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Danville Dans

Dans Announce 2016 Roster, Coaches

May 2, 2016 - Prospect League (Prospect)
Danville Dans News Release


DANVILLE, IL - For the Danville Dans, five members of last year's squad along with manager Eric Coleman will be returning to Danvile for the 2016 season.

"We have two pitchers, two infielders and an outfielder returning this season," said Dans managing partner Jeanie Cooke. "Starter Ryan Gaines (Birmingham Southern College) and relief pitcher Brian Allec (Texas A&M Corpus Christi) will bring Prospect League experience to the pitching squad."

Gaines was recently named the Southern Athletic Association Pitcher of the Year. In ten starts he compiled a 9-1 record, and led the league with a 1.57 ERA. He rang up 58 strikeouts while walking just 12 batters all season. He'll be joined on the Dans by fellow BSC pitcher Stephen Himic.

Teammates Joey Fiske and Logan Steinberg, from St. Mary's College, will be back in Danville this summer. A centerfielder, Fiske suffered a leg injury and left in early July last year. Steinberg & Fiske will be joined by St. Mary's teammate Brett Rasso, a sophomore infielder.

Also returning from last year is infielder Grant Mayeaux (Cypress College).

New players are coming from familiar colleges like North Florida and San Diego. They are also coming from Baylor, Kansas, Louisiana Tech, and Seton Hall, to name a few.

Four players - including an Illinois native - are reporting from the Arizona Wildcats. "Alfonso Rivas, an outfielder, was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week as a freshman earlier this year," notes Cooke. Pitcher Trent Johnson is from Metamora, IL, and will be joined by Kyle Lewis and Austin Rubick, who was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 27th round of last year's MLB draft.

Another Illinois native is Jared Waldhoff, a RHP from Teutopolis and junior at Southeast Missouri State.

Mason Irby is coming from Jones County Junior College in Ellisville, MS, which is ranked 4th in NJCAA DII baseball. The outfielder is hitting .445 with 11 doubles, 2 triples, 7 home runs and 28 stolen bases.

A new Prospect League rule allows teams to have up to two highly-qualified recent high school graduates on their rosters. The Dans are putting this new rule in play by adding Josh Smith to the 2016 squad. A shortstop that's committed to play at LSU, Smith was named a 2016 Rawlings-Perfect Game Honorable Mention All-American and Southeast - All-Region 1st team.

With the Prospect League season starting on May 26 (the Dans will be on the road until May 31), there will be a number of temporary players on the Dans roster until players get done with their conference and post-season appearances.

Once in Danville, the players will be led by Eric Coleman, who will be in his third year as manager of the Danville Dans. He's guided the Dans to the Prospect League playoffs his first two seasons.

Coleman is no stranger to summer collegiate league baseball. He's been a coach or assistant coach in summer collegiate leagues for twelve years before the Dans, along with three seasons in the Frontier League.

In his two years with the Dans, he has a 62-58 record. Both teams led the league in stolen bases, with 119 in 2014, and a league record 136 steals in 2015.

This pitching staffs have allowed the third fewest earned runs in the 12-team league each season, with 184 allowed in 2014, and 159 scoring in 2015. The team's pitching staffs have also thrown a high number of strikeouts: 433 in 2014 (2nd most) and 404 in 2015 (3rd most). The 2015 staff had the third-best team ERA of 2.74.

Coleman will be joined by assistant coaches Kyle Grieshaber and Kincaid Koehler.

Grieshaber is in his third season as an assistant coach at the University of Central Missouri, where he also played his last two years of college. His first two were at Louisville, where he was three-time Big East Player of the Week. He signed as a free agent in 2013 with the St. Louis Cardinals, and played at their Johnson City rookie league team. He played for the Frontier League's Southern Illinois Miners in 2014.

Koehler will work with the Dans pitchers this summer. He played baseball at the University of Montevallo for three seasons following a year at the Air Force Academy. He's completing his first season as pitching coach at Ohio Dominican University. He previously coached at Limestone College for a year, and was the pitching coach for the Champion City Kings in the Prospect League last season.

Coleman is glad to be in Danville. "In all the other summer leagues I've been in, you hear about the reputation and history of the Danville Dans. These past two years I learned first-hand that it was all true."

The Dans are a founding member of the Prospect League, a 12-team summer collegiate wood bat league. Baseball players from across America come to Danville to improve their fielding skills and hitting with wood bats. The Dans count 26 current or former MLB players among their alumni.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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