By Chris Parker
Buffalo baseball made a big jump from four wins in 2021 to 11 wins last season. The Bison are poised to climb above .500 for the first time since 2017 with six starters returning.
Five of those returning starters are seniors including: Bradley Meade (C/IF), Cole Potter (P/IF), Easton Skinner (IF/P), Blake Chyka (IF/P) and Stephen Cox (OF).
“These boys are important to our program,” coach Calvin Dryer said. “They are dedicated, bought in, and dedicated to working hard and getting better every day. I am looking forward to watching them lead our younger players this year.”
Potter will be the team’s top pitcher. He threw 34.1 innings with 37 strikeouts last season. He was named second-team all-conference as a junior.
“Our ace this year will be senior Cole Potter,” Dryer said. “Cole is a four-year varsity player. He brings talent and experience to the bump for us. Cole had a couple rough outings early last year, but fell into a groove after that and gave us some extremely quality starts throughout the rest of the year. I’m excited to see Cole perform this year and see his hard work payoff.”
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Jacob Burns (junior), Chyka, Skinner, Parker Sissel (sophomore), Kaden Abmeyer (sophomore) and Dayton Gonzalez (freshman) will also fill innings on the mound.
Meade returns behind the plate at catcher after earning first-team all-conference honors there last season. He hit .373 with 18 RBI last season.
“Bradley works extremely hard for us back there and continues to get better every day,” Dryer said.
Freshman Matthew Skinner will also compete for varsity time behind the plate.
The infield will change based on who is pitching but Potter, Easton Skinner, Chyka, Sissel, Burns and Abmeyer will find time on the infield.
Easton Skinner earned first-team all-conference honors last season after he hit .364 with a team-high 21 RBI and 23 runs scored. Chyka was named honorable mention all-conference last season.
Cox will hold down centerfield with Gonzalez, Burns and Jaren Choate filling out innings at the other two outfield spots.
“Our strengths this year will be experience,” Dryer said. “We have quality players returning that bought into our program last year and worked hard. We won a few games but let a few close ones get away. I think the guys are excited to get started and determined to compete.”
Buffalo opens the season Mar. 17-18 at the Bolivar Tournament.
“We just want to compete every night,” Dryer said. “We don’t want any team that matches up with us that thinks they can walk all over us. I think we can build on our win total from last year and compete for a conference championship again this year.”
