By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Toledo, Ohio---Casey Gose (Genoa/Genoa, Ohio), a sophomore middle infielder for the Owens Community College baseball team, will suit up for NCAA Division I University of Toledo next year.
He becomes the third player from this year's team that will move on to a four-year school as he joins Michael Finch (Norwalk/Norwalk, Ohio), who will play at NCAA Division II Wheeling Jesuit University, and Zach Bobbitt (Oldham County/Oldham County, Ky.), who will play at NAIA Cincinnati Christian University.
A Program Revitalized
Gose, who also saw time in the outfield this past season, helped revitalize the Owens baseball program over the past two seasons. As a freshman, he helped the program come close to posting its first winning season since 2010-11 before recording the team's best postseason finish (3rd in Region XII tournament) since 2006-07. Then, as a sophomore, he led the program to not only a winning season, but its first 30 win campaign since 2009-10.
Owens Career
As a sophomore, Gose led the team to a 30-15 record, a second place finish in the conference and a berth in the Sub-Region XII tournament. He led the team in at bats (166), runs (55), hits (63), stolen bases (23) and batting average (.380). He also finished fourth in RBI (32) and fifth in walks (19), while getting on base at a .445 clip.
Following the season, Gose was one of four student-athletes from the team to earn All-Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC) recognition. In conference play, Gose batted .429 with 14 runs, two doubles, six RBI, seven walks and three stolen bases over 16 games. His play earned him the OCCAC Player of the Week award on April 17. He was also named the Owens male athlete of the year.
During his freshman year in which the team finished 23-25, Gose led the team in runs (40), at bats (161), hits (57) and batting average (.354). In 47 games played, he also chipped in nine doubles, one triple, 24 RBI, 18 walks and 11 stolen bases. He finished with a .436 on base percentage.
Gose captured OCCAC Player of the Week recognition on April 12 en route to becoming just one of two players from Owens to make the All-OCCAC team, and he was named to the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region XII Gold Glove team following the season.
Overall, in his two seasons, Gose batted 120-for-327 (.367) with 95 runs, 16 doubles, two triples, 56 RBI, 37 walks, 34 stolen bases and a .441 on base percentage.
Summer Success
During the summer before his freshman year, Gose was a member of the Michigan Monarchs summer wood bat team, where he hit .400 and posted an on base percentage of .555. In the championship game, he drove in the team's lone run.
Academic Achievement
In addition to all of his accomplishments on the field, Gose was also a two-time Academic All-OCCAC member.
Toledo Baseball
The University of Toledo baseball team is a member of the Mid-American Conference (MAC). They finished 19-38-1 overall last year, but finished 13-11 in the MAC and earned the MAC tournament's No. 5 seed before falling to Eastern Michigan to close the season.