Junior shortstop Peyton Watts has started every game and has paced the offense with a .426 batting average. Watts has driven in 60 runs and has 18 doubles and seven triples. He has also stolen 20 bases.
In what Goodale called “one of the bigger surprises role-wise” later in the season, freshman Vick Gann became the everyday center fielder for the Grizzlies. Gann has started 31 games and has hit for a .411 average with 28 RBI and nine doubles. He also stole 17 bases.
The pitching staff is third in the NAIA in earned run average (3.78) and is second in the nation in strikeouts per nine innings (10.48).
Goodale said that “it’s huge” to have such pitching depth, especially for the World Series. He said there have been years in which teams have won the national championship with seven arms, but he said that Georgia Gwinnett has 13 solid pitchers on the postseason roster that he would trust to go on the mound “and do their thing.”
“We had a conversation as a staff after the conference tournament,” Goodale said. “We didn’t have a chance to put in five, maybe six guys in the conference tournament, and I told them, ‘Everybody that’s on the roster to pitch can pitch.’”
The Grizzlies’ ace is Peyton Castellow, who leads the roster with a 2.45 ERA. Castellow has started 13 games and appeared in 14 with a record of 7-0. He has 69.2 innings pitched and has 84 strikeouts.
Shane Anderson is another top pitcher on the roster with a 3.06 ERA. Anderson has started 11 games and appeared in 17 with a record of 8-0. He has 61.2 innings pitched and has 76 strikeouts, giving up an opposing batting average of just .188.
Approaching the World Series, the Grizzlies’ mindset hasn’t changed at all.
“The same thing that we’ve been talking about as a team from the jump is it’s all the same,” Goodale said. “Nothing special that changes, if we can stay as present as possible and attack things for what they are, pitch by pitch, inning by inning, game by game, and just really stay where we are (good things will happen). It can be anybody’s game, man. We gotta attack it to the best of our ability.”
Goodale said stepping foot in Lewiston the plan is to keep all the preparation the same, and he knows that his players will think the same way.
“Bite by bite, step by step, right where you are, and continue to find a way to get better and continue to grow, because, man, all the other nine teams that are going out there, besides us,” Goodale said, “all think they got a really good shot, which they do, because it’s anybody’s ball game once it gets Lewiston.”