Photo by Carly Pearson
Emporia High's Michael Knight throws a pitch at practice at Soden's Grove.
High school baseball teams change from season to season.
Seniors graduate, underclassmen fill in holes and players emerge into new roles every spring.
But in the case of the Emporia High baseball team, while much has changed from last year’s team, perhaps the bigger changes might occur from game to game, and sometimes, from inning to inning this season.
Gone are nine seniors from last year’s squad that finished 4-17, and in their place are a bevy of players that in nearly every instance will be called upon to play several positions this season, giving Emporia the potential to field a different-looking team almost every time out.
But don’t think of it as a detriment. Instead, EHS coach Mike Strickland said, think of it as a way to get a large number of multifaceted players involved in the games.
“We have a lot of versatility with the varsity guys, and we can move them around a bunch,” Strickland said. “That’s probably one of the biggest assets that we have right now, is being able to move guys around so much.”
Of course, there are some players who most likely will find themselves at one position a majority of the time. Senior Harrison Stone will be called upon to handle the bulk of the catching duties. Senior Michael Knight and sophomore Jacob Loucks will see a lot of time on the mound. Sophomore Bryan Little will be used mostly as an outfielder.
But ask Strickland to run through his roster this season, and it’s clear that very few positions are set, even with the season opener looming on Friday.
Photo by Carly Pearson
Emporia High catcher Harrison Stone throws the ball to second base over Coach Mike Strickland while running a drill during practice. Stone is one of only three seniors on the squad.
“We’re going to carry about 13 guys on the varsity squad this year, and of those 13 guys, they all can play a number of positions,” Strickland said. “From a coaching standpoint, that is great.”
It starts on the mound, where the Spartans appear to have a large stockpile of arms on the roster that Strickland could call upon this season — including several left-handers.
“We’ve got more lefties on this team this year than what we’ve had in four or five years,” Strickland said.
Loucks, Knight and junior Corey Bacon are expected to be the main starters for the Spartans. All three saw a fair amount of action last year, and with the graduation of ace Cole Armitage, all will see their innings increase even more.
Loucks said he was prepared for the added pressure of being a regular starter.
“I expect myself to pick up where I left off last year,” he said. “At the end of the year, I started getting into the rotation more and throwing like I wanted to. Since then, I’ve matured, and I’m ready to step up and be the pitcher I know I can be for this team.”
Behind Loucks, Bacon and Knight is a stable of pitchers that all will see time on the mound this season — Brett Lechien, Little, Josh Maguire and Malik Sommers.
But when they aren’t throwing pitches, almost all of them will be elsewhere on the field.
Knight and Bacon most likely will rotate at third base, depending on who starts at pitcher.
Lechien, Little and Maguire will spend the majority of their time in the outfield, while Loucks could see time at first in relief of Dominic Rodriguez or at catcher in relief of Stone.
In the middle infield, there is an ongoing battle for the starting jobs at second and at shortstop. At short, Derek Nielsen and Matt Fry are competing for the job while at second, it most likely will come down to Nielsen, Fry or Zach Gifford.
“There’s some good competition, which really makes the kids work harder,” Strickland said. “The kids have had a real good attitude this year.”
Gifford also will get some time in the outfield, while senior Scott Peterson appears to be settling in at right field.
While all that versatility might pay off defensively, perhaps the Spartans’ biggest concern will be scoring runs.
“Our team’s going to have to be a team that’s going to have to hit a lot of doubles and singles and play some small ball. We don’t have a lot of guys with a lot of power right now,” Strickland said. “The biggest thing is getting on base — just making a lot of contact for us. I think we’re going to be real fun to watch, because once we get on the bases, we’ve got quite a bit of foot speed this year.”
Another concern from the outside looking in might be the Spartans lack of seniors, as Stone, Peterson and Knight are the only three.
But what they lack in numbers, Strickland said, they make up for in leadership ability.
“They’re doing a great job of leading this team,” Strickland said. “We’re going to rely on them a lot this year.”
Plus, the three seniors that are on the team have taken their role seriously, Stone said.
“I don’t want to say that I’m a coach, because they do a lot of hard work that I don’t do, but I try to lead these guys as best I can and show them what I’ve learned,” Stone said. “I like this group of guys. We click well together. We just have a good time, but we work hard every day.
“This is a new group of guys, and I think we’re going to do well this year.”
Emporia’s baseball season begins at 4 p.m. Friday with a doubleheader at Washburn Rural.
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