Bears will face Northern Oklahoma-Tonkawa and North Central Texas College

• Head coach Nic Mishler sees improvement from his 2021 team
• Bears will begin play without having had a legitimate practice outside
• Mishler says pitching will be one of the team's strengths this season

The DMACC baseball team begins with 2022 season with a trip to Oklahoma and Texas for games February 10, 11 and 12. The Bears were scheduled to begin play with a doubleheader against Northern Oklahoma-Tonkawa (NOT) on Feb. 6, but those games were cancelled because of inclement weather.

Thus, the Bears will play a doubleheader against NOT on Feb. 10 before traveling to Gainesville, Texas, for a four-game series against North Central Texas College (NCTC) on Feb. 11 and 12.

NOT will be opening its 2022 season against DMACC. NCTC is 1-1 and will play a doubleheader against Oklahoma Christian University today.

And as is usually the case for the DMACC baseball team this time of year, the Bears will open the season without having had a bonified practice outside.

"Knock on wood, the weather looks like we are going to get to play some baseball this weekend which is fantastic news," DMACC baseball coach Nic Mishler said. "(The opposition) has obviously gotten more reps, but this is something our guys have dealt with their whole life. At the end of the day, it's still baseball. We know we might not be as sharp at fielding ground balls and fly balls. Our goal is to just get better every day and I think it benefits our club to get outside and get those reps."

Mishler said he feels good about what he has seen in workouts inside the DMACC facilities.

"We have a really close group," Mishler said. "We had a great fall and so far, we've had a good winter preparing for the season. I think the young talent we've brought in has meshed really well with older guys. It's been fun and it's a joy to show up and work with these guys every day."

DMACC is coming off a 23-38 season in 2021, including a 17-27 record in the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC). The Bears played some of their best baseball of the season in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region XI Championship, knocking off Southeastern Community College (SECC), the highest nationally ranked team in the conference, two games to one, before being eliminated by Northeast (Neb.) Community College (NECC).

Mishler said he thinks his pitching staff has the potential to be a strength this season and he likes what he has seen offensively thus far. He said the defense, while not bad, should be better than last season.

"More than anything, I think we might have more of a complete approach on both sides of the ball," Mishler said. "Pitching will be a strength and I think at the end of the day our offense has a chance to drive the baseball and hit a little more for extra base power this year than we did in the past."

Players vying for playing time at first base include freshman Reed Stallman of Alburnett and incumbent Covid-19 freshman (CoFR) Brett Berg of West Des Moines. CoFR Tre Mungin of Omaha, Neb., and CoFR Nick Ripa of Papillion, Neb., are being looked at at second base and CoFR Jake Thilges of Johnston has the inside track at third base. Freshman Brodie Kresser of Jesup looks to be the starter at shortstop with freshman Cael Boever of Sioux City also getting a good look.

Outfield candidates include Covid-19 sophomore (CoSO) Jack Luster of Huxley in left field, CoFR Jayden Singleton of Des Moines in center and sophomore Jake Brill of Maple, Wis., in right.

CoSO Jackson Fisher of Chariton, a first-team all-conference selection a year ago, is returning at catcher with CoFR Donovan Weaver of Davenport serving as the backup.

Starting pitchers include CoFR and second-team all-conference selection Kaleb Krier of Altoona, CoFR Anthony Potthoff of Van Meter and CoFR Jacob Draeger of Johnston. The fourth starter has yet to be determined with CoFR Jackson Stewart of Urbandale, CoFR Simon Gregersen of Ramsey, Minn., CoFR Jacob Norris of North Liberty and freshman Drew Sherbenske of Rapid City, S.D., among the candidates.

"I feel really good about this team," Mishler said. "We had talent last year and injuries definitely hurt us. I feel really good about our depth and there is not a guy that I don't have a lot of confidence in to go in and do the job at a high level at any position."

The Bears will again face strong competition in the ICCAC with SECC, Kirkwood Community College (KCC), Iowa Central Community College (ICCC), North Iowa Area Community College (NIACC) and NECC among the stronger teams. Indian Hills Community College (IHCC) and Iowa Western Community College (IWCC), two of the stronger NJCAA Division I programs, will play Division II this season as will Marshalltown Community College (MCC) and Southwestern Community College (SWCC), making the conference even stronger.

"To me, whoever wins our conference and our conference tournament is prepared for the (NJCAA) World Series. It's a grind and it's a dogfight every time you got out there and I think every team is going to be pretty darn good this year."