Dan Gail circles the bases after his home run in the championship round of the 2019 Wooster Regional. The senior is one of the top catchers in the Mideast Region.

While there's been a changing of the guard at the helm of one of NCAA Div. III's elite baseball programs, the core expectation remains the same – compete for and win championships. When looking at baseball squads across the country, The College of Wooster's storied program is one of a handful that achieves that standard on a near-annual basis. The Fighting Scots enter 2020 with a North Coast Athletic Conference-leading 19 championships, while the program's 31 appearances in the NCAA Div. III Championships are the fourth-most in the history of the division.

"The standard is the standard," summed up Barry Craddock, a 1994 Wooster alumnus and longtime member of the College's baseball staff, who takes over for recently-retired legend Tim Pettorini. "We are not changing our expectations from previous teams. I feel there's a great responsibility to all of the former players, all of the former coaches, and especially Coach P, to put forth our very best effort to continue to compete for and win championships."

While two returning All-Americans headline a squad ranked 10th in the D3baseball.com/National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Top 25 Poll, Wooster's top-to-bottom quality and ability to reload on an annual basis are two characteristics that help set the program apart. That projects to be the case once again for the 2020 season.

"This program is built on work ethic, and that will never change," explained Craddock. "We get our reps, and we're not afraid of hard work in this program. We say all the time, 'we're not going to get outworked. We're not going to get outhustled. No one is going to care more about it, be more passionate about the game of baseball, and compete at a higher level than we are.'"

Seniors Dan Harwood and Harry Witwer-Dukes are two prime examples of Craddock's work-ethic mantra. Both All-Americans started their careers as role players and have since blossomed into two of the top position players in Div. III.

"As long as Dan recovers (from his injury), he should be the most feared hitter in Div. III," said Craddock. "All Harry has done during his career is gone from a backup player to a National Player of the Year candidate and potential pro player. His work ethic is second-to-none, and I'm in awe of the development he's made over his career."

Senior Nick Strausbaugh – a four-year starter – anchors Wooster's talented outfield, and providing the Scots' regulars stay healthy, Craddock feels "we have one of the most talented outfield cores in my memory."

Senior Aaron Spidell and rising sophomore Ben Gbur head into the season as projected starters, per Craddock, while fellow sophomores Dominic Stilliana and Ben Hines could be key players throughout the season. There's plenty of depth among the returnees in the outfield, with sophomore Troy Baughman, junior Zach Schuch, and sophomore Jack Whitehouse back in the mix as well.

While Wooster will have a retooled look in its infield this spring, the experience level certainly won't be lacking. However, Craddock's well aware it'll be a challenge to replace three mainstays in Garrett Crum, Chandler Dippman, and Jacob Stuursma.

"We do have some stability in terms of guys who have played a lot of baseball for us," said Craddock. "Dan Harwood's going to come in from the outfield to play first base. (Sophomore) Tyler Chumita took over the second base spot for us late in the year and will continue to be our second baseman. Harry will move from second base over to third base full-time. There's stability there with him being an All-American player. Junior Gabe Sherman is obviously the newest starter in the infield, but he has worked his butt off and is ready for that responsibility."

Senior Tyler Iversen is the most experienced returning infielder outside of the starting core, while seniors Ryan Farrell and Christian Julius provide plenty of depth among the returnees.

Senior Dan Gail rounds out the returning starting position players, and he's someone with the skillset to rank among the elite catchers in the region, both offensively and defensively.

"Dan is one of the hidden gems on our team and goes by unheralded," summed up Craddock. "He hits above .300 with half a dozen or more home runs (per year), and does the lion's share of the catching, which is extraordinarily difficult when you have hard throwers on your team like we've had. Our depth at catching is fantastic with (sophomores) Michael Thomas and Alex Gasper, plus freshman Riley McErlean."

Wooster's pitching staff projects to be anchored by juniors Andrew Hill and Evan Faxon, who started games one and two during last year's postseason. With those two back in the fold, plus other key arms, Craddock's heading into 2020 with a lot of optimism that the Scots have an "extraordinarily deep pitching staff."

"We've got a lot of talented guys who can get outs at this level," said Craddock, who also noted that assistant coach Matthew Johnson, a 2010 alumnus, is taking over as the primary pitching coach. "I don't know the order (with Andrew and Evan) quite yet. It's been a great competition watching those guys go back and forth. We purposefully put them in the same pitching groups so they can work with each other and off of each other."

Rising sophomore Mitchell Reardon is probably going to be the number three starter, per Craddock, while "he's working hard to push that number to two or even one."

Junior Jay DiBacco, Julius, and sophomore Colin Springer are three others vying for starting roles, per Craddock, while sophomore Dylan Carr, and juniors Jack Jones and Steve Spidell are among the key arms projected to be deployed out of the Scots' bullpen. Craddock's also excited about "some very talented freshmen" joining the Scots' pitching staff.

Speaking of freshmen, Wooster has 16 of them on this year's roster. They are pitcher Owen Barnard, third baseman/pitcher Dean Brown, first baseman Dane Camphausen, pitcher/first baseman Jordan Dem, third baseman Ike Epstein, shortstop/pitcher Grant Foreman, second baseman Micah Frankel, pitcher Christian Johnston, pitcher/outfielder Michael Klingensmith, pitcher Steven Leicht, pitcher Ian Leon, McErlean, pitcher T.J. Rafeedie, pitcher/first baseman Hayden Sherry, pitcher Ethan Samangy, and pitcher Ryan Sullivan.

"We're fortunate in that we have such a tremendous institution that attracts great players and great students who want to come here and help us win championships," said Craddock when highlighting Wooster's large freshmen class. "It's a talented and deep group. I do believe that there are immediate impact players in this group."

Wooster's rigorous schedule features three games against teams that qualified for the 2019 NCAA Div. III World Series, nine against teams that played in the NCAA Div. III Regionals, and 10 against teams that are either ranked or receiving votes in the D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25 poll.

Right off the bat, the Scots head to Case Western Reserve University on March 1 for a rematch of last year's regional championship round. After that, Wooster plays 11 games during its annual spring trip to Florida, with games against 2019 World Series participants Babson College (March 14) and Johns Hopkins University (March 20) headlining the southern slate.

Upon returning home, Wooster has games against regional participants Otterbein University (March 25), La Roche University (April 5), and Adrian College (April 7), plus a date with 2019 World Series participant Heidelberg University on April 26. One of the Mideast Region's top rivalries takes center stage on March 29 when Wooster visits Marietta College.

NCAC play starts on March 28 when Oberlin College visits Art Murray Field for a doubleheader. The headliner on the NCAC schedule comes on April 14 when Wooster travels to Denison University, which also qualified for last year's NCAA Regional Tournament.