Battered,  bruised, and probably better, Pacific baseball emerges from the preseason at 1-14. It wasn’t just any preseason. The Tigers played four series and a single game against NCAA Regional playoff teams from a year ago: Washington, UNLV, Nevada, Cal Poly and California.

Of those, the Tigers took a single home game against Cal Poly.

The bad news is, while Pacific has struggled across the board, the biggest bane has been defensive miscues. The Tigers have committed 37 errors in 15 games (about two-and-a-half per contest), and many of those have contributed to big innings for an opponent.

It’s also been a tough run for Pacific’s starting rotation, albeit against some potent batting orders, as the pitching staff in its entirety has a 6.44 earned run average. Only senior Michael Benson, who made the one spot start this year, against Cal Poly, has a win.

The good news is, Pacific has shown offensive promise. Three consistent starters in third baseman J.J. Wagner (.358, 5 RBI), Louis Mejia (.349, 3 RBI) and Tyler Sullivan (.339, 6 RBI, 7 BB) are batting above .300. Justin Thaxton, a freshman, is hitting .316 with two doubles in a more limited role.

And how about the true power source from true freshman Jed Sprague. Jed — son of coach Ed Sprague — leads the team with four long bombs.

Pacific heads to Moraga to play Saint Mary’s (7-5), a team with a better record certainly, but one whose preseason schedule is nowhere near as difficult as the Tigers’. Saint Mary’s can rake, though, as the Gaels are batting .320 as a team, 12th best in the nation.

The Tigers and Gaels begin their three-game series at 3 p.m. Friday.