HAVERFORD, Pa. - With the start of 2020 season just over a month away, preseason honors are beginning to roll in for the Haverford College baseball team as Junior pitcher Nathan Bass joins senior pitcher Brandon Jenkins, and senior shortstop Will Karp in earning designation on Collegiate Baseball Magazine's 2020 Division III "Players to Watch" list.
The Collegiate Baseball Division III Players to Watch list is selected annually by NCAA Division III coaches from across the national landscape and compiled by Collegiate Baseball magazine.
In 2019, Bass logged a 4-2 record with a 2.28 ERA, striking out 53 batters in 47.1 innings. The righty held opponents to a .176 average and compiled six outings with five or more strikeouts. A D3Baseball.com All-Region selection, Bass was called upon for starting assignments with regularity for Haverford, taking the ball in the first inning five times against conference teams. Bass posted a 2-2 record in those outings, notching 28.2 innings pitched while registering a 2.83 ERA with 30 strikeouts. His strikeout total in conference games ranked third in the Centennial.
Jenkins emerged as a shutdown lefty in the Haverford bullpen after transitioning from a starting role earlier in his career. The Monrovia, Calif. product appeared in seven conference contests, and racked up four saves in 17 innings of work. Jenkins struck out 17 batters and held opponents to just a .197 batting average. He did not allow an earned run in those appearances, and surrendered just one extra-base hit in a Centennial game.
Last spring, Karp became the first Centennial Conference player to earn the Centennial Conference Gold Glove of the Year award twice since its inauguration in 2015. Karp, a Rawlings/ABCA All-Region selection added a breakout season offensively to his highlight-stuffed defensive resume as he hit recorded an impressive .403/.459/.545 slash line from the leadoff spot in Centennial Conference games this season. Proving to be a nearly unstoppable force on the basepaths, Karp paced the Centennial as he tallied 17 stolen bases in just 18 attempts against conference competition.
The Princeton, N.J. native led the Fords offensively in average (.377), on-base percentage (.448), slugging (.490), stolen bases (29), triples (3), and total bases (74). His 29 total steals tied for the fourth-most in the program's single-season history as he tied his 29 from just a season ago. Karp is already fourth in program history in career steals (73) through his three seasons on campus.
In 2019, the Fords reached the 20-win mark for the eighth time in the last 10 seasons and qualified for the Centennial Conference tournament for the 13th time in the last 15 years, reaching the conference final. Haverford begins the 2020 campaign in earnest on Saturday, February 29 with a doubleheader on the turf at No. 11 Kean. Haverford will face off with the Cougars (11:30 a.m.) and Susquehanna (2:45 p.m.) in Union, N.J.