By John Rittenhouse
During a recent practice session, some members of the Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth baseball team were pondering what to record as team goals for the 2001 season.
While two team members questioned what their responses would be, they seemed to find common ground moments later. The two Patriots thought the team was capable of recording a five-win campaign.
If the 2001 H-BC-E team can reach the goal of five victories, it would be a season of dramatic improvement.
The Patriots are coming off a 1-8 campaign that could have been better if H-BC-E had been able to win some of the close games that slipped away.
H-BC-E's first appearance in the Section 3A Tournament is a good example of how close the Patriots were to posting more wins last spring.
Entering the event as the No. 14 seed, the Patriots had to be considered underdogs against No. 2 Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunberg in a first-round game played in Granite Falls.
After falling behind early, H-BC-E battled back to knot the score at three while putting a scare into the highly-regarded K-M-S players. The favorites eventually won the game 7-5, but like most games last spring, the Patriots hung around until the very end.
H-BC-E lost seven seniors (Eric Harnack, Cory Metzger, Derek Sammons, Ryan Rentschler, Nick Wassenaar, Ryan Behr and Chris Nelson) who were listed on the 2000 pre-season roster to graduation, but the hope is the Patriots can better last yearÕs campaign with a 13-player roster consisting of two seniors, seven juniors, three sophomores and one freshman in 2001.
Seniors Stephen Swayze and exchange student Vlad Pastushenko, juniors Justin Van Maanen, Kevin Van Batavia, Paul Jess, Matt Buck, David Top and Lyle and Darin DeBoer, sophomores Tyson Metzger, Clint Roozenboom and Randy Krull, and freshman Wayne Baker are the team members.
Pitching is the key in high school baseball, and Patriot coach Tom Knoll is looking to form a staff out of Lyle DeBoer, Top, Van Maanen and Baker.
Darin DeBoer and Krull are prospects to handle the pitching staff at the catching position.
Buck and Swayze are expected to man the corner positions in the infield at first and third base respectively.
Lyle DeBoer and Van Maanen are potential shortstops, and Metzger and Jess are candidates to play second base.
Van Batavia and Roozenboom are potential outfielders, as is Pastushenko and the odd man out at second base.
Brent Grengs is serving as KnollÕs assistant coach this spring.
The Patriots open the season in Adrian April 21.