The Cougar Pen Goes Into the Second Week

CHICAGO - Welcome to week two of the Cougar Pen with Dillion Engle (Milwaukee, Wis./Nathan Hale) and Cody Freund (McHenry, Ill./McHenry). With only two more weeks before opening day, team practice has officially started. I can personally say the Cougars are focused and excited to get this season going, especially with the ability to be outside, practicing in Chicago in just February. First off, let's give a big shout-out to our two Preseason All-Western Athletic Conference guys (by College Sports Madness) - junior pitcher Jake Perkins (Huntley, Ill./Huntley) and sophomore catcher Cody Freund (McHenry, Ill./McHenry). These are two guys that truly deserve the recognition but they know that the preseason accolades do not mean much. They will continue to work hard and progress in order to be All-WAC at the end of the season. Now to meet more of the Cougar players!

We first start off with No. 18 Justin Wyant (Marion, Iowa/Linn-Mar), a right-handed pitcher from Marion, Iowa. Justin comes to us from a powerhouse junior-college program, Johnson County. Justin is a guy who brings a winning attitude to our team this year. I believe he and his team were two-time JUCO World Series participants in his two years. Justin has a great deal of talent and looks to be right in the mix right away for us as we kick off. He is going to be a huge part of our success going forward this season.

Up next is No. 4 Tom Caulfield, a left handed pitcher from Burlingame, Calif. As you probably can tell from where he is from, Tom has that "Cali Swag." I am not too sure how he felt about his first winter in Chicago, but I can promise you he is excited for his first spring in Chicago as he prepares for his first season with us. Tom is one of those guys that you can just chill and talk to and he can always make you laugh. He is a really down to earth kid with a good work ethic. He, like Jake Perkins (Huntley, Ill./Huntley), is one of those guys you can always find in the weight room. He pushes himself to the limit every day, and we can't wait to see it translate to the mound in just a few weeks.

The next player up is No. 50 Noe Arteaga (Chicago, Ill./Gordon Tech), a right handed pitcher from Chicago. Noe comes to us from Danville Area Community College and is also a graduate of Gordon Tech High School along with friend and teammate, Julian Russell (Chicago, Ill./Gordon Tech). Noe is a jokester, but also knows when to be serious. He is a really good fit with this team and gets along with all of the guys very well. Nobody on our team really knew anything when he first came here in the fall but quickly we found out that he can chuck the baseball so for that we gave him the walk-out song, "Gasolina" by Pitbull. Noe looks to be a big addition for us as the depth of our pitching staff is becoming apparent.

Next up is No. 21 Josh Willis (Omaha, Neb.), or J-Willy as he's known by most of the team. He is a left-handed pitcher that comes to us from Neosho (Okla.) Community College. Josh is known by the guys on the team for his sense of style that is very unique from most of us. In the fall, you would repeatedly see him walking into the locker room wearing cut-off "jorts" but he rocked them. Not many other guys would really try to do that. Josh adds another talented lefty to our pitching staff giving us a good amount of depth. It is going to be fun to watch Josh grow and progress this season.

Coming up is No. 33 Brad Moore (Mount Prospect, Ill./Hersey), another left-handed pitcher that adds to our depth of the pitching staff. Unfortunately, Brad is not able to pitch for us this year, but that does not make him any less important to this team. Brad is another McHenry County College transfer along with senior Andy Gertonson (Crystal Lake Ill./Central). Brad is one of those guys who really loves to compete. When he is on the mound, there is no fear as he just goes right after guys with his best stuff and lets it play out from there. The Cougars will be expecting good things from Brad in the future.

Now let's go to Cody…

This week, I'm going to talk about some of our new position players. I'm going to start with our new junior college guys on down to our new freshmen.

First up, I'm going to introduce junior infielder No. 22 Rick Salazar from Bloomingdale, Ill. He played his first two seasons of college baseball at Lake Land Community College and is majoring in Information Systems. Rick is going to play a key role for us this season as a utility man. Whether he's playing first base, third base or if he's catching, Rick will make an impact for the Cougars and he shows some raw power at the plate. I remember in one of our fall scrimmages this year, Rick hit a long home run to dead center field as it was one of the few balls I've ever seen go out to straight away center at Cougar Stadium. I can't wait to see Rick show off more of that power during the spring.

