Blazing Biola Has Sights on World Series

Biola baseball Coach John Verhoeven didn’t waste any time sending a message to his players for the 2001 season.

“It was the first meeting of the year and I said to the guys, ‘Anything less than getting to the [NAIA] World Series is going to be a disappointment,’ ” Verhoeven said. “I mean that.”

Such weighty expectations have crushed many a team. But Verhoeven felt comfortable, particularly because his veteran group had already turned the Eagles into a Golden State Athletic Conference power.

Biola has since won its fourth consecutive GSAC championship and the program reached new heights with its school-record 40th victory in Saturday’s 16-2 rout of Concordia to finish off a doubleheader sweep.

The Eagles have been impressive, having rolled through the GSAC with a 23-3 record and defeated several Division II teams, among them California Collegiate Athletic Assn. leader Sonoma State, Cal State San Bernardino and Cal State Dominguez Hills. Much of the success is attributed to a prolific lineup that hits .322 with a school-record 76 home runs.

Senior outfielder Ryan Beaver, a transfer from Loyola Marymount, leads Biola with 18 homers and 59 runs batted in. Junior shortstop David Munoz hits .369 with 52 RBIs. Eight players with 92 or more at-bats hit better than .300.

What sets the Eagles apart, though, is their pitching. The team earned-run average is a respectable 4.17, compared to opponents’ 8.94.

Junior Chad Ekin is 10-2 with a 1.93 ERA. A native of Hamilton, Mont., Ekin did not play baseball in high school and arrived at Biola only after trying out a number of other schools in the conference.

“He was a shortstop and he wasn’t really much of a hitter,” Verhoeven said. “We had him try out here and I saw he could really throw the ball. I asked him, ‘Have you ever pitched before?’ and he said, ‘Yeah, a little bit.’

“He showed me his fastball and he reached 81 and 82 mph, and he was only 6 feet and 150 pounds. But he also had this wicked breaking ball and he could throw for strikes any time he wanted to.

“He put on about 20 pounds and now he throws about 86 to 88 with command of four pitches.”

Another story is senior left-hander Ben Orr. Orr was the GSAC pitcher of the year in 1998 but he injured his knee last year playing soccer. He has rebounded to go 9-1 this season while also batting .333.

“He’s come back real strong for us,” Verhoeven said.

Verhoeven, 48, has an affinity for pitching. He played nine seasons of professional ball, three of them as a reliever with the Angels, Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins. Between 1991-97, he was a pitching coach with Dominguez Hills, Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount.

Having been with the Eagles the last four years, Verhoeven says there is a difference between the NAIA level and NCAA Division I, but it isn’t much. The Eagles pretty much showed that Wednesday night, losing only 7-6 at Cal State Fullerton.

“I would say that we’re a mid-level Division I club,” Verhoeven said. “The difference between Division I and NAIA is the depth in pitching. But I think this club is the closest I’ve had to Division I in terms of talent.”

In the last three years, Biola has not advanced out of regional play in the NAIA tournament. Verhoeven intends to apply some pressure early, saying, “We’ve got to start the tournament as if we’ve had one loss.”

Otherwise, he is having the time of his life in his first head coaching experience.

“Certainly one of my biggest thrills in life was making the big league roster for the first time,” Verhoeven said. “But coaching here has been a complete joy for me. It’ll be awfully tough to see this group of guys leave.”

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Nicole Duncan of Cal State Los Angeles ran the nation’s fastest Division II time in the 200 meters at the California-Nevada Championships. Besides her 23.84 time in the 200 Sunday, she also won the 100 meters. . . . Cal State Bakersfield took third place in the CCAA women’s tennis tournament with an 8-1 victory over Grand Canyon. Freshman Krisztina Tomas of Hungary, who won the women’s independent college title at Ojai on Sunday, was named player of the year. The Roadrunners will play Sonoma State today at UC Davis in the Division II tournament.