03-17-2012, 06:36 PM
St. Patrick will try to reverse its recent baseball struggles, basing its efforts around five key returnees from a year ago.
Supporting them will be an inexperienced cast which fourth-year coach Ronnie Clos said is learning as it goes.
Three Saint seniors who have started since their freshman seasons will be expected to key roles. Ryan Swolsky played shortstop and batted leadoff a year ago, while Patton Kern and Jon Litzinger were responsible for a good chunk of the pitching and should be again this year as the Saints will try for their first winning season since 2007, when they went 10-8.
"They've been playing since eighth grade, and (are) the three leaders that I'm gonna have to depend on this year," Clos said.
The trio will try to fill a leadership void left by the departure of four seniors -- Jacob McKay, Daniel Yeary, Kyle Brant and Zerubbabel Oluwaremi. McKay started at catcher and was a fiery, emotional leader, and Yeary was the linchpin of the outfield as a defender and a spark on the basepaths.
Kern, Litzinger and sophomore William McKay "will handle a lot of my pitching," Clos said. Defensively, the coach calls junior Harrison Applegate his best glove man and isn't sure where he'll slot him in in the field. He spent significant time at second base last season.
The Saints will look to Swolsky, Kern and McKay to be productive at the plate.
"William, he's gonna be batting cleanup for me this year, and Patton's gonna be batting third," Clos said.
After those five -- Swolsky, Kern, Litzinger, McKay and Applegate -- the Saints have enough players to field a roster but not much in the way of varsity experience.
"At the start of the season, I just had eight players signed up," Clos said. "At the first of the season I had a meeting with my boys, I said, 'We gotta have 12-plus (players).' And the boys did come up and came out, but none of 'em have ever played baseball before, so it's a little learning process, other than my five (key returnees).
"We're gonna have to teach 'em everything because they haven't played baseball before. But I do give these boys credit for coming out."
As such, St. Patrick is putting special emphasis on fundamentals and starting from scratch.
"We've been on blacktop, and we have to get on the field and we have to learn to run the bases," Clos said. "My catalysts can do it, but I'll need new people. We just have to start with (square) one, running bases and leading off and just the whole works."
Once the Saints gain some familiarity with all that, they'll turn their focus to the preseason goal of any small school: success in the All "A" Classic. And then they'll look to get back to the 10th Region tournament, which will require winning a game in the 39th District tournament, after missing the region during last season's 4-13 campaign after drawing eventual district champion Mason County in the first round of the district tourney.
"When you're a small school, you always look for the Class A, and we play the winner of Paris-Calvary Christian, so we got a bye in the first round," Clos said. "Our tournament is the Class A. We always want to go to region. That's the second goal, to make region."
St. Patrick opens its season Monday at Paris. The Saints host Pendleton County to open the home slate March 29.
Read more: http://www.maysville-online.com/sports/s...z1pPkqUHRS
Supporting them will be an inexperienced cast which fourth-year coach Ronnie Clos said is learning as it goes.
Three Saint seniors who have started since their freshman seasons will be expected to key roles. Ryan Swolsky played shortstop and batted leadoff a year ago, while Patton Kern and Jon Litzinger were responsible for a good chunk of the pitching and should be again this year as the Saints will try for their first winning season since 2007, when they went 10-8.
"They've been playing since eighth grade, and (are) the three leaders that I'm gonna have to depend on this year," Clos said.
The trio will try to fill a leadership void left by the departure of four seniors -- Jacob McKay, Daniel Yeary, Kyle Brant and Zerubbabel Oluwaremi. McKay started at catcher and was a fiery, emotional leader, and Yeary was the linchpin of the outfield as a defender and a spark on the basepaths.
Kern, Litzinger and sophomore William McKay "will handle a lot of my pitching," Clos said. Defensively, the coach calls junior Harrison Applegate his best glove man and isn't sure where he'll slot him in in the field. He spent significant time at second base last season.
The Saints will look to Swolsky, Kern and McKay to be productive at the plate.
"William, he's gonna be batting cleanup for me this year, and Patton's gonna be batting third," Clos said.
After those five -- Swolsky, Kern, Litzinger, McKay and Applegate -- the Saints have enough players to field a roster but not much in the way of varsity experience.
"At the start of the season, I just had eight players signed up," Clos said. "At the first of the season I had a meeting with my boys, I said, 'We gotta have 12-plus (players).' And the boys did come up and came out, but none of 'em have ever played baseball before, so it's a little learning process, other than my five (key returnees).
"We're gonna have to teach 'em everything because they haven't played baseball before. But I do give these boys credit for coming out."
As such, St. Patrick is putting special emphasis on fundamentals and starting from scratch.
"We've been on blacktop, and we have to get on the field and we have to learn to run the bases," Clos said. "My catalysts can do it, but I'll need new people. We just have to start with (square) one, running bases and leading off and just the whole works."
Once the Saints gain some familiarity with all that, they'll turn their focus to the preseason goal of any small school: success in the All "A" Classic. And then they'll look to get back to the 10th Region tournament, which will require winning a game in the 39th District tournament, after missing the region during last season's 4-13 campaign after drawing eventual district champion Mason County in the first round of the district tourney.
"When you're a small school, you always look for the Class A, and we play the winner of Paris-Calvary Christian, so we got a bye in the first round," Clos said. "Our tournament is the Class A. We always want to go to region. That's the second goal, to make region."
St. Patrick opens its season Monday at Paris. The Saints host Pendleton County to open the home slate March 29.
Read more: http://www.maysville-online.com/sports/s...z1pPkqUHRS