The next player is junior catcher/infielder No. 24 David White (Kansas City, Mo./Bishop Miege). David is from Kansas City and played his junior college ball at Johnson County Community College in Kansas. David is majoring in criminal justice here at CSU. David thinks he is one of the funnier guys on the team, but we all just laugh at him to make him feel like he's actually funny. Just kidding… he's funny sometimes. David is also one of my roommates. Being such a huge Chicago Cubs fan, it's hard to be David's roommate because he is a huge Royals fan and I'm already tired of the Royals having a lot of success the last few years. From a baseball standpoint, we expect big things from David moving forward on a baseball level and sort of a leadership level as he's always talking to coaches about things he learned in previous years. So we expect David to play a big role in many different areas throughout his career here.

That's all we have for junior college transfer position players and now we will move on to the rest of the new guys!

The first freshman is outfield/pitcher No. 2 Joe Baier (Suamico, Wis./Bay Port) is up next as he is from Suamico, Wis. Joe went to high school at Bay Port and he is majoring in business management. Joe came into Chicago State as an outfielder, but he asked to throw a bullpen for Coach John Ely during the fall, and coach was impressed. Now Joe will be used as a pitcher for this team as well as an outfielder. All the guys on the team like to call Joe, "Joe Bear," even though his last name is pronounced "Bye-Er." Joe is the self-proclaimed best NHL '16 player on the team as well. Another thing to add about Joe is his hometown is near Green Bay, but he doesn't like the Packers, which is a plus even though Dillion doesn't like that very much. The Cougars are excited about Joe bringing not just his outfield and hitting ability, plus his pitching to the team this year. Watch out for Joe!

Now to oufielder/first baseman No. 5 Malik Carpenter (Chicago, Ill./Mt. Carmel). Malik, who is now known to some guys as "Mal-Ick," is from Chicago and he went to famed Mt. Carmel High School, the same high school as NFL great Donovan McNabb. Malik is also majoring in business management along with Joe and he seems to be one of the quieter guys on the team to me although he's always smiling. Never once have I heard him complain. He just goes about his business, works hard, and looks like he's having a lot of fun. I think that Malik is going to bring some power to this team as well. He's a big strong kid and definitely has some power in that bat of his. We're looking for Malik to make an impact not only this year but the next four years at CSU.

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Players Mentioned

#34 Dillion Engle: P; 5' 9"; Senior; L-L

#27 Cody Freund: C; 5' 11"; Sophomore; R-R

#7 Andy Gertonson: OF/IF; 6' 4"; Senior; R-R

#31 Jake Perkins: P; 6' 1"; Junior; L-L

#1 Julian Russell: IF; 5' 11"; Redshirt Junior; R-R

#2 Joe Baier: IF/OF/P; 6' 0"; Freshman; R-R

#5 Malik Carpenter: IF; 6' 0"; Freshman; R-R

#18 Justin Wyant: P; 6' 0"; Junior; R-R

#50 Noe Arteaga: P; 6' 2"; Junior; R-R

#21 Josh Willis: P; 6' 1"; Junior; L-L

#22 Rick Salazar: IF; 6' 0"; Junior; R-R

#24 David White: C; 6' 1"; Junior; R-R

Players Mentioned

#34 Dillion Engle
: 5' 9"; Senior; L-L
: P

#27 Cody Freund
: 5' 11"; Sophomore; R-R
: C

#7 Andy Gertonson
: 6' 4"; Senior; R-R
: OF/IF

#31 Jake Perkins
: 6' 1"; Junior; L-L
: P

#1 Julian Russell
: 5' 11"; Redshirt Junior; R-R
: IF

#2 Joe Baier
: 6' 0"; Freshman; R-R
: IF/OF/P

#5 Malik Carpenter
: 6' 0"; Freshman; R-R
: IF

#18 Justin Wyant
: 6' 0"; Junior; R-R
: P

#50 Noe Arteaga
: 6' 2"; Junior; R-R
: P

#21 Josh Willis
: 6' 1"; Junior; L-L
: P

#22 Rick Salazar
: 6' 0"; Junior; R-R
: IF

#24 David White
: 6' 1"; Junior; R-R
: C

Scoreboard

Players Mentioned

Players Mentioned