By Chris Parker
Hartville baseball will look to bounce back from its first losing season since 2016 with seven starters returning this season.
Senior centerfielder Grant Culver, who was a leader on Hartville’s state championship basketball team, will fill a similar role on the baseball field.
“He (Culver) has the most varsity experience for us,” Hartville head coach Bradey Welsh said. “He does a great job of being a leader for us not only on the field but also off the field.”
Gus Sinning (sophomore), Truett Coryell (sophomore) and Rylan Dugger (sophomore) will be the team’s three main starters this season.
“Gus does a great job of mixing pitches and being able to keep hitters off balance. Truett helps us out by being able to throw a firm fastball and mix that with a great curveball. Rylan gets us a lot of ground balls, we rely on him to throw strikes and limit free bases,” Welsh said.
Those sophomores will be throwing to another sophomore behind the plate in Brock Jones.
The infield lineup will feature Payton Cogdill (junior) at first, Gavin Stigall (junior) at second, Mason Cogdill (sophomore) at shortstop and Sinning at third.
Culver will be flanked by Easton Dudley (senior) in left field and Coryell in right field.
Dudley has taken a big step forward since last season according to Welsh.
“Easton Dudley has improved a lot for us,” Welsh said. “He has not been a varsity starter until this year. He always struggled hitting, but he has stepped up and been a key player in our lineup. He did a great job in the fall of getting on base for us.”
Hartville did well in the fall with getting runners on base and limiting runs given up, but the Eagles will need to be better at driving those runners home if they are to find more success.
“Our strengths are being able to get runners on base and keep opposing team runs to a minimum. This fall we did a great job of getting runners on base. We saw a lot of pitches and worked the counts. We also did a pretty good job pitching. There were only a few games where we gave up a lot of runs. Our on base percentage in the fall was .403 and our team ERA was 2.70,” Welsh said. “We will need to do a better job of executing with runners in scoring position. If we do a better job of this then we will be a hard team to beat. We also need to limit our mistakes in the field and on the bases. If we limit these mistakes, then we will give ourselves a better chance of staying in a ball game instead of letting it get away from us. It will also help us gain momentum and keep the momentum.”
Hartville opens the season Mar. 16-21 at the Purdy Tournament.
“I want us to get better in every game we play,” Welsh said. “I want each game we play in to be competitive and for us to have a chance to win. I also want us to play in the district championship game this year.”
