School starts in just six weeks and there will be lots of new faces on campus — eight of those new faces belong to the BG baseball team.

These eight freshmen were recruited to the Falcons with the help of head coach Danny Schmitz and assistant coaches Spencer Schmitz and

Rick Blanc.

“We hope they will provide immediate contributions,” Spencer said. “We want to see them set the standard for down the line, so when they are sophomores and juniors they are key players.”

The Falcons added three pitchers, three infielders and two catchers.

“As the recruiting coordinator, it is my job to put together recruiting trips and plan where and what to do,” Blanc said. “We brought in eight guys, a well-rounded class.”

Blanc’s title includes recruiting coordinator and coaching the pitchers.

The three pitchers include two right handers, Jake Miller from Westerville, Ohio, and Rob Zenas from Ann Arbor, Mich. and a lefty, Brett Fitzwater from Defiance, Ohio.

“Jake will come in with a different arm angle and he knows how to compete,” Blanc said. “He will be one of our bullpen guys and we expect to see big things from him.”

Brett will give the team quality left handed innings, whether it is in the bullpen or as a starter, Blanc said and Rob is a strong kid with a great demeanor on the mound.

“We addressed a number of issues, but we must have pitching, it’s very important,” Danny said.

As a whole, there are lots of guys coming back from injuries; Blanc said they will be a lot better from a leadership standpoint and performance wise.

From a defensive standpoint, the Falcons were considerably young last year with 21-22 freshmen on the team, Danny said and even though this year they have a small senior class, the majority of the team will be sophomores and juniors.

“This should be a big year for us from a production standpoint,” Spencer said. “We hope to get back

competing for titles.”

The coaches hope the new recruits, Nick Glanzman, Taylor Huebner, Aaron Loconsole and catchers Tyler Greiner and Matt Smith will help impact the infield positively and create more competition on defense, Danny said.

Offensively the Falcons were fairly solid and had a season batting average of .290, which was fifth in the conference, Danny said and they continue to get better.

Shortly after school begins, the Falcons’ fall program will start up and the coaches are excited to see what the season might look like for them.

“We have the ability to be the dark horse this year,” Spencer said.