Jack Dahm plans to keep building the Mount Mercy baseball program with as many players from Iowa as he possibly can.

True to his plan, 13 of his 17 new guys this year are Iowans who are joining Dahm for his second season with the Mustangs in 2016.

Eleven of his new players are transfers, including four from Ellsworth Community College, three from Kirkwood, two from DMACC, one from Iowa Lakes and one from Northern Iowa.

The Northern Iowa transfer is Reid Bonner, an Iowa City West grad who went to UNI to play football but changed his mind after suffering a concussion and now will play baseball.

Dahm said he's improved the overall athletic ability, speed, depth and talent on the club.

"The thing I like the best, it's going to create some internal competition within our program. We didn't have a lot of that last year," he said.

Dahm anticipates having 22 veterans on the club in 2016, giving him an overall roster of 39 for next season.

"We're still a little short on the mound," he said, "but overall we're going to be a better team this year than we were last year."

Dahm became the Mount Mercy baseball coach in July of 2014 and steered the Mustangs to a 19-25 record this season. He did not have time to recruit a full class last season, but he's brought in a big class this year to stock the program.

"This year we got a couple of guys who I think can be difference-makers," he remarked.

Tarran Beasley, from Mesa, Ariz., belted 17 home runs, drove in 67 runs and hit .340 at Ellsworth this year. Nick Ledinsky, from Algonquin, Ill., pitched a no-hitter for Ellsworth this season. And Bonner, a former Iowa Player of the Year at Iowa City West, is a talented player who is playing the game again after football did not work out.

The 13 Iowans in the class are Cody Collender of Clinton, Trey Muilenburg of Bettendorf, Noah Dostal of Cedar Rapids Washington, Bonner from Iowa City West, Andrew Raymer from Iowa City West, Ian Fitzsimmons of West Des Moines Valley, Peter Brooks from Springville, Jake Robinson from Xavier, Stephen Jensen from Clear Creek-Amana, Joe Scott from Iowa City West, Luke Gallagher from Iowa City Regina, Jackson Yoder form Mid-Prairie and Jacob Hubanks from Dubuque Hempstead.

The four non-Iowans are Beasley from Arizona, Ledinsky from Illinois, Adam Marra from Canada and Steven Stachrya from Indiana.

Dostal and Marra played at Kirkwood. Robinson attended Kirkwood after graduating from Xavier, but did not play baseball.

"It's a nice, solid class and one that's going to help us continue to get better," said Dahm. "Each year you'll see us get more and more high school kids and get more and more talented."