MONMOUTH, Ill. — Have you ever walked by your favorite restaurant and been surrounded by its wonderful aroma, but when you thought about walking in, you were just a little bit short in your wallet?

Monmouth College baseball coach Roger Sander and the 20 veterans from last year’s 26-13 Fighting Scots can relate.

Depending on which inning of their heartbreaking 14-inning loss to Carthage that one revisits, the Scots were just a few inches or one less bobble away from a victory in the winner’s bracket final, which would have put Monmouth in the driver’s seat of their NCAA Regional. Instead, it was Carthage who was able to celebrate on Glasgow Field a day later on Sunday, as the Redmen again topped the Scots to reach the Division III College World Series.

“When I took over this program in 1994, we were very, very good,” said Sander, who served as an assistant coach during the Scots’ tremendous 105-25 run from 1990-94. “As good as those teams were, winning four straight Midwest Conference championships, we never got a postseason bid.

“Last year,” Sander continued, “we got a sniff. This year, we want a little more. I know and the kids know that Carthage wasn’t the better team than us in that Saturday game. They won the game, but they didn’t beat us.”

It takes a lot for a team to even return to the position Monmouth was in a year ago, but then again, Sander feels he has a lot, be it pitching, hitting or defense.

“I’ve got 20 returners, and 26 kids who are new to the program,” he said a week prior to trimming his travel roster to 28 for a dozen spring break games in Florida. “I honestly feel that I’ll be leaving kids at home for that trip who will help me later in the season. We’re almost ready to go, and I still don’t know who I’m taking.”

While Sander’s eraser might be getting a workout as he pencils in various roster combinations, there are a few names he can chisel in stone.

Senior Beau Hellman (.333) and sophomore Thad King (.328) led the Scots in hitting a year ago, and both All-MWC players will be somewhere – Sander’s just not quite sure where – in the Opening Day lineup. Hellman, after all, has been an All-MWC pitcher, second baseman and shortstop in his first three years, while King saw time at first, second and short last season.

“I don’t know where I’m playing either one of them this year, and I’ve got 8-9 guys just like that,” said the coach, who has a career record of 163-132-1 at MC.

Another is last year’s right fielder, Jeremy Hamilton (.248), who could be the No. 1 catcher. Then again, that spot could be platooned between two brilliant catchers from the area, Josh Ragar (Southern) and Josh Hall (Monmouth).

Hall’s Zippers placed second in the state in 2001, and another key member of that team, transfer Tristan Reimolds is in the mix in the middle infield.

At first base, Sander could always play Deon Dinsmore (.283), who had several clutch hits down the stretch last season. Dinsmore might be suited more for DH, though, but then again, Abingdon product Jason Riney (.280) could get the nod there. Of course, Riney might not even be the best player from Abingdon on the team, as freshman infielder Matt Gordon “has just been flat-out stroking the ball,” according to Sander.

The veteran coach also listed sophomores Alan Betourne, Steve Turner and Michael Current as potential starting infielders. And, of course, there’s Galesburg product Chad Goad (.361), who, in limited time, earned an All-MWC selection at third base. Challenging him at the hot corner are Ricky Barnett, Adam Gudgel and Lukas Young.

Confused yet? There’s more.

“I haven’t even mentioned Chris Musielak yet, and he might be the best fielder of the lot,” said Sander. “And I’ve got a freshman first baseman, Scott Taylor, who could be the best I have at that position. I’m not afraid to play freshmen. I had three starting in the infield at one point last season. The key is where I decide to play Hellman and King. The pieces will fall into place after that.”

The outlook is almost as unsettled in the outfield, but not quite. Senior Jeremy Pryzbylo (.271) should find a spot, and Hamilton could always be sent back out to right. Riney, transfer Jason Salmon, freshman James Kohlbacher and returners Jared Mason and Jeff Long are also in the mix.

“Nate Clark is also swinging the bat well,” said Sander.

As one might expect, the pitching staff is just as much a mystery for Sander, who has the unenviable task of trying to replace two 20-game career winners, Ryan Johnson and Joe Larkins.

“I think first you have to look at the four kids who are returning,” said Sander. “Beau Hellman easily could have been our ace the last two seasons if we had to have him, and Adam Carlson had a great freshman year (5-0) before he got hurt last year. Throughout his career, Toby Lannholm has shown sparks that he could be ‘the man,’ and Mason Abner, all he did last year was get people out (including the nation’s No. 1 hitting team, Aurora).”

Among the new arms, Sander is high on transfers Steve Myros from Illinois Weselyan and hard-throwing Luke Atkins, as well as the freshman trio of Pat Schramm, Matt Engelhardt and Kevin Meinhart.

“It’s a nice problem to have. We like it,” said Sander of the plethora of talent he has for the nine lineup slots and the pitching rotation. “We’re very athletic, and we’re just so deep. I don’t know what to do. You would think, with losing the class that we lost (All-MWC performers Johnson, Larkins, Adam Schweizter, Taylor Thiel, Steve Glasgow and Dustin White), that we’d be searching for people, but it’s just the opposite. We’ve got a boatload of good kids. I’m really, really optimistic.”

Rounding out the program – and pay attention, because some of these players could be heroes by April or May – are senior Seth Spivey, juniors Matt Hoag, Tyler Snyder, John Scudella and Jeff Zurawicz, sophomores Aaron McKay and Matt Murphy and freshmen Kyle Gibbs, Jeff Tucker, Roy Tylkowski, Trenton Jordan, Ryan Logsdon, Ryne Sherman and Brian Mieszala.

“My goals for this program are very lofty,” Sander concluded. “I told (former baseball coach) Terry Glasgow when I took over that I wanted to win a national championship. We were derailed for a while in the late 1990s because of a lack of facilities, but now we’ve got a gorgeous ballpark, a terrific coaching staff and a deep, talented team. The national championship – I’m going to put it out there.”

In other words, this year the Scots don’t want just a sniff of the dinner table – they want the whole feast.

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