Coach Pfatenhauer Discusses Utah Tech Baseball on ESPN 97.7

Our interview with Utah Tech Baseball Coach Chris Pfatenhauer.

Utah Tech is 7-1 so far this year and have a four game homestand this weekend. Listen here and transcript below.

Andy: Welcome back to The Sport Hole. Please put your hands together for our next guest, Coach Chris Pfatenhauer!

Utah Tech Baseball has a big homestand coming up starting tomorrow. They are off to a 7-1 start, and there is a lot of fun stuff going on right now in the baseball program. How’s it going, Coach? Thanks for jumping on with us.

Coach Pfatenhauer: It’s going good, Andy. Thanks for having me.

Andy: Yeah, absolutely. Let’s go back and just kind of review. You swept Bakersfield convincingly, put up a ton of runs, and won the Pacific series. It seems like everything is kind of clicking right now early in the season. What’s been your evaluation thus far?

Coach Pfatenhauer: Yeah, I think our guys are playing with a lot of confidence. I think the way we finished last year—getting into that conference tournament and making some noise—really built a different level of confidence in our guys. They feel like they belong. We’ve pitched well and we aren't walking a lot of guys. We’re getting on base. We’re not hitting for much power, which we didn’t think we would, but we can really run the bases. We don't have a bunch of burners, but we have good team speed. So, yeah, I mean, we’re getting more guys on base than they are and taking advantage.

Andy: The big individual storyline that continues from last season is Kyle McDaniel—some call him "Kyle MickDiMaggio" because he just hits every time. I can't remember the exact numbers, Coach, but he just set the program record for a hitting streak, which is at 22 or 23 games in a row. Then his on-base streak is up over 45 games or something like that. It’s just amazing what he’s doing game in and game out.

Coach Pfatenhauer: He’s special. He’s an awesome kid with a tremendous work ethic. He’s not a 6'3" dude with burning speed or anything like that. He’s a guy that gets the most out of what he has. His work ethic and his commitment to his craft have been really, really special to watch. He was pretty good as a freshman, and he’s just continued to get better.

Andy: Remind me of the history of how you found him, bringing him here, and his development.

Coach Pfatenhauer: He was a camper, honestly. He's a Nevada kid who came to a camp. We really liked him and wanted to see more, so we got him to come back to a second camp. Based on those two camps, we pulled the trigger. He came here as a walk-on. Obviously, now he’s on a really good scholarship. He was a shortstop in high school, and we played him at third base some as a freshman. The bat played, but he struggled a little bit with the glove at third. We moved him to second, where we felt like that would take some heat off him last year, and he’s just kind of run with it.

Honestly, having him and Petey [Schoenfeld] up the middle—they’re friends and roommates—I think that’s been paramount in both of their development. Then we added Ryan Capel last year at third base to complement that whole infield. Capel and Kyle are both left-handed hitters; they share so much information, watch video, and really break each other down. I think they’ve just grown from each other.

Andy: How’s Petey looking so far this year?

Coach Pfatenhauer: He’s good. Petey is good. I mean, he’s played unbelievable defense as he usually does. When you play that position and get to as many balls as he does, you’re going to end up with some errors. He’s got three errors on the year, but that pales in comparison to the runs he has saved. We actually gave him the Player of the Game on Saturday at Pacific. I think he had one hit that day, but he made three or four plays that—when you’re in a one, two, or three-run ballgame—make him a difference-maker. He’s really done a great job in the weight room with that piece of his development. In high school, he was athletic but pretty stringy; he’s put on good weight. All those guys have a chance to play at the next level.

Andy: You just had that one game against Bakersfield, but you swept Riverside. What have these matchups been like as far as the talent you have on the field versus the teams you’ve played? And looking ahead, what does it look like for this weekend?

Coach Pfatenhauer: The teams we've played—we played Bakersfield last year in a four-game set here and we played Riverside here in a four-game set last year. We dropped the series to Riverside last year 3-1, but obviously, we swept them this year. We’re a better club, that’s for sure. We were way better prepared from a coaching standpoint in terms of what we put them through.

Regarding Bakersfield, that coach is doing a good job; it’s his second year growing the program and they’re going to continue to get better. I think we just got them on a good day for a midweek game where they were a little thin on the mound. Pacific was a really good club. Their coach is in his second year and they’re making great strides. They really pitched it. You saw the scores—we lost 4-3 and won 2-1. The Saturday game kind of got away from them defensively, but they are really good teams.

I like where we’re at. I think it’s very indicative of the kind of competition we have to play in the WAC. We’re looking forward to this weekend. Northern Colorado is coming in—a former WAC opponent. They were still in the WAC our first year in Division I. We played them last year and split with them here. They’re off to a bit of a slow start, but they played two really good teams on the road. It’s not going to be easy. They can really pitch and they’ve got some good velocity on the mound.

