By John Boccacino/Sports Information Director
The Keuka College baseball team is coming off the most successful season in school history in 2014, and the Wolfpack look to continue their development into a consistently successful and respected program in 2015.
In Rick Ferchen's first season leading the Green and Gold, he nabbed the North Eastern Athletic Conference's (NEAC) Coach of the Year after guiding Keuka to a 22-14 overall record (12-6 NEAC) and earned a share of the NEAC regular season title for the first time since the 2004 season.
Ferchen took over a squad that won 17 games during the last three years, but thanks to his strong coaching style, the Wolfpack shattered the school record for wins in a season. Keuka eventually fell in the NEAC tournament, the program's first trip to postseason play since 2009.
Keuka, which returns 15 student-athletes, opens the season at the RussMat Baseball tournament beginning Friday with a 3:30 p.m. clash with Keene (N.H.) State in Winter Haven, Fla.
The Wolfpack will play 12 games in eight days, including the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, the defending Division III national champions, at 11 a.m. March 26.
"I have so much respect for what the 2014 team accomplished and the trust and loyalty they showed to the program and each other to have the opportunity to be successful," said Ferchen, who has amassed an impressive record of 737-511-17 (.589 winning percentage) during a decorated 31-year coaching career.
"Many of the returning student-athletes know what type of attitude it takes to be a winner on and off the field, and what type of work and commitment is needed to have the opportunity to be successful. I'm proud of what we accomplished last year and am looking forward to seeing what we can accomplish this year."
Ferchen will have 15 returning student-athletes on the 2015 squad, led by a pair of All-New York Region standouts in seniors Jon Borchert (Upper Arlington, Ohio/Upper Arlington) and Jake Burachalk (Binghamton, N.Y./Binghamton).
Borchert and Burachalk each earned All-New York Region honors from the American Baseball Coaches' Association (ABCA) and Rawlings, while Borchert also was named second-team All-New York Region by D3Baseball.com. It is his second straight D3Baseball.com All-Region honor.
Borchert, a first baseman, batted .405 (third-highest batting average in school history) and broke the College's career RBI mark in 2014, driving in 39 runs while slugging .619 with a .440 on-base percentage.
He set school-records for hits (51) and doubles (17) in a season, while his .619 slugging 
percentage was the second-highest in a season in school history.
"Our goals this year, we have a couple of them. We obviously want to go to the NEAC tournament, we want to win the NEAC tournament and we want to get that automatic bid to the NCAA's," said Borchert, who earned first-team All-NEAC honors in 2014.
"And I feel that with the team that we have together right now, we can do it. I feel we have one of the top offenses in the country; up and down the lineup we're extremely strong. The x-factor is going to be pitching. If our pitchers throw strikes and our defense plays well behind them, we will be in great shape."
Borchert led the Wolfpack in batting average, hits, doubles, triples and RBI, and ranked first in the NEAC in doubles, third in batting average, fourth in RBI and slugging percentage and eighth in runs scored.
Burachalk, a shortstop, batted .375 (seventh-highest in Keuka history) with a team-high three home runs to go with 28 runs scored, 22 RBI and a .492 on-base percentage. He led the team in home runs, runs, walks (17) and on-base percentage (.492, second-highest in school history), and was second in doubles and third in hits and RBI.
Also returning is junior left fielder Billy McDermott (Clarks Summit, Pa./Abington Heights), who earned second-team All-NEAC after batting .363 with 45 hits, 17 RBI and seven stolen bases.
Seniors Conner Anderson (Missoula, MT/Sentinel) and Dylan Thomas (Kent, Ohio/Theodore Roosevelt) also return in the outfield for Ferchen. Thomas batted .286 in 21 at-bats as an outfielder, while Anderson hit .258 with eight RBI and 11 runs scored in 66 at-bats as an infielder.
Senior Dan Smith (Binghamton, N.Y./Chenango Forks) returns and is expected to start at catcher after batting .250 with 13 RBI and 20 runs scored in 84 at-bats.
Senior Tommy Drumm (Oswego, N.Y./Oswego) returns as a versatile infielder who batted .326 with 10 RBI and nine runs scored in 43 at-bats.
Sophomore Robert LaRue (Skillman, N.J./Montgomery) is expected to start in the infield, as will classmate Ben Payton (Oneonta, N.Y./Oneonta).
Freshman Jake Redding (Victor, N.Y./Victor) is expected to see a lot of action in the outfield as one of many new faces on the team in 2015.
