Edmonds eager to defend crown

  • David Pan<br>Enterprise sports editor
  • Thursday, February 28, 2008 9:54am

LYNNWOOD — The 2003 Edmonds Community College baseball team has a tough act to follow.

The Tritons are coming off one of their most successful seasons in recent history. After taking second place in the North Division, Edmonds advanced to the NWAACC tournament and won the league championship for the first time since 1998.

If the Tritons successfully defend their title, they will do it with a new group of players for the most part.

Fourth-year coach Don Marbut only has a handful of starters back from his championship team and estimated that about 75 percent of his squad is new.

The names have changed but Edmonds has picked up right where the team left off a year ago.

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Following a three-game series sweep over Skagit Valley, the Tritons improved to 7-0 in the division and are 19-1 overall.

The biggest challenge Marbut has faced is figuring out how to get everyone enough playing time.

“We’ve never had this type of depth,” Marbut said. “We have so much depth offensively. There’re two guys are every spot that we really feel comfortable with. Sometimes there’re some positions we can play three guys at. We’re really comfortable with the depth.”

Edmonds doesn’t really have a set starting lineup, according to sophomore pitcher Ty Taubenheim (Lynden).

“It seems like every game just about everybody gets to play,” Taubenheim said.

At shortstop, Mountlake Terrace graduate Marc Joehnk is splitting time with Tim Hallam (Kennedy). The two are among the top defensive shortstops that Marbut has coached at Edmonds.

In the first 17 games, the duo has committed only two errors.

“We can use either one at any time,” said Marbut. “We don’t feel like we miss a step.”

Playing time isn’t an issue with Joehnk or any of his teammates.

“There isn’t another person that I would like to be splitting time with than Tim,” Joehnk said.

“Everybody gets to play,” added sophomore Matt Wells. “That’s what’s fun about this year … with the depth, we have a lot of options.”

Those options present problems for other teams’ pitching staffs. Marbut can send up a largely lefthanded or righthanded lineup, depending on who is out on the mound.

Last year’s team only had a couple of left-handed batters and one of them was injured for a good part of the season.

“This year we have a lot of lefthanded hitters as well as righthanded hitters,” Marbut said. “It just gives us more flexibility.

“I think we’re a tough club to pitch to.”

The numbers back up Marbut.

The Tritons are second in the league in batting average, first in home runs, first in doubles, second in triples, first in stolen bases and first in runs scored.

Part of the reason Edmonds is hitting so well is a result of the team’s solid pitching. The staff’s ERA is third in the league and its strike-to-walk ratio is three to one.

Edmonds’ hitters don’t have any pressure to score a lot of runs to get back into the game, Marbut said.

“You’re getting quick innings on the defensive end,” he added. “Our pitching is keeping us ahead of the game.”

The Tritons have had solid outings in every one of their 19 games, except for one game, according to Marbut. Even in the team’s only loss, the pitching faltered only in a couple of innings, he added.

Taubenheim describes Edmonds as a no-nonsense type of team and he isn’t surprised by the team’s success this season.

“You just check your ego at the door when you come,” he said. “If you’ve got your own agenda or you’re here for different purposes other than the team, then we’re just not going to have you here. You’re here for one reason — that’s to help the team out and be a good teammate.”

Even though Edmonds is a relatively young team, the players know what they need to do to win, according to Joehnk. Most of them have come from winning programs.

“They’ve been on successful teams in the past. Everybody on the team has pretty much won a championship in their lifetimes,” Joehnk said. “That helps a lot. They understand what it takes to get there and what they need to do to accomplish their goals.”

This year’s team has the makings of a special group, according to Marbut.

“I firmly believe in these guys. I’ve never believed in a team more than I believe in these guys,” he said. “They want to win. They want to work hard .. I think the guys have bigger goals than the league. Their goal is to win the NWAACC championship.

“We’ve never had the leadership or the work ethic or the maturity or the team effort that we’ve have now. It makes the coach’s job pretty easy.”

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