After a loss last year in semi-state the Hamilton Southeastern Royals varsity baseball team is “expecting to bounce back well with a big chip on our shoulder,” said Senior Colin Goley. The team went 20-15 last year, winning 8 games in the conference with 6 conference losses. The new goal for the Royals this season is to put the past behind them, and to earn an even better record, especially in the conference.
After losing some key players to the team, adding some talented underclassman, and new seniors, the team has some things to work on before the height of the season approaches. Goley said, “I think we’ve all been working on our own things this off-season. Hitters have been working on our approaches at the plate and pitchers working on command and velocity.” Goley said that by improving on these things this team can make another far run in the tournament, and they even have hopes of taking home a state title.
This year’s team comes into the season with a strong field of junior players including “Maddox Bach and Michael Hoog who will start, and our junior PO’s in Nate McGrath, Josh Lesniewski, Wyatt Watson, and Matthew Poyer who will be a good add to the bullpen,” said Junior Ty Earlewine. As a new addition to the varsity team, Earlewine said, “We have a drive to come back this year and prove that last year was a failure, but also a step forward in our program” Earlewine pointing out the talented junior class as [he] looking to help improve the program’s record this year.
Most of the team have the same opinion on one game that they really want to win this year, the Mudsock game. Sophomore standout pitcher, Dylan Cope thinks that “Everyone on the team is obviously looking forward to the Mudsock game” explained Cope. “that’s a huge game, but honestly every conference game will be big for us.” said Cope. As the Fishers Tigers took down the Royals in last year’s Mudsock series, Hamilton southeastern is looking to put an end to another series sweep and take the victory home this year.
When asking this year’s squad what their goals are for the season as it progresses, they had some answers that would be expected from most high school baseball teams around the state, “I feel that the team has some high expectations on ourselves this season, to win sectionals, regionals, semi state, and most importantly state. We need to play as a team like we did last year” said Goley. To outwork most teams who also have the aspiration to win a state championship, they plan to, “Win the games that we should win and not play down to the other team” Cope explained.
The senior class will play a major role this season and how it turns out. This team is loaded with seniors who are leaders on and off the field. Goley said that he thinks, “the seniors will play a huge role in winning games this season, on a talent level, and on a leadership level.” said Goley. “Our underclassman look up to us, and we need to perform well in big moments to set a good example for them.” explained Goley. There are many notable key contributing seniors, such as Ethan Lund pitcher, Jacob Payne, Nolan Colbert, Sawyer Kiehl, Luke Sivak, Kam Seitz, Drew Lafleur, Tyler Noel, and Alex Billman.
This team, led by coach Kory Seitz, has a promising season ahead of them and it wouldn’t be a shock if they start to climb their way up the state rankings after not having a single vote to be ranked in the pre-season. These Royals are going to come out hot and under the radar with a hardworking and determined mentality, and most importantly, a state title to secure!