"It's exciting, we definitely have some good bats in the lineup and coach Ferchen really brought in a strong recruiting class. Thse younger guys are hungry and eager, and they're here to work," said Burachalk, who earned first-team All-NEAC in his first season in Keuka Park.
"The competition between each other has really brought out the best in a lot of us. We take a lot of pride in our defense and we spend a lot of time working on our defensive scheme. We're strong everywhere on defense and you shouldn't see too many errors from us. In the long run, that's going to help our pitching and it's going to help us go farther in the season."
The pitching staff boasts seniors Keith Ryan (Fort Myers, Fla./Fort Myers) and Zach Nobles (Wayland, N.Y./Wayland-Cohocton), as well as juniors Kyle Michaud (Elmira Heights, N.Y./Thomas A. Edison), Tom Fowler (Batavia, N.Y./Elba) and James Matthews (Camden, N.Y./Camden).
Among the highlights: Nobles posted a 5-0 record with a 2.86 ERA in eight starts; Michaud 
was 4-1 with one save, 31 strikeouts and a 3.80 ERA in 10 games; and Ryan was 1-3 with five complete games and a 4.47 ERA in 10 games (eight starts).
"Making it to the NEAC tournament and not winning it provided us with a lot of motivation," Nobles said. "If everyone plays their part and we do everything as a team, I think we can do some good things and win a lot of games. Keith and Kyle will likely be our top two starters, and we have a lot of young pitching talent ready to step up. The main focus is just throwing strikes. If we throw strikes, we have the talent to get a lot of guys out and do good things."
A year after posting a 9.11 team ERA, Ferchen's Wolfpack team showed tremendous improvement last year, posting a 4.00 team ERA.
"We're extremely hungry. Our chemistry as a team will be a main focus point for our success," Ryan added. "We have a lot of young pitching talent and if they can just play to the best of their abilities, do their jobs and throw strikes, it will be a no-brainer that we will win games. This trip to Florida is going to be awesome, we will see some great competition that will get us beyond ready for conference play and I'm excited to see how we respond to the challenge."
Keuka's captains are Borchert, Burachalk, Nobles and Ryan.
The rest of the catchers are: junior Kyle Dailey (Yonkers, N.Y./Yonkers) and freshman Kyle Colegrove (Elkland, Pa./Williamson).
The rest of the infielders are: freshmen Brian Colbert (Dryden, N.Y./Dryden), Joe Marasco (Queensbury, N.Y./Queensbury) and John Rizzo (Auburn, N.Y./Auburn).
The rest of the outfielders are: junior Brett Fenton (Troy, N.Y./Hudson Valley CC), sophomore Jared Taylor (North Syracuse, N.Y./Bishop Ludden), and freshmen Alec Bowie (Sparta, N.J./Sparta), Alex Cerrone (Floral Park, N.Y./Floral Park) and Dakota Skinner (Waverly, N.Y./Tioga).
The rest of the pitching staff includes: senior Cameron Hood (Macedon, N.Y./Palmyra-Macedon), and freshmen Ryan Caroway (Binghamton, N.Y./Susquehanna Valley), Kevin Franz (Vestal, N.Y./Vestal), Bryan Johnsen (Otisville, N.Y./Minisink Valley), Ryan Lawrence (Rochester, N.Y./Brighton), Nate Shackelton (New Berlin, N.Y./Unadilla Valley), Josh Wang (Rochester, N.Y./Rush-Henrietta) and Konrad York (Bath, N.Y./Haverling).
Smith and Skinner could also pitch for the Green and Gold.
Ferchen, who ranks in the top 15 of active Division III coaches in career wins, is confident that his talented returners will mix well with three transfers and 14 freshmen to help the Green and Gold compete for the NEAC crown in 2015.
"Expectations will be high. The biggest challenge will be not looking at the past accomplishments, but looking at ways to improve yourself and the team," Ferchen said. "We want to be better prepared to accomplish our goals that we were unable to accomplish last year, like winning NEAC's. It will be totally different being the hunted instead of the hunter, and we won't be able to sneak up on teams this year."
Keuka will also play NCAA regional participant Union (N.Y.) College, as well as Plattsburgh State, Keene State (N.H.), Hamilton College, Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Colby College (Maine), Thomas College (Maine) and Westminster College (MO) at the RussMat tournament.
The Wolfpack's home opener is slated for April 4, when Keuka welcomes NEAC rival Penn College to campus for a conference doubleheader.
The NEAC tournament runs May 8-10, with the winner receiving the automatic qualifier into the NCAA tournament. Keuka has never made it to NCAA's in baseball.
