Team: Iowa Lakes Community College Lakers
Conference: ICCAC
College Level: JUCO
2021 Overall Record: 6-52
Location: Estherville, IA
Head Coach: Danny Acosta
Assistant Coaches: Kyle Houts & Dakota Young
Key Returning Position Players
Joey Winters – INF – Joey is a tremendous corner infielder; he will be our starting 1st baseman in the spring. He can pick it at first and isn’t afraid to body a ball up and get dirty. He is a gamer and will do everything in his power to produce for the team.
Ben Bach – INF – Ben is a very athletic and physical infielder. He will be our starting 3rd baseman this spring. He is one that is always the hardest worker on and off the field. He is not one to shy away from an opportunity or challenge, as well as putting his body on the line.
Caden White – C – Caden is a very valuable asset behind the plate. His receiving and blocking skills are established very well. His baseball IQ and awareness of the game are higher than most on our current team. I believe he would be able to lead our defense at any point in time.
Santiago Gonzalez – INF – Santiago is a very mature and scrappy player. He will be one of our middle infielders this spring season. As an LHH with the ability to move runners over, he will be a great asset to the success of our program. Santiago is very balanced throughout the infield, with soft hands while receiving, and having the ability to track down the ball in the hold. He will be one of our leaders this spring.
Peter Marquez – OF – Peter will be our starting center fielder; his speed and acceleration are outstanding. He can track balls down in the gap, even with misreads. Peter can drop down bunts and is the type of guy that if the ball hits green, he will be able to leg it out. He has the potential to hit for power yet is more consistent as a contact hitter.
Key Returning Pitchers
Dayton Robinson – RHP – Dayton is not going to blow you away with his velocity, but he will be a guy that is consistently in the zone. And can spot up any of his pitches. He isn’t afraid to go inside on guys and does a good job with holding runners and working quickly.
Travis Galleberg – LHP – We are excited to get Travis back for this season, he is crafty and has a lot of good movement on his pitches. He has a grinder mentality and will be a great impact guy throughout our pitching rotation.
Jack Hested – RHP – Jack was one of our most reliable guys last year, he knows his strengths and weaknesses, and has the ability to locate and keep batters off-balance. He will be another reliable pen guy for us this spring season.
Kelvin Castro – RHP – We can really see the improvement and time dedicated in the offspring, based on Kelvin’s performance this fall. He is a guy we will be using often this season as a starter/long relief pitcher. He brings maturity and puts trust in his defense.
Impact Freshman/Transfers
Bryan Mojica – RHP
Matt Torresan – RHP/OF
Parker Lewis – RHP – Transfer
Kellen Cameron – RHP
Arnoldo Saenz – RHP
Luis Ramos – OF/INF
What things did you see from the team in the fall?
In the fall, we had more reliability on the mound and built a solid team dynamic. We really started to come together as a team, which is one thing that we lacked in previous years. We have a lot of solid guys throughout our whole roster, which pushed everyone to try and get that starting spot, come the spring.
What was the focus during the fall for the team?
Our main focus during the fall was to come together as a team and to push each other. After having such a season as we did last year, our goal as a coaching staff was to put them into an environment that promoted the standard of success and dedication to our program. We wanted to implement a team understanding of trusting the process and striving to trust each other.
What are the expectations and goals for the team entering the season?
Our team goal is to better our win/loss ratio from last year. We are dedicated to the success and growth of every individual throughout our program. And to produce our student-athletes in phases beyond the game of baseball. Our overall team GPA goal in the spring is a 3.0, along with having multiple individuals moving on to be successful throughout this world.