Throughout all of last season, the varsity baseball coaches stressed “effort and hard work” to all of their players. From the varsity level down to the freshman level, all players were encouraged and expected to follow the rules and go above and beyond in order to get the SHS baseball program back on track.

Those messages carried into this year as well. From early February, pitchers and catchers planning on trying out for the SHS baseball program were expected to be at the high school by 5:30 amfor workouts and reps led by coaches Josh Mason and Chris Shrimpton.

“It was really early, but I am glad that I went every day. I wanted the coaches to see all of the hard work that I put in and it showed since I just made Varsity as a pitcher,” freshman Jacob Kotzin said.

These workouts included pitching practice, catching drills, and conditioning exercises designed to improve the physical abilities of the baseball players.

While Varsity went 16-11 last year, they are expected to regress this season: all but five members of last year’s squad graduated in June. Despite the expectations, players are continuing to try and focus to win games. The team has potential, but coaches say they could be a year away from realizing it.

“Even if we don’t have that many returners, we will still try our best to win all of the games on our schedule,” Kotzin said.