George Fox Baseball Relishes Opportunities to Prove Greatness
By: Elijah Dapkus
11 a.m. to sundown.
That’s when the George Fox University (GFU) baseball team practices each Saturday, and they take few breaks. If there were lights at their stadium, they would probably practice even later.
Sophomore outfielder Leon Johnson III admits that those practices are tough, but admires how his team handles them. “The guys have bought into what we’ve done really fast… we’re all just ready to play for each other,” said Johnson.
After a promising start to the 2020 season (that was halted by COVID-19) and an up-and-down 2021 campaign, the 2022 Bruins will have numerous opportunities to prove themselves to the D3 Baseball world.
On the docket is a three-game series at Chapman University, who finished No. 11 in the d3baseball.com poll in 2021. The series will be followed by a match at California Lutheran University (CLU), then another three-game series against Pacific Lutheran University (PLU). Both PLU and CLU received votes to be ranked after last season. Perhaps GFU's most important games will be against a team in their own backyard: the Bruins will play Pacific University, who finished last season ranked No. 18, four times throughout the regular season.
To begin the season, the GFU baseball players will take a 14-game road trip. In 2021, the GFU volleyball team made 13 straight road appearances, and while they battled courageously, their roster thinned due to injuries and illnesses, exacerbated by travel fatigue. This year’s 14-game outing is the baseball team’s longest since 2014, when they played 14 consecutive road games. The Bruins boasted a 12-2 record during that run, but finished the season with 12 losses, and despite being ranked in the Top 50, they missed the National Tournament by a slim margin.
The players said they are unfazed by the gauntlet before them. They are eager to show they belong on the national stage, and they have put in the work to get there. According to Johnson, team members usually work out twice a day, once in the morning and once at 3 p.m. In addition to practices, Coach Kevin Kopple scouts opposing teams, and each player is responsible for studying his report. He uses TrackMan, the world’s leading digital baseball scouting platform, to grab data, and analyzes it with 643charts.com.
Players and coaches are thrilled about the season to come despite weekend practices, ice-baths, and data-crunching. “I’m excited to try and go win that National Championship with my teammates,” said Johnson. He admits the team faced challenges last season, but is optimistic about what’s to come. “Last year we had an issue with finishing games … [but] I feel like this year we will do a lot better job of winning the series that we need to win.”
This team works hard on and off the field, holding the best GPA for Bruin men’s sports for the Fall 2021 semester. Is all the extra work worth it? “100 percent,” said Johnson. “While we all may be complaining about it while we’re there, in the [end], we know that it’s going to make us better at what we’re doing.”
The GFU baseball team’s first home game will be on March 5 against PLU.