Hutchinson CC Sports Information

A new era is set to begin for the Hutchinson Community College baseball program on Thursday.

Hired as the 11th head coach in Blue Dragon baseball history last June, Brock Nehls and the Blue Dragons open the 2024 season Thursday against Southeast (Nebraska) Community College.

"There's always going to be high expectations for Blue Dragon baseball," Nehls said. "Our job as a coaching staff is to continue to build this program and make it better. We respect and honor the history of this program and we are going to try and do everything we can to make sure we are representing the right way on and off the field."

Thursday's season opener is a doubleheader scheduled for 1 and 3:30 p.m. at Wray Field in Buhler. Hobart-Detter Field wasn't ready to play because of the recent winter storms.

The Blue Dragons, 30-28 last season with a fifth-place finish in the Jayhawk West, open the 2024 season with the Southeast Bobcats, ranked No. 7 in the NJCAA Division II Baseball Preseason Rankings. This will be the third-straight season the Blue Dragons and Bobcats have opened a season and it's the fourth-straight season the teams have played.

Hutchinson was picked to finish third in the Jayhawk West Preseason Coaches' Poll.

The 2024 Blue Dragons look to improve on a 2023 season that saw them hit only .292 offensively and allow a 6.53 team earned-run average.

Nehls has the first-year coaching luxury of not having to do a total roster revamp as nine position players and eight pitchers return from last season.

"I think that's been one of the cool parts of the transition is that all the sophomores stuck together," Nehls said. "They are going to see this thing through. This will make us one of the older teams in the Jayhawk. We have a very experienced group. We are going to lean heavily on them."

Back from the injured list is third-year sophomore outfielder Kael Babin, who played in only two games in 2023 after playing in 54 games in 2022. Position player Mac Bowie will also officially make his Blue Dragon debut after missing all of 2023 with an injury. Also back is left-handed pitcher Gus McKay, who missed a good portion of the second half of the season with injury.

Nehls added some transfers who should make a big impact this season.

Right-handed pitcher Caden Wanless is from William Jewell College. Wanless made 14 relief appearances last season and posted a 4.01 ERA over 22 1-3 innings. Utility player Luis Pimentel-Guerrero transferred from Xavier. He saw limited playing time in seven games last season.

"Caden threw almost 25 innings in Division II last season and had success. He's one of those guys who fits our system. Luis is a very dynamic player. He is a switch hitter who can do a lot of different things offensively.

When looking at the 2024 Blue Dragon pitching staff, Nehls and first-year pitching coach Seth Wheeler have four pitchers back with a combined 34 starts from last season.

Right-handed starter Ethan Giesbrecht was 4-2 with three complete games in 10 starts and 13 overall appearances. In 53 innings, Giesbrecht struck out 40 and walked 14. Right-handed pitcher Sam Ojeda was 4-2 with a 5.66 ERA. Over 47 2-3 innings, Ojeda strike out 53. McKay was 3-2 with a 6.75 ERA and Cole Toureau was a deceiving 0-6 with a 9.36 ERA. Toureau had a strong summer, though, for the Hutchinson Monarchs summer league team, earning the pitching victory for the Monarchs in the NBC World Series championship game against the Santa Barbara Foresters.

The top reliever returning is right-hander Bradley Neill, who was 2-0 with a 2.45 ERA last season.

"I think the rotation is going to be pretty sophomore heavy," Nehls said. "We have some freshmen who will help in some capacity, but we will rely heavily on the experience that Ethan, Sam, Gus, Cole and Bradley bring us.

"We have some competitive strike-throwers and their stuff keeps getting better and getter. I think we are going to be fairly deep. If we can consistently go out and execute, we have a chance to win a lot of games."

Another luxury for the first-year Blue Dragon coach is that he has not one, but two starting catchers returning to handle the staff.

Both Cody Gunderson and Colin Cymbalista were the Blue Dragons' Nos. 1 and 2 catchers last season. Defensively, Cymbalista threw out 27.8 percent of base-stealers and posted a .974 fielding percentage. Gunderson threw out 25.8 percent of base-stealers and had a .966 fielding percentage.

"In my opinion, we have the top two catchers in the Jayhawk," Nehls said. "Offensively, they are two of our better players. They are going to be two guys we will lean on heavily from a leadership standpoint.

Offensively, Cymbalista hit .272 with 10 home runs and 37 RBIs. Gunderson hit .367 with 10 homers and 38 RBIs.

As far as the everyday order, Nehls said he has a bunch of options to work with and over the course of the non-conference season, several players will get looks.

Two years ago, Babin hit .316 in 133 at-bats with 42 total hits and 17 stolen bases. Blake Bradford hit .312 with a .508 slugging percentage. He had 10 home runs and 49 RBIs. Shortstop Cooper Wesslund hit .220 last season, but had a .937 fielding percentage. Infielder Jack Gardner hit .285 in 130 at-bats.

"Right now we are just going to try and find what our best lineup us and what's best for the rotation," Nehls said of the early portion of the season. "It's a tough non-conference slate with quality teams. Right now we just need to worry about playing the game the right way."