Area baseball previews: Teams look for improvement

The high school baseball season kicks off this week. Here is a look a the remaining area baseball teams heading into the 2024 season:

Columbus Christian

The Crusaders have a new home field this year. After playing all of their games on the road last season, they will play most of their games at Wayne Park this spring.

Columbus Christian will look for another winning season after going 4-3 last year.

“We have a lot of guys returning,” Columbus Chrsitian coach Todd Hostetler said. “Some guys that didn’t play much last year are going to get some more time, and we have some new players.”

Seniors Cam Pritchard and Branson Carr were the Crusaders’ top two pitchers last season. Both also can catch and play in the infield when not pitching.

Senior Peyton Walden returns at third base and also could catch and pitch this year. Sophomore Cannon Carr, junior Wesley Brumfiel and eighth-grader Andrew Lucas also can pitch.

Senior Josh Conrad, who is back after a year at Trinity Lutheran, could play first base, along with sophomore Jaxxon Games. Lucas will be at second. Pritchard, Branson Carr, Walden and Brumfiel could play short and third.

Cannon Carr could play in the outfield or third base. Brumfiel likely will be in center field. Eighth-graders Maddyn Feeharty and Anderson Glasser also could play in the outfield.

“I think we have a lot of potential,” Hostetler said. “It’s just a matter of whether they’ll develop this year or next year or the year after. The experienced guys, they’ll give us a chance to win. When you have two guys like Cam and Branson, and you don’t play four or five games a week, we have a chance to be pretty competitive with most teams on our schedule.”

Jennings County

The Panthers will look to climb over the .500 mark after going 12-16 last season.

Jennings’ strength will be on the mound, where seniors Austin Byford, Cole Sigler and Ryan Schuck return. Sigler went 3-1 with a 1.50 ERA and led the Panthers at the plate with a .395 average, two triples, one home run and 21 RBIs.

Senior Sam Burkman returns at catcher and also can pitch. Senior Owen Kipper returns in the infield and also can pitch. Another pitching prospect is freshman Cooper Lane.

“Pitching is always in front of the hitting early,” Jennings coach B.J. Sigler said. “I think we’ll be very similar to last year. We’ll be able to hit it OK, and pitching is going to have to be where we hang our hat.”

Schuck returns at first base, and sophomore Zane Wienhorst is back at second. Cole Sigler could move from center field to shortstop, and Lane and Kipper could play at third.

Junior Cole Skinner, who played some in the outfield last season, likely will be in center. Byford returns in right, and junior Logan Napier takes over in left. Sophomore Cooper Reeves can catch and will play right field when Byford is pitching.

“We have a lot of experience,” B.J. Sigler said. “We’ll probably play five seniors and a junior and a couple sophomores and a freshman. We kind of have a little bit of everything. The big thing is to find a leadoff guy. Keegan has been our leadoff guy the last few years, and we have to replace that.”

South Decatur

The Cougars will try to win another Mid-Hoosier Conference championship after tying with Hauser for the title last year and going 17-8 overall.

“I believe we have the team to do that,” South Decatur coach Anthony Jarvis said. “With being a 1A school, and you have three decent starters, which a lot of schools our size don’t have, I think we’ll be able to compete very well.”

Senior Devin Pate went 7-1 with a 0.76 ERA on the mound and had nine doubles and 15 RBIs at the plate last season. Sophomore JP Scudder and freshman Corey Nugent will join Pate in the rotation this spring.

Pate plays shortstop and Scudder is at first base when not pitching. Senior Brock Lane returns at second, and senior Colby Rathburn moves from right to center field.

Sophomore Grady Scudder steps in behind the plate. Nugent could play second and short, and junior Toby Bishop will be at third.

Junior newcomer Corbin Johnson takes over in left, and sophomore Drake Scaggs will be in right. Senior Alex Myers could play some in right, and senior newcomer Jaylynn McMurray also could see action.

“We’re looking pretty good,” Jarvis said. “We started in the weight room in November and then once we were able to start doing a couple days of picking up a baseball, we had a good turnout there. What’s unique about this team is, we are fast. That’s something I haven’t had, and that’s our strong suit right now.”

Brown County

The Eagles have a new coach in Nick Gibson. The 2002 Brown County graduate has coached in Indiana Astros travel organization and was an assistant with the Eagles last year, when they went 3-19.

“It’s too early to tell, but I think we’ll definitely be a better club than last year,” Gibson said. “My focus is on putting the ball in play. If we put the bat on 100 balls, 50 of them make it into play, 20 of them may get on base, and we may win two more games.”

Junior shortstop Jade Woolems led the team with a .491 average, five doubles and nine RBIs last season. Senior Mikey Kobiernik is the top returning pitcher and will be joined on the mound this year by senior Nick Cooney, Woolems, junior Noah Lewis and senior Jack Sichting will pitch.

Senior Sawyer Gore returns at catcher and will be backed up by junior Tommy Buccos. Lewis is back at first. Sichting returns at second and is batting with juniors Justin Terrill and Cody Watson and senior Gavin Butcher. Kobiernik plays third when not pitching.

Cooney, Butcher, senior Matt Horn and junior Kody Shugars all saw action in the outfield last season.

After having no seniors last season, Brown County has seven seniors this year.

“I’ve told them it’s put up or shut up,” Gibson said. “It’s almost on the majority of the seniors that are realizing it.”

Edinburgh

The Lancers will look for a jump in wins after going 3-22 last season.

“We look a lot better coming into the year than we did last year,” Edinburgh coach Jason Schoettmer said. “The growth we’ve had from last year to this year, we should be competitive in a lot more games.”

Senior Gabe Bennett and junior Jared Myers return on the mound and will be joined by junior Avynn Whitaker, a move-in from Triton Central. Juniors Milas Burkman and Dakota Graw also pitched some last year.

Myers, who led the Lancers with a .392 average, six doubles, 14 RBIs, will be the catcher when not pitching. Burkman returns at first, and Graw is back at third. Sophomore newcomer Silas Cooney takes over at second, and Whitaker steps in at short.

Bennett returns in center, and sophomore Eli Turner is back in left. Sophomore Bradyden Schoettmer was a part-time starter in right and will play there. Junior Cole White will be in center when Bennett is pitching.

Senior Austin Brockman can pitch, catch and play first and third base.

“I think we’ll put a much more competitive team on the field than we did last year,” Jason Schoettmer said. “We have a much more experienced team.”

Trinity Lutheran

With 23 players, the Cougars will play a full JV schedule for the first time.

“The guys are working hard, and we have good numbers,” Trinity coach Ben Kleber said. “We had a lot of good work in the offseason, and we’re excited to get going.”

The Cougars will have experience on the mound with seniors Kowan Gross, Peyton Pollert and Chase Bode and sophomores Jackson Trueblood and Drake Goodpaster.

Junior Nathan Finke returns at catcher. Bode is back at first, senior Levi Pottschmidt returns at second, Trueblood is back at short and Goodpaster returns at third.

Pollert will be in center field for the fourth consecutive year. Gross moves from first to right, and juniors Blaine Wehmiller and Kade Gillaspy are battling in left.

Trinity will look to improve on a 13-16 season.

“We play a tougher schedule to get ready for the postseason,” Kleber said. “We lost in the sectional championship last year, so we’re looking to compete for that.”