2018 Faith Lutheran Baseball Capsule

Head coach: Dave Anderson, third season

2017 record: 7-21 (3-15 Northwest/seventh)

Returning lettermen (starters): Fourteen (seven)

Top players: P Josh Brown (Sr.), P/1B Jake Ortega (Jr.), P Zach Phillips (Sr.), OF Sagan Gronauer (Jr.), IF Lucas Dockery (Sr.)

Outlook: The combination of a young squad and a rugged Northwest League schedule did the Crusaders no favors last year.

Fourteen lettermen return, hungry for success.

Dockery (.333 average), Gronauer (.320) and Ortega (.430 slugging percentage) should be among the leaders on offense, with Phillips (5-2 record) and Brown (46 strikeouts in 40 innings) back on the mound.

“We leaned heavily on young guys last year, and we’ll see how much they have matured going into this year,” Anderson said. “We gave away 11 leads that we carried into the fifth inning or later; turn those around and we actually make the playoffs last season.

“We have some talent on the mound, and if we can command the strike zone and mix in secondary pitches, we can compete with anyone in town.”