2026 SEASON PREVIEW: New-look Yellow Jackets hungry to compete
DEFIANCE, Ohio – Defiance College Baseball returns to the diamond this weekend with as the 112th season kicks off against Truett McConnell in Georgia.
Defiance finished 15-35 last season to surpass the previous two seasons' total and posted the most victories since 2019.Head Coach Shane Gardner enters his third season as the Yellow Jackets' skipper and 15th overall as a college head coach. Coach Gardner enters the season just 7 wins shy of 300 for his collegiate career.
About the Team
In what Coach Gardner terms as a youth movement, the Yellow Jackets have a lot of new energy that finds ways to compete in everything. The 53-man roster includes 27 newcomers to the team, while 14 upperclassmen return for their third or fourth seasons at DC.
"Competition breeds success. They come in hungry to play, hungry to start, and in some instances have come in and won positions over guys who have been here," says Gardner.
Among what could feature 6 or 7 new faces in the lineup at any given time, the Yellow Jackets have two hometown talents ready to make an immediate impact. Defiance High School two-way talents Bradyn Shaw and Brez Zipfel are expected to see time on the infield and on the mound. The same goes for freshman infielder and pitcher Logan Rosenberger. Outfielder Caleb Wurster is also a name to watch after transferring in as a junior, looking to anchor the top of the lineup.
Gardner believes the top of the order will grease the wheels of the entire offense with the ability to get on base and use its speed manufacture runs, which applies further pressure on opposing defenses. The pitching staff has also seen encouraging development of increasing pitch dynamics in addition to velocity, with up to 24 arms as options this season.
DC's key returners all lead important parts of the 2026 squad. Two of their best on-base machines are coming back in Connor Gephart and Anthony Silvera Jr. Gephart was tied fo the team lead in RBIs last season with 31 while turning in his second straight season with more than 40 hits, while his 10 career home runs have him within reach of the program top-10 list. Silvera slugged a team-high 4 home runs last year and had a team-high 30 walk on his way to a .298 junior campaign. Senior second baseman Elisa Marquez has been another critical leader during the preseason preparation and returns last season's top fielding percentage among the entire infield. Fellow senior Blake Bowman is coming off a strong junior season where he was second on the team in innings (42.0) and strikeouts (36), and was also an all-star in the New York Collegiate Baseball League last summer.
"For the players who have been here for awhile, their motivation is we're laying the foundation for what the future's going to be for the program. They have bought into that, and they want to leave a legacy, to be the team that puts the stamp on starting a postseason streak," says Gardner. "Overall, we have a lot of good players who play hard."
Conference Outlook
The WHAC preseason coaches poll saw UNOH emerge as the favorite entering 2026. The Racers have won back-to-back regular-season titles while Indiana Tech has won the last two conference championships. The Yellow Jackets were selected 11th and will have some work to do to climb into the top-8 in order to reach their goal of a WHAC Tournament berth.
"Everything else builds off of that," says Gardner in terms of making the conference tournament. "Just getting a taste of that and being able to compete for a championship that way is important for us."
The season embarks on a 22-game tour through the southern United States before the Jackets are slated to begin the 28-game WHAC schedule at home against Cornerstone on March 14.
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