The St. Bede baseball team will rely on senior leadership this spring as the Bruins look to continue their tradition of making playoff runs.
The Bruins won a Class 1A regional championship last season and looking to help St. Bede to a repeat are seniors Tyreke Fortney, Colin Nave, Dan Dugosh, Auggie Weisbrock, Logan Humpage, Jayce Ladzinski and Luke Story.
“We have a bunch of seniors this year and I expect them each to have their moments where they will have to show their experience and show leadership,” St. Bede coach Bill Booker said. “I don’t think it is just going to be one or two guys but a combination of all six seniors and they are all capable.”
Booker also is excited about a group of juniors that will be looking for their share of playing time in Ryan and John Brady, Callan Hueneburg, Brendan Pillion, Jake Delaney, Connor Brown and Landon Jackson.
The Bruins also add to the mix four sophomores who saw meaningful action last season in Nathan Husser, Ryan Slingsby, Luke Tunnel and Seth Ferrari.
“We have a good group of juniors and some sophomores that gave us some big moments as freshman, so it should breed competition for spots and we’ll work toward getting the right people in the right spots for the postseason,” Booker said. “Our overall numbers are down like everybody else, but I think we have enough depth to cause competition at nearly every position. We’ll see as we go along who earns playing times and who gets the at bats.”
The Bruins return plenty of pitching with Wiesbrock, Dugosh, Tunnel, Hueneburg, Story, Pillion, Ryan Brady, Delaney and Ferrari looking to battle for innings.
“We are pretty deep on the mound,” Booker said. “We don’t really have that dominant ace, but we have about eight guys who can come in and get the job done. We have a lot of options. We were good last year and we add Luke Story back this year. We also had younger kids who have been put to the test in important innings.”
In the field, the Bruins have a lot of versatility and a large group of players who can play numerous positions, including both Bradys, Hueneburg and Nave.
In the outfield, the Bruins are looking to Fortney, Slingsby, Dugosh and Ferrari.
In the infield, time will be earned by Pillion, Delaney, Wiesbrock, Brown, Story, Tunnel and Jackson.
Humpage and Husser will handle catching duties. Humpage led the team in batting average (.397), RBIs (24) and doubles (6) last season.
Booker says the lineup will change based on who is hitting and who is playing well at the time.
The team goals are simple early in the year: get better and be ready when the regular season ends and the playoffs begin.
Source: The Daily Chronicle
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