios is joined by Jay Williams this season as the team's primary pitching coaches, while Ed Zeifert, Dave Swanson, Sean Osborne, and Ben Caple primarily work with a group of position players that finished fourth in the nation with a .341 average last season.

"I can't say enough about our staff, and there are so many of those guys who could be head coaches," Ostrowski explained. "There is no doubt about it. It's a good mix of younger and veteran coaches, and they all relate well to our players."

The Eagles will begin the season with what Ostrowski calls the toughest Florida schedule in the program's history. BenU will play nine games, with five of them coming against nationally-ranked programs and the other four against teams on the cusp of the rankings.

"I'm confident that we can play with them," said Ostrowski of the teams on the Florida schedule. "I would like to think we have the capabilities to at least come back .500. It certainly will give us a good strength of schedule number, which is very important as we saw last year when we didn't win the conference, but earned an at-large bid because of our overall record and strength of schedule."

BenU begins the season on Friday with a doubleheader at 8:15 a.m. central time against fifth-ranked UW Stevens-Point. Live audio for all Florida games will be available at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/benu.portal#.