Wonder Boys open 2024 at Minute Maid Park for Houston Winter Invitational

FIRST PITCH
For the sixth-straight year and the ninth time since 2013, the Arkansas Tech baseball team will be among the participating field at the Houston Winter Invitational, which is once more set to be played at the home ballpark of MLB's Houston Astros, Minute Maid Park.
The Wonder Boys will be joined in downtown Houston for the opening weekend of the Division II college baseball season by a highly-competitive group of teams including: Millersville, Southern New Hampshire, St. Cloud State, Tampa and of course, the hosts, Central Missouri.

Over the course of the weekend, the Wonder Boys will take on No. 3-ranked Tampa on Friday, St. Cloud State on Saturday and No. 9 Southern New Hampshire on Sunday. All three opponents will be stout early-season tests for the Wonder Boys as all three won over 30 games last season Tampa and Southern New Hampshire winning over 40.
TECH(NICALLY) SPEAKING
The Wonder Boys enter the 2024 season with a lot of familiar faces from a team that finished in a tie for second place in the conference standings and earned an at-larger bid to the NCAA Central Region Tournament. For Tech this season, they return seven players from their everyday lineup and 10 arms that appeared in at least 12 games a year ago.
Of those 10 pitchers returning with significant experience on the mound, five started at least four games for the Wonder Boys in 2023, including the three that comprised their weekend starting rotation by the end of the year.
Highlighted among the returning pitchers are 2023 First Team All-GAC honorees John Gray and Mason Griffin. Gray transferred into the program last season and made an immediate impact as he took over the Friday night starting role. Gray would make 15 starts and post a 3.67 ERA with 81 strikeouts across 90.2 innings of work. Griffin assumed the closer role and was a dominant fixture in the backend of the bullpen with eight saves and 31 strikeouts in 28.0 innings.
On the offensive end, Tech returns all but two hitters from their everyday lineup. Among those returners, four earned All-GAC plaudits last season with Keaton Ranallo garnering first team honors, Sawyer Duddleston second team and Brandon Bunton and Nick Jones landing on the honorable mention team.
Ranallo led the team in home runs with 11 and was one of three Wonder Boys with at least 50 RBIs. One of the others with at least 50 RBIs was Duddleston as he led the team in that category with 54. Jones had the highest batting average among the returners at .383 while Bunton hit .340 and led the team in stolen bases with 14.
Leading the Wonder Boys once more is Dave Dawson. The all-time winningest coach in Tech Baseball history, Dawson enters his 15th year in the dugout for the Wonder Boys. In his previous 14 seasons, Dawson has guided amassed a 412-291 record. He has also had seven seasons with 30 or more wins which includes the 2014 season in which he led the team a program-record 44 wins and hosting rights for that year's Central Region Tournament.
Overall, Dawson is in his 19th year as a head baseball coach at the collegiate level as he spent four years as head coach at Kansas Wesleyan and totaled 118 wins. His combined win total at Tech and Kansas Wesleyan have him with a career record of 530-382.
SCOUTING TAMPA
A perennial national powerhouse program, the Tampa Spartans enter the 2024 season with the usual high expectations as they are the preseason favorite to win the Sunshine State Conference (SSC) and are touted as the No. 3-ranked team nationally in the National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association (NCBWA) preseason top-25.
Last season, the Spartans went 43-11 and advanced as far as the championship game of the NCAA South Region 1 tournament. It was the 17th time since 2001 that the program has won at least 40 games in a season. All of those seasons have come under the guidance of head coach Joe Urso, who enters his 24th season with a staggering career record of 955-279-1.
The Spartans also have the return services of both the SSC Player and Pitcher of the Year award winners in Alex Canney (pitcher) and E.J. Cumbo (player).

Canney made 17 total appearances and 12 starts for Tampa last season. In 76.0 innings, he went 9-0 and posted a 2.49 ERA with 53 strikeouts.
Cumbo has the highest batting average among returners as he hit .416 last season (91-for-219). He would lead the team in RBIs with 63 and was second in extra-base hits with 19 doubles, two triples and six home runs.
SCOUTING ST. CLOUD STATE
Last season, St. Cloud State went 33-20 overall and were 20-10 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) during the regular season. It was the 12th time since 2008 that the Huskies would win at least 30 games in a season. Each of those seasons have come under head coach Pat Dolan, who is set to embark on his 16th season at St. Cloud State.
In 2023, the Huskies would go on to win the NSIC Conference Tournament to earn the automatic bid to the NCAA Central Region Tournament where they played in the Warrensburg Regional.
Ahead of this season, St. Cloud is picked to finish third in the NSIC according to the league's preseason coaches poll.
The Huskies have a good amount of experience returning both in their lineup and on the mound. Offensively, St. Cloud has eight players returning who had at least 85 at-bats last season. Ben Clapp had the highest batting average among returners at .333 (38-for-114). Ethan Navratil is the top power hitter returning as he hit nine home runs and drove in 45.
On the mound, the Huskies have seven arms back that appeared in at least six games with four of those making multiple starts. Luke Tupy made the most starts last season as all nine of his appearances were starts. He would post a 4-1 record and a 4.63 ERA with 58 strikeouts in 44.2 innings. Jack Habeck and Drew Beier also return with over 50 innings worked, respectively.
Habeck appeared in 14 games and made eight starts. He was 3-5 with a save and registered a 7.35 ERA with 41 strikeouts in 56.1 innings. Beier appeared in 13 games and made seven starts. He went 6-3 with a 3.25 ERA and 43 strikeouts in 52.2 innings.
SCOUTING SOUTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE
Fresh off their third-straight appearance in the NCAA Division II College World Series in Cary, N.C., the Southern New Hampshire Penmen enter the 2024 season picked to finish second in the Northeast Division of the Northeast-10 Conference (NE10).
Last season, the Penmen went 44-13 overall, marking the eighth time since 2009 that their program won at least 40 games in a season. All eight of those years came under now former head coach Scott Loiseau, who left the program in mid-July to become the top assistant at Penn State University.
Taking over for Loiseau is former SNHU assistant coach Chris Shank, who was with the Penmen from 2009-2016. During his eight seasons at SNHU, the Penmen put together a record of 257-142-2 (.643), advanced to five NCAA Regionals, captured a pair of NE10 Championships (2014, 2016) and earned a spot in the 2012 NCAA Division II College World Series.
This year, the Penmen have three position players back that started at least 39 games a year ago. Highlighted among those is Third Team All-NE10 selection Anderson Moreno. Last season, Moreno hit .351 with six home runs, 35 RBI and 50 runs scored.
On the mound, the Penmen do not return a ton of experience in terms of innings pitched as Austin Trumpour had the most innings of their returners with 24.2. He appeared in eight games total and made four starts. In his 24.2 innings, Trumpour did not register a record and had a 5.11 ERA with 30 strikeouts.