BEREA, OHIO -- The 2013-2014 Baldwin Wallace University men's golf team will rely on seven returning players, including All-Ohio Athletic Conference and Academic All-OAC standout Stephen Spalding (Stow/ Walsh Jesuit), in its quest for its first-ever OAC title. The collegiate golf season is split equally between a fall and spring seasons, and the OAC Championship Tournament occurs in the spring of 2014.
 
"Our goal as a team is to compete to win the OAC title," said fourth-year Head Coach Tom Heil, who also doubles as an assistant coach in men's basketball.  "We have a talented group of upperclassmen with very good leadership. We look forward to having the chance to compete for a title.
 
"The keys to our season is the leadership and finding a solid five-man lineup and having four of the five consistently shoot a low round," said Heil.  In collegiate golf, a team consists of five golfers with the four lowest scores counting toward that days team total.
 
"Our leadership will be the difference between competing for a championship or being middle of the pack in the OAC," said Heil. "Teams that overachieve tend to have great leadership while teams that underachieve generally have poor leadership.
 
"This season the lineup is wide open," said Heil. "I'm excited to see who has improved this summer. The guys playing the best golf during a particular week will be the guys that make the starting lineup.
 
"We return six-to-seven guys who were on last seasons roster and we have a couple of newcomers who have the talent to push our upperclassmen," continued Heil. "We look forward to the challenges ahead."

Expected to lead this year's squad will be red-shirt senior Stephen Spalding (Stow/ Walsh Jesuit), who posted a team-best stroke average of 76.71 during the fall season and shot a season-best round of 71 at the JCU Tournament. He unfortunately suffered an injury and did not compete during the spring season. Despite the injury, Spalding, who earned All-OAC accolades as a junior, earned his second straight Academic All-OAC accolade. He will return as one of the top players in the OAC and has a 77.27 career average in 34 tournaments and 67 rounds of 18 holes.

"Stephen is a very talented golfer," said Heil. "When his short game is on, he has a chance to the best golfer in the OAC. He is a great young man who is very respected by his teammates.

"He is a good role model who gets the job done both in the classroom, as evidenced by his two Academic All-OAC awards, and on the course, and that's why he is a returning All-OAC player," said Heil. "Both on and off the course, Stephen is a strong team leader.  We are looking for an excellent senior season from him."

Last spring, with Spalding out, junior Adam Sanders (Fairview Park/ Fairview) took over the role as the number-one golfer and responded by leading the team with a 77.11 stroke average in five tournaments and nine rounds, including a career-low 69 at the Capital University Tournament when he earned tourney medalist honors and OAC Player of the Week honors.

"Adam played well last spring and really showed us what he is capable of doing to help the team," said Heil. "If he can duplicate that effort and improve again, it definites gives us at least two top-line players."
 
In addition, senior Augie Ward (Medina/ Walsh Jesuit) and senior Chris Nader (Westlake) have shown that they are capable of being in the top-five on a weekly basis. Ward had a strong season in 2012-2013, including a career-best 79.0 stroke average last fall.  He shot a career-best 71 at the Muskingum University Invitational in the spring. Nader averaged nearly 84 strokes per round a year ago but showed in 2010-2011 that he is capable of better play when he averaged 79.45 strokes that season.
 
"Both Augie and Chris have the talent and ability to shoot a low round," commented Heil. "The key for each of them is to shoot consistently low rounds.  If we can get a solid three or four scores, it will make a big difference in our team result."
 
Looking to be part of the supporting cast are junior Cody Lyon (Wadsworth/ Medina Highland) junior Andy Ingram (Vermilion), and sophomore Connor Duplin (North Canton/ Louisville St. Thomas Aquinas).

Lyon recorded an average of 84.07 strokes for nine rounds and shot a season-best 75 at Muskingum. Ingram played in eight tournaments as a sophomore and averaged 86.93 strokes with a season-best of 81 at on the first day of the University of Mount Union Invitational. Duplin played in seven tournaments with a season average of 86.98 and a career-low of 75 at the fall Mt. Union invite.

"Cody, Andy and Connor all have the ability to help our team," said Heil.  "Again, the key will be consistency.  Simply put, we need at least one of them to make the top-five and shoot a low round."

Heil also has a group of six freshmen, Michael Devine (Richfield Revere), Colin Greig (Willoughby/ South), Austin Griffith (Barberton), Matt Kershner (Independence), Dustin Roth (Norwalk/ St. Paul) and Scott Schroeder (Aurora).

"We are looking for our newcomers to push the upperclassmen for their spots in the top-five," said Heil. "Competition is always a good thing."
 
The Yellow Jackets open the 2013 fall season at the annual John Carroll University Pat Flowers Fall Invitational Tournament at the Shaker Heights Country Club on September 10. BW also will compete at the OAC Fall Invitational (Sept. 16-17), Defiance College Tournament (Sept. 22), University of Mount Union Invitational (Sept. 30-Oct. 1) and the Wittenberg University Rosecrans-Maurer Invitational (Oct. 6-7).

FOR MORE BW SPORTS INFORMATION, please contact Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327 and e-mail at kruple@bw.edu. or Assistant SID Jeff Miller by phone at 440-826-2780 and email at jefmille@bw.edu Fans can access the latest BW athletics information at www.BWyellowjackets.com and we invite you to join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bwyellowjackets and Twitter at http://twitter.com/