2017 Baseball Season Preview
In their first two years of existence, the Folsom Lake College baseball team has achieved a regular season record of 45-27 (.625 winning %) while playing in the Bay Valley Conference. Now entering their third season, the Falcons will make the jump to the Big 8 Conference, where they'll face local rivals Sac City, American River, Cosumnes River, and Sierra colleges three times each during their conference schedule. The Falcons have qualified for the state playoffs in each of their first two seasons – an unprecedented feat in CCCAA history – and aim for a third such accomplishment in 2017. With nine players returning from either the 2016 or 2015 teams, there is no shortage of experience on this year's roster. Catcher Mason Allen (2nd team All BVC in 2016), infielder Charlie Harber, shortstop Nicola Mislinski, infielder/dh Kale Leach, outfielder Greg Vaughn (2nd team All BVC in 2016), pitcher Brandon Bachman, and infielder/pitcher Reid Ramirez all played significant innings for the Falcons in 2016. Added to that group are infielders Grant Heisinger and Zach Rogers, who both played a big part on the 2015 team.
Incoming recruits and transfers who look to have an impact include pitcher Grant Dragmire (Bradshaw Christian/UCSB), pitcher Dustin Jack (Bradshaw Christian/San Diego St), outfielder Aiden Malm (Whitney HS/San Jose State), and outfielder Carson McCusker (Sparks, NV).
Falcons' head coach Rich Gregory is guardedly optimistic about his team, but is adamant this squad will at least match the academic success of last year's team, which achieved a team GPA of 2.84 during the spring 2016 semester.
The Falcons will open their season on Friday January 27 at Butte College in Oroville. They'll play their first home game at Falcon Field on Monday, January 30 at 5:00 pm against the same Butte College Roadrunners.