Introduction
Just like all the Point Loma coaches, PLNU head baseball coach Joe Schaefer has had 2014-15 circled on his calendar for the past few years. This calendar year marked the first season Point Loma would be a full active member in NCAA Division II and eligible for the playoffs. Coach Schaefer and his staff planned towards this year with recruiting and personnel as they hope to capitalize on the opportunity in front of them.
 
Training camp
Coach Schaefer also switched his practices, making them harder and more focused on consistent competition. To help with this he added 16 newcomers who had never before worn the Green & Gold to go along with his 18 returning student-athletes.
 
"We needed some competition and some position battles as we try to teach these guys how to compete at a high and consistent level," Schaefer explained. "We needed ability and we needed bodies in order to do that.
 
"It is a different dynamic having that many new faces on the field, but it has been great," Schaefer continued. "The competition at certain positions has done our team well."
 
Those competition battles have been going on since the Sea Lions first took the field in starting in the fall and continued when the team returned to practice in early January.  Schaefer has been pleased with the progression of the team this year. The coaches have continued to evaluate those battles through practices and 15-20 intrasquad scrimmages as those competitions continue right up till the first pitch of the season.
 
The lineup
One of the areas of the team that will be most affected by the results of the position battles will be the lineup. PLNU returns four student-athletes which started at least half the games for the Sea Lions last season. Seniors Trey Hunt (CF) and Anthony Torres (C) will be back to anchor the middle of the diamond along with returning All-Pacific West Conference selection Matt Jervis (2B). Ryan Garcia, who's season was cut short by injury, will also be back to hold down first base. Other returners for Point Loma include junior catchers AJ Derr and Michael Randel, first baseman Jack Spohn, utility infielder Tanner Handa, corner infielder Joseph Keller and outfielder Preston Sands.
 
Coach Schaefer also added a number of newcomers to the team including transfers Tyler Baker (Edmonds CC), Devin Carter (Pepperdine) and Alex Connor (Mesa JC) along with a number of freshmen. With the addition of so many newcomers and the continued position battles, coach Schaefer is still waiting for this team to develop its offensive identity.
 
"I don't know that we are a speed team or a power team, to be honest," explained Schaefer. "We have a couple good table setters at the top and some quality hitters in the middle. Power is not necessarily a strength of ours but we have a couple of guys that can run into one here and there. We're going to have to be the type of team to get base runners on early and then figure out ways to move them around.
 
"Tyler Baker, a new incoming shortstop that will hit lead off for us every day," Schaefer continued. "He understands the role, and he is good at it. He is one of the faster kids on our team, and is a great base runner so he's going to be a good leadoff hitter for us, a good table setter for us.
 
"For our '2-hole' we have plugged a few guys into that spot to see who we like best, and who understands that role the best, but it may be a rotating spot, Schaefer added. "Ryan Garcia is most likely going to hit third for us. He's our first baseman who had a great freshman year before he got hurt halfway through, but he's healthy, and is as good as I have ever seen him up to this point. So we're hoping he has a good year for us. In the middle of our lineup we have a lot of talent, but are trying to find the right mix of hitting who in front of who is going to be kind of tricky for us. I think it will take a few games to kind of figure out who does it well."
 
The Pitching Staff
While the lineup is trying to get its footing early in the season, the Sea Lions will rely on their pitching staff, which should be one of the greatest strength of the squad in 2015. Sophomores Kellen Sheppard (third team All-PacWest selection) and Kevin Lillicrop will both return to anchor the starting rotation. The Sea Lions will also have returning depth and experience in the bullpen with Garrett Gooding, Mickey Dunleavy, Noah Huggins and Sam Sadler.
 
"We've returned two of the four starting pitchers from last year," said Schaefer. "Kellen Sheppard and Kevin Lillicrop, both had great freshmen campaigns last year. Sheppard is going to be our opening day guy this year and Lillicrop is going to throw Saturday mornings for us most of the time. We also added a sophomore left-handed pitcher from Saddleback College, Eric Pierce, and he'll be our game 2 guy when we start out the year. We actually have a freshmen rounding out the rotation for us to start this year, in Trevor Abshire.
 
"We like our starting pitching and we like our bullpen," Schaefer continued. "We have a lot of bodies. We have more than we have had in the past, but they're talented. We've got some youth but they're good. They've got some good stuff. They just need experience and they just need innings."
 
The Defense
Coach believes that however the position battles shake out that defense should be another strength of the Sea Lions this season.
 
"We're a pretty good solid defensive team," the eighth-year head coach said. "We have great infield play, a lot of speed in the outfield and there's some experience and maturity out there position-wise as well. I think that pitching and defense is going to be what we're about."
 
The Schedule
Point Loma will need consistency from its pitching and defense all season as they face a grinding 32-game PacWest schedule and stiff NCAA Division II competition in nearly all other non-conference contests. PLNU will take on regional opponents Cal State San Bernardino, Cal State Dominguez Hills and UC San Diego of the California Collegiate Athletic Association, and Western Oregon of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference as part of their non-conference slate. While it will be important to start the season well and play well in their non-conference game the Sea Lions know that if they are going to qualify for postseason play it will be all about how they perform in PacWest play.
 
"Every series is going to be a tight series," Schaefer said. "It doesn't matter if we're playing the top of the conference or the bottom of the conference, every series tends to be a tight series and game tends to be a tight game.
 
"It's an interesting conference in that where you play has a big say in how well you play," he continued. "There are some significant home field advantages throughout this conference. We're glad we're not making the Hawaii trip this year, that's a tough grind. We do have back-to-back weekends in the Bay area this year, and we open up the conference with 12 straight road games.
 
"It's a tough conference and I think that every team has something that they're very good at, but the good teams are good at everything," Schaefer added. "We believe that we can compete at a high level and think that we can compete with the best and at the top of the conference."
 
Goals
If the Sea Lions are able to squeeze out a few more wins in those tight series they should be in the hunt for the PacWest pennant all season, and make their way towards the other goals coach Schaefer has outlined for his squad this year.  
 
"We want to be a playoff team this year; no doubt," said Schaefer. "This is our first opportunity to do it at the NCAA level, and we want to be a playoff team. We know that for us to potentially have that opportunity we're going to have to finish really high in conference play. We have high aspirations of winning the conference.
 
"We also know that we have to figure some things out over the first few weeks of the season for us to be ready to win a conference championship," Schaefer explained. "We are hoping over the first three to four weeks of this non-conference season that we can get some of our young pitchers some experience, get our line up going a little bit, get the offense going, so hopefully we can open up against Azusa Pacific on a roll."
 
Season opener
One of those non-conference teams and Point Loma's opening series opponent will be Western Oregon. The Wolves were last season's GNAC champions and are coached by Schaefer's former player Kellen Walker (PLNU '06). Walker lead the Wolves to their 13th straight GNAC title last season with a 31-20 record.
 
"Kellen was a good player and a heady player," said Schaefer. "I'm sure he's going to remember Point Loma and our yard pretty well. I'm not sure how he is going to change his approach and his philosophy being back here, but we expect his program to be fairly similar to ours because he went through this program and took a lot out of it. Western Oregon has had a lot of success up there. It will be interesting to see him. I haven't seen him in a while. I know that his team is going to be good. We are going to be ready for that, but it will be fun."
 
First pitch against of the season will be Thursday, Feb. 5 at 2:00 p.m.
 
Conclusion
There are many questions on offense that must be answered this season for Point Loma, but the Sea Lions have the necessary staples of quality pitching and a solid defense which are keys to winning baseball, so this season is ripe with opportunity for this young Sea Lions.