Cromwell Baseball Looks to Improve in 2009

Mar 30

Kerry Rodd-NSO

With a team that is comprised mainly of juniors and seniors, you can look for the Cromwell Cards baseball team to improve on a 1-11 record from a year ago.

“We hope to improve on our record, but most importantly we want to finish the games strong,” commented fourth year head coach Ryan Schmidt. “Last season we were in a lot of games into the fifth inning, but then ran out of gas. Our success will be measured by our ability to stay in games through seven innings and finish them strong, hopefully picking up some wins along the way.”

After graduating four players the Cards will return seven players this season who have all seen significant playing time.

“Mike Hedin is a very good young player and Dustin Byer, Tyler Burggraff, Chris Johnson, Cole Johnson, Ryan Hutar and Nick Gucinski will all be solid contributors,” suggested Schmidt. “We have two pitchers who gained a lot of experience last year in Mike Hedin and Dustin Byer and Tyler Burggraff also started the year last year as a pitcher, but had shoulder surgery from football and he will probably see a lot of time on the mound this year.”

The Cards will also look for Ryan Hutar to get in some innings after a strong junior varsity campaign last year.

“Hitting is also an area we are working on a lot in practice,” said Schmidt. “We did not hit the ball well last year, and we won’t hit for a lot of power, but we hope to get guys on and move them around the bases.”

According to Schmidt, the team should be strong defensively this season.

Kerry Rodd can be reached at Kerry@northlandsportsonline.com