In his first season leading the Wolverines on the baseball diamond, Coach Derek Buell was dealing with youthful players in a tough league who were still early in the learning process for both the game and what he would bring as coach.
In his first season leading the Wolverines on the baseball diamond, Coach Derek Buell was dealing with youthful players in a tough league who were still early in the learning process for both the game and what he would bring as coach.
Finishing with a 5-18 overall record, including 0-10 in the CVC Valley division, the Wolverines took their lumps.
This new season brings a totally different outlook for the team, though, and a packed practice gymnasium on a cold spring afternoon, with more than 40 players taking their hacks from tees and rubber armed pitching coaches, provided evidence of that. The Wolverines will play at a much different curve this season.
“We’re going to make a big transition this year on the field,” Buell said while watching his players work. “We’ve got a lot of new players starting this year. We lost six starters from last year, and while we didn’t have the best season last year, this group gained a lot of experience in the game, and they are starting out this year with a great attitude.”
Solid pitching is always a good place for any team to start at any level, and Buell feels good about his group of starting pitchers.
“Our pitching, especially the starters, will be one of our biggest strengths this season,” he said. “We start with senior Bo Dolecek as our top guy.”
Other seniors toeing the rubber will include Nick Donofrio, Richard Kretschman and Jeremy Abdelmalak. They will be joined by juniors Brody Gruber, Johnny Julian, Nate Mikonsky, Anthony Lucci and Brett Ringenbach.
Keeping those players in the lineup will be important. Ringenbach figures to be the starting catcher, Gruber will spend a lot of time at first base, Mikonsky will settle in at shortstop, and Julian will shore up the middle defense from his position in center field.
The infield will be manned much of the time by juniors. Carson Weisman will anchor second base, Gareth Reeves will see a lot of time in right field, Ringenbach will also see time behind the plate and at shortstop, sophomore J.T. Javorek will tend the hot corner at third base, and senior Stone McKissick will be solid covering left field.
“Our entire outfield and every infield position except shortstop will be new starters this year,” Buell said. “That said, they are all good athletes who look to learn as they go along, which is a good thing. Our starting pitching also should be good from one through four, so finding the right place for the other pitchers to build our bullpen is going to be possibly the toughest thing to do.”
West G’s lineup will be solid. Johnny Julian puts his speed to work leading off. The athleticism of Weisman is in the two spot. Ringenbach puts some pop into the first innings, and will be followed by senior Travis Veleba in the DH role. He also can pitch, catch, and fill spots in the outfield while providing serious power to the middle of the order.
Reeves will hit fifth, Mikonsky sixth, Javorek seventh, Gruber eighth, and McKissick, who can handle any outfield spot with equal skill sets, ninth.
Developing players for roles will be key for Coach Buell this season, and the outlook for doing that draws optimism from everybody.
Another key factor, and cause for optimism, is that for the first time in a while, the Wolverines will field a freshman baseball team as well as junior varsity team.
“I’m really excited to see that we will have a freshman team this year,” Buell said. “We have 18 freshmen out, so we are going to be able to develop a serious freshman team for a change, and that will mean more playing time for everybody if they want to work for it. The kids who want to play will show it in practices, and that has been very solid so far since we started.”
In short, expect West Geauga’s season and prospects to be vastly improved from previous years.
