The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
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Hornets look to make some noise
Coach Theisen thinks team is in a position to repeat success
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: April 3, 2008
The Saline baseball team believes that this year, there might be one more run.
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The Hornets' 2007 season ended in a 13-inning 1-0 thriller in the state quarterfinals. But with the team's pitching staff returning nearly intact and plenty of talent and experience across the diamond, Saline head coach Scott Theisen thinks his team could be in position to repeat or even improve on that success.
"When it's 'lose one game and you're out,' there aren't any guarantees in the state tournament," Theisen said, "and it's not all about wins and losses. But if at the end of the season we look back and this team hasn't competed for a conference title or made some noise in the state tournament, I think we'll be disappointed."
Despite their experience — 11 of Saline's 17 roster members are returning lettermen, six of them position starters in last year's playoffs — the Hornets will have to deal with the loss of seven seniors from last year's roster. The largest holes to fill are in the middle of the field, where multi-year starters batters second baseman Derek Fairchild and shortstop Casey Dishman have each moved on.
Junior Eric Braham, who Theisen said "moves really well" defensively, will likely get the first crack at replacing Dishman at short, while juniors Josh Burd and Andy Frey and senior David Fraser are each in the mix at second.
The versatile Adam Clements also could see time at either position. After missing virtually all of 2007 to injury, the senior is healthy again and Theisen said he would see plenty of the field — just maybe not always in the same spot.
"After that year away, he might not have a single position," he said, "but he's good enough to play multiple positions."
Clements also will be part of a deep corps of veteran pitchers that Theisen believes should be the team's biggest strength. Senior Vinnie Haynes, who threw nine scoreless innings in the Brighton loss, returns along with playoff starter junior Josh Burd, Clements, juniors Jeff Baublit and Greg Spiess, and promising sophomore Al Zeiher.
"Our pitching depth is going to be very strong," he said. "We don't have a (former Hornet) Bobby Korecky-type who's going to strike out 16 or 17 guys, but what we do have is several kids who are all top-notch pitchers ... It's going to be a fight in those first six spots."
But the Hornets' pitching prowess doesn't end there as senior Jon Endicott, junior Alex Pazkowski, and sophomore Carter Beil — the latter two left-handers—will all be capable of contributing as potential relief specialists.
"We think we'll be able to do some things (with relievers) in terms of game situations and match-ups that a lot of high school teams aren't able to do," Theisen said.
While Theisen admitted that the Hornets would miss the pop from Fairchild and Dishman's bats in the second and third spots in the order, he said that the team's improved hitting "1-through-9" should still result in a more potent Saline offense than last year.
"We think we've improved from last year offensively," Theisen said. "We're looking for more production from some parts of the order that hurt us a bit last year. We'd like to decrease our strikeouts, hit for a little more power, and we've got good team speed.
"We're hopeful we'll be able to put a few more runs on the board."
Junior catcher Brad Guenther, Clements, Beil and returning cleanup hitter Baublit should occupy the 2-through-6 slots with junior outfielder Kory Gainey and Braham competing to bat leadoff.
The other spots remain more up in the air (and dependent on field positions), but with the off-season plate improvement by seniors like catcher Tim Finkbeiner, Haynes, Endicott and Ben Sutton, and junior Shawn Allen, Theisen expects production regardless of who fills out the lineup.
Exactly which players fill which roles for Saline would likely be clearer if not for the recent poor weather, which has kept the Hornets indoors and made the team's annual spring break training trip south — Saline departed for Nashville, Tenn., last Saturday — even more important.
"It's going to help us from an evaluation standpoint. We're going to be able to get outside as a team and sort of see exactly who can do what," Theisen said. "I don't know if it gives us an advantage (over other area teams), since I think once we have a few days of sun, they'll catch up pretty quick. But if definitely helps our evaluations."
When all is said and done, Theisen believes his team has reason to dream big — quarterfinal return, Southeastern Conference title big, certainly, or possibly even bigger.
"We're really excited about what this team could do," he said. "If you look at the talent we have, the experience we gained last year, we feel like we ought to be in the mix."
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