Now he’s ‘coach’ Westphal

INDIANOLA — A former professional pitcher who pitched in state championship games for both Lenox and Martensdale-St. Marys has joined the Simpson College coaching staff.

Last October Simpson athletic officials announced the hiring of Ethan Westphal as pitching coach on the staff of head coach Nathan Roling.

The move came a few months after Westphal discontinued his professional baseball career in July. The righthander who pitched in a regional final for Southwestern Community College and in the NCAA Division II World Series for University of Central Missouri was having a good season in the independent Frontier League.

In that league, after his release by the Colorado Rockies organization, Westphal had pitched for the River City Rascals of the St. Louis area and then the Lake Erie Crushers in the Cleveland area after a trade. At the time he stepped away he was 1-3 with a 1.97 ERA. In 32 innings he had allowed 30 hits with 32 strikeouts and only seven walks.

Transition time

He said independent league baseball at his age (26) wasn’t a likely path to the major leagues, so he decided to transition into a more viable career while staying involved in the sport.

That’s when Simpson came calling, and as fate would have it, he replaces a former colleague. Westphal served as an assistant coach for his alma mater, Martensdale-St. Marys, from 2014-16 after accumulating a 48-1 pitching record for the Blue Devils as a three-time all-stater.

Martensdale-St. Marys head coach Jon Fitzpatrick had served as a pitching assistant for Roling during the 2018 season, but was stepping away. Westphal filled the void, joining a staff that also includes former Martensdale-St. Marys and Simpson outfielder Trent Dooley.

“Coach Fitz had been doing some of their pitching stuff, and when I finished up playing at Lake Erie he told me pitching was something that (Simpson) was looking for now that he had accepted a new AD type job at Indianola,” Westphal said. “He still plans to coach at Martensdale and the board there just approved me as their assistant coach during the summer. So, I’ll be coaching baseball spring and summer, and I wouldn’t have it any other way!”

Westphal pitched professionally three years — two in the Rockies organization for the Grand Junction Rockies and Boise Hawks — and last year in the Frontier League.

As a collegiate pitcher, Westphal helped lead University of Central Missouri to the 2016 NCAA Division II World Series. He had an 11-2 record with a 2.60 ERA. Prior to that he was an all-conference pitcher for Southwestern Community College after recovering from Tommy John elbow surgery.

As a high school pitcher Westphal, son of retired Lenox head coach Steve Westphal, pitched for the 2009 Lenox state runner-up team before transferring to Martensdale-St. Marys following his father’s retirement. As a junior and senior for the Blue Devils he helped the team complete undefeated championship seasons both years as the team had a combined 87-0 record.

Offseason work

Westphal recently directed the Simpson winter pitching clinic on four Sundays in late December and January. He’s been busy with offseason work done in the lower level of the Cowles Center on campus in preparation for the upcoming season, which includes the University of Iowa’s home opener on March 6.

“We’re down in the dungeon, the old weight room downstairs,” Westphal said. “They have a batting cage set up for both softball and baseball. We will use the (artificial turf) football field when we get any decent weather. We should see quite a bit of improvement this season and hopefully be on the competitive side in our conference.”

Westphal does not plan to call pitches on a regular basis during Storm games.

“I’ve never been huge on micromanaging the game,” Westphal said. “Ultimately, if you’re getting a good catcher you want to have trust in that catcher and his communication with the pitchers. My line of thinking is, I’ll probably call pitches when I see something that needs to be changed. We’ll have a specific set of signs to relay it.”

Westphal said the Simpson recruiting focus is primarily central Iowa and the Des Moines metro area, but there are some players from Chicago, Omaha and neighboring states.

“Academics is a big part of what we do here, so we’re looking at highly-motivated kids,” Westphal said. “At the D-3 level we can’t offer any athletic money, but there is a lot of academic (aid) money out there to be had. You just have to apply for it.”

The Storm, 8-28 last year and 6-17 in conference play, opens the 2019 season March 2-3 in Topeka, Kansas against Augsburg and Hamline.