By Dana Harding (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Rolla baseball struggled a bit in 2022.
The Bulldogs finished with an 11-20 record, falling to St. Francis Borgia in the district tournament.
Despite the record, head coach Kenneth Hohe was pleased with his young squad’s development during a challenging season.
“Our team was fairly young with a lot of sophomores and first-year varsity juniors logging a lot of varsity innings,” Hohe said. “Offensively and defensively we had a solid season, but we struggled at times on the mound.”
This season, Rolla will be led by all-state honoree Bret Yarger.
Yarger, a junior outfielder and three-year starter, hit .385 last season with 3 home runs, 28 runs batted in and 7 stolen bases.
He will be joined by senior infielder Beno Ballard (.246 BA, 6 RBI, 2 SB), junior infielder/pitcher Isaac Buhr (.310 BA, 9 RBI, 4 S, 2-2, 5.72 ERA, 22 K), junior infielder Brett Montgomery (.281 BA, 23 RBI, 1 SB), junior utility player/pitcher Davy Watkins (.268 BA, 5 RBI, 3 SB, 2-2, 17 K) and junior catcher Wyatt Wilson.
Hohe also expects a host of varsity newcomers to compete for playing time this season, including Alekos Harris, Caden Martens, Clayton Nichols, Brady Feeler, Logan Shivers, Vinny Spinalo, Braxton Bahr, Kaleb Barnes, Landon Davis, Kayden Kinder, Kaden Reedy and Trustin Richards.
With talent and experience on the roster, Hohe believes his team is more than capable of improving on last season’s win total.
“We bring back a lot of contributors from last season and hope our pitching has improved to the point where we can better compete with all of the tough teams on our schedule,” Hohe said. “We know in Class 5 whatever district we end up in it will be tough, and the Ozark Conference is extremely talented. Kickapoo, Glendale and Camdenton are all very talented programs and the favorites coming into the season, but Bolivar, Lebanon and West Plains always compete and make for a very tough conference.”
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On the mound, Hohe believes Rolla’s staff will be deep, yet relatively inexperienced heading into the season.
“Last year we thought pitching would be our strong point,” Hohe said. “A couple of injuries and some ineffectiveness, and it quickly became a weak point. We think we have a little more depth on the mound now, but that is still to be determined. We will need a couple of our sophomore and junior arms to really step up if we are going to compete in conference, districts and all of our tough tournaments.”
At the plate, Rolla’s development will be a work in progress this season, as Hohe looks for his best hitters to solidify spots in the lineup.
“We think we have a little depth in our lineup,” Hohe said. “We are comfortable with about 12 or so guys getting at-bats early and then getting the best nine into the lineup at the end. We think we should have some pop and some speed and are hopeful to be a fun and exciting team offensively both in the box and on the bases.”
Following a March 14 jamboree at Union, Rolla opens its season March 18 at Columbia Rock Bridge.
