(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Borgerhout Squirrels)
 Twins Oosterhout adds American pitcher Wyatt Lankford to roster
Nederlands
 OOSTERHOUT (Neth.) -
Twins Oosterhout had added American pitcher Wyatt Lankford to its roster for the 2024 big league-season, the club announced on Saturday (January 6).
Last year, the 22-year old righthander, who can be used as both a starter and reliever, played for Borgerhout Squirrels in the highest league in Belgium.
There, in the 2023 season, Lankford finished with an 1.65 ERA and struckout 123 batters.
...Wyatt Lankford pitching for Borgerhout Squirrels in 2023...
(© Photo: Borgerhout Squirrels/Twins Oosterhout) |
In a press release issued by his new club, Lankford states:
,,I am truly excited to be joining Oosterhout Twins in their upcoming season.
I promise to give this team all my effort and work relentlessly to perform at my peak capabillities.
I believe that this will be an unforgettable experience and am beyond ecstatic to have this opportunity.
I look forward to meeting my coaches, teammates and staff.
Most importantly, I look forward to bring home a championship win to Oosterhout''.
Head Coach Rob Hendriks adds that he is happy to have an additional arm in his pitching-staff.
Hendriks: ,,Last year it turned out that we can never have enough pitching when Koen Postelmans and Simon Gross were out for a long time.
That made us vulnerable in the last game of each series.
By adding Lankford, we have created additional depth and brought in someone who has shown that he can pitch sharply deep into games''.
On behalf of the club's Top Sports-section, Committee-coordinator Paul Bun said:
,,With the addition of Wyatt, we have 8 pitchers on the roster.
This is actually the minimum to enter a major league season.
This should give the team enough depth not to have to ''stretch'' pitchers at the beginning of the season to get through the 3-game series.
It also gives some peace of mind towards the start of the season to bring in a good Japanese pitcher, as always.
Kind of our trademark in recent years''.
Last year, Twins Oosterhout finished in a tie for fourth place with RCH-Pinguïns, but ended up in fifth place based on the head-to-head results.
Twins then finished in first place in the Bottom-5 Pool to qualify for the Wild Card Bottom Series.
In that best-of-three, Twins eliminated RCH-Pinguïns (2-1) to advance to the Play-Offs.
But in that best-of-five series, Twins was swept by Neptunus in three games.
In the transfer-period following last season, Twins Oosterhout added righthanders Misja Harcksen and Jack Wagner.
Righthander Finn Kops, who didn't play the entire season due to an injury, will be back on the mound in 2024.
Righthanders Jeffrey Levenstone and Koen Postelmans left.
They will respectively play for UVV and Neptunus this year.
Before coming to Europe, Wyatt Lankford studied and played baseball at Loyola University New Orleans, where he earned a Master's degree in Business Administration & Management.
Lankford, who comes from California, played in five seasons for Wolf Pack, the baseball-team of Loyola, which is located in New Orleans, Louisiana.
In his Freshman-season (2017), Lankford pitched in 17 games (two starts) for Loyola and was 0-1 with a 5.47 ERA, striking out 19 batters and walking 15 in 26 1/3 inning, giving up 39 basehits.
In the next season (2018), the righthander appeared in 13 games (five starts) in what was his Sophomore-year.
Lankford was 2-3 with a 5.97 ERA.
This time, he struckout 18 batters in 34 2/3 inning, giving up 39 basehits and walking 13 hitters.
In the 2019 college-season, Lankford was 3-9 with a 6.79 ERA for Loyola.
He pitched in 13 games (ten starts, one complete) and finished the season with 31 strikeouts and 22 walks in 53 innings on the mound.
In his Junior-season (2020), Lankford pitched in only five games (all starts), but he was 4-1 and struckout 29 batters in 26 1/3 inning, walking only five.
He led the team with his 1.37 ERA.
Wyatt Lankford closed his college-career in 2021.
In his Senior-season, he was 2-2 with one save and a 4.85 ERA.
He threw in 14 games (five starts) and struckout 24 hitters in 29 2/3 inning, walking 12 and giving up 26 basehits.
In his five college-seasons, Lankford was 11-16 with a 5.24 ERA for the Loyola Wolf Pack baseball-team, which plays in the Southern States Athletic Conference of the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics).
In 62 games (27 starts), he struckout 121 batters in 170 innings, walked 67 and gave up 192 basehits.
In the Summer of 2022, Lankford briefly played professionally for Carolina Yankees in the Independent Southeastern Baseball League.
Besides pitching, he also was used as first baseman and designated hitter.
Playing the highest Belgian league last year, Wyatt Lankford was 9-4 with a 9-4 record and 1.65 ERA.
He appeared in 16 games for Borgerhout Squirrels, throwing seven complete games (two shutouts).
In 114 2/3 inning, Lankford struckout 123 batters and walked 48, while giving up 86 basehits.
As a hitter, Lankford was 2-for-8 (.250) with a double, scored twice and batted in one run, while walking twice.
In the regular season, Borgerhout finished in third place, which meant elimination for the Belgian Series.
In the Championship Series, Deurne Spartans won the best-of-five against Hoboken Pioneers, 3-1.
(January 7)
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