There’s a lot of pride in what we do. We want to grow our programs. When you get hired, your department invests in you and you want to grow. Everybody we’re playing right now is super hungry. It’s been a while—since the D2 years—that we were "the hunted." We’ve been doing a lot of hunting for the last five years. When you get off to a start like we did, you put a bit of a bullseye on yourself. We’re relishing that role.

Andy: Talking with Coach Chris Pfatenhauer. They’ve got a four-game series this weekend at Bruce Hurst Field: a game on Friday, a doubleheader on Saturday, and then a game on Sunday. It looks like Dakota West is pitching well so far?

Coach Pfatenhauer: Yeah, he's a fourth-year senior and a guy that’s been in that role before. His velocity really made a climb, but the number one thing is just his command. He’s been pretty firm since he’s been here. The breaking ball has developed over the years, but the biggest thing he’s doing is pounding the strike zone. He’s going to be a mainstay, we hope, in the middle of that rotation all year.

Andy: You mentioned how well you guys finished last year. What is the biggest thing this year that you think you'll improve on even more as a team? You mentioned you might not be hitting a lot of home runs, but what will be the biggest improvement for the Trailblazers?

Coach Pfatenhauer: I think defense and pounding the strike zone. Last year, we had a pretty good offensive year; we scored the most runs and hit for the highest average we've had in our Division I era. But we led the WAC in walks from a pitching standpoint. It’s hard to pitch out of those jams in some of these offensive ballparks. You have to make them earn it. We’ve done a pretty good job of that so far. We walked 21 guys in eight games, which is a really good number. That’s a huge stride.

Defensively, we were pretty good last year—we led the country in double plays—but we did break down defensively in certain moments. With having the three infielders and both catchers back, there’s a certain level of maturity. We’ve got a lot of guys that have seen what it takes to be successful at this level and who have experienced failure at this level. I think it’s an awesome situation for them. Playing well down the stretch last year and playing some high-leverage games in the postseason really prepared this group.

Andy: What do opponents say, or what do you think the reputation is for Bruce Hurst Field among WAC opponents or visitors?

Coach Pfatenhauer: It’s an offensive park. It’s very hitter-friendly. We’ve built our pitching staff this year to try and combat that. We’ve got a lot of guys with sink and guys that pitch down in the zone. We built our defense to handle ground balls. I think that’s what you have to do in our conference and in this park. So, we’re focused on being able to change speeds and pitch at the bottom of the zone. People around the country know it’s offensive. Much of the West—like the Mountain West where we’re going next year—is the same way. The WAC has been very offensive, unlike the Big West or the West Coast Conference where the ball sits a bit more at sea level. It’s a pretty offensive park, and hopefully, we can take advantage of that on one side of the ball and combat it on the other.

Andy: I asked you about Kyle McDaniel, who is having a crazy start to the season batting .469. Tell me a little bit about some of these other guys who are hitting the ball really well early on, like Ty Johnson, Miller Durham, and Ryan Capel.

Coach Pfatenhauer: Yeah, Ty Johnson’s been a pleasant surprise. We liked him a lot last year when we brought him in from Salt Lake Community College. He’s a catcher, so you don’t often expect a lot out of that position offensively, but his stats last year were extremely misleading. He had a lot of hard outs last year and he’s just gotten better. He’s putting together really good at-bats. He’s 6'4" and looks physical in the box, but he handles the bat well so we can bunt or hit-and-run with him.

Miller Durham has been a tremendous addition. The only guy we lost from the infield and catching group last year was Aaron Perez, our first baseman, and we replaced him with Miller. We haven't missed a beat there. He’s just as good with the glove around the bag and he really hits for a high average. He’s got a chance to hit for some power as well now that we’re back home.

Capel is a guy who is going to be there at the end. He’s the preseason WAC Player of the Year, not just for what he does offensively, but he’s also our closer. He’s been a tremendous addition since coming from ASU.

And then Casey Olney is a "Swiss Army knife" for us. He’s played left field, third base, and first base. He can really handle the bat at a high level. He didn’t have a ton of at-bats last year, but he actually led our team in RBIs per at-bat. When he gets his chances, he really takes advantage. We’ve got a little bit of platooning going on with him right now, but we have several guys contributing in a big way.

Andy: All right, an eight-game homestand coming up for Utah Tech. Four this weekend against Northern Colorado, then four against Austin Peay. Then they're on the road for a bit before a midweek home game against BYU at Bruce Hurst, which is always a fun one. We look forward to that and to getting out to the ballpark this weekend. Good luck and continued success. Hopefully, we can get you back on again soon as the season progresses, Coach.

Coach Pfatenhauer: That’d be great, Andy. Thanks for having me. See everybody at Hurst this weekend.

Andy: Can't wait. Coach Chris Pfatenhauer, everybody. We'll see you out at the ballpark this weekend. A quick break and back with more right after this.