By Caroline Gentile, ’13, Contributor
Walking into the North Gym, one gets an immediate sense of the upcoming baseball season: the crack of bats, the thump of baseballs slamming into mitts, and even the occasional clang as a ball careens off the bleachers. Taking refuge from the cold, the team has begun their preseason training.
Over the years, the team has enjoyed its share of success, with eight Miami Valley Conference championships, 19 sectional championships, 12 district championships, four regional championships, and 2 state titles. This season, Coach Tim Dunn hopes for the team to “challenge for the league championship.” However, he added that the team’s success is “going to be up in the air, depending on our catcher”. Last season, seniors Kevin Eliasen’ 09, Robbie Davis ‘09, and Jesse Deane ‘09 shared the catching duties, leaving the 2010 team without an experienced signal caller. In total, the team lost 6 seniors, many of whom were significant contributors to the success of the 2009 team that finished 11-6.
Although the loss of these talented seniors is great, this year’s team, led by seniors Brian Cofer ’10, and Max Dietz ’10 (pictured), has the potential to join the ranks of its winning predecessors. Despite the large graduating class of 2009, there are 6 returning starters, including Jules Cantor ‘11, who was named honorable mention all conference as a sophomore pitcher/infielder, and Dietz, who was named 1st team all conference his sophomore and junior year as a shortstop/pitcher.
According to Coach Dunn, offensively, Cantor and Dietz are the team’s best returning hitters. Both upperclassmen had batting averages near .500 last season. Dietz finished second on the team with 24 hits, and Cantor finished second on the team with 18 runs batted in. However, all 6 of the team’s returning starters have shown promise at bat, and Coach Dunn “[hopes] for them to keep hitting well.”
Dietz, Cantor, Cofer, Tyrique Wilson ’11, Dan Angus ‘11, and Reeve Hoover ‘12 return as pitchers. “Luckily,” said Dunn, “all of our top pitchers are back. We only lost Alex Dietz, so we’ll try to replace him.” The team may look to sophomore newcomer Brad Hammoor ‘12 to fill that void. Last season, Max Dietz led the team with a 1.93 earned run average, and Angus and Wilson each had solid seasons, posting 2.67 and a 2.33 ERAs, respectively. Coach Dunn hopes for the pitchers “to have a better year than last, although they were successful last year, too.”
As for new blood, freshmen Sam Hall, ‘13 Sam Fossett ‘13, Luke Hall ‘13, Mayur Patel ‘13, Elliot Cofer ‘13, Hakeem McGee ‘13, and Jack Willingham ‘13 have joined the team. CCDS will be having its first junior varsity team in 3 years, and these players should contribute significantly at the JV level.
Big games on the schedule include the AJ Cohen Invitational, and of course, matchups with rivals Seven Hills, CHCA, and Summit. As the baseball team prepares for their upcoming games in this year’s unseasonably cold spring, one can almost picture opening day on March 30th with the umpire taking the field, walking over to home plate, brushing it off, then standing up and yelling out towards centerfield, “Play ball!”
Photo by Ilana Habib, ’11.
