With a strong nucleus returning, the Warrenton Warriors are setting their sights on a conference title.
Warrenton returns a strong number of contributors from last year’s squad that …
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With a strong nucleus returning, the Warrenton Warriors are setting their sights on a conference title.
Warrenton returns a strong number of contributors from last year’s squad that finished the season with 14 wins. They went 6-2 in GAC North play and were one game short of a conference title.
“In the nine years we’ve been in the GAC North, we’ve been first or second in conference in six of those years,” Warrenton head coach Eric Burle said. “We were an inning away from winning conference last year. Really, that’s the expectation is to be able to compete for a conference title.”
Warrenton’s strength will be in their infield, with four of five starting infielders returning from last year’s team. Senior Kannon Hibbs returns for his fourth season and will man the hot corner for the Warriors. The third baseman led Warrenton in hitting last season. Caleb Clark, Austin Haas and Tyler Oliver are also returning starting infielders from last year’s team. Ben Peth and Sam Wortham started games in the outfield last season.
“Offensively, I think we had a really good year last year,” Burle said. “We have a number of big bats coming back. A number of guys that have had a number of years of experience on varsity. So hopefully they can continue to maintain and build on what they’ve done the last couple of years.”
The Warriors will have multiple varsity starting spots to fill from last season’s team, including spots in the outfield. Junior Joe Goldsmith is still on the roster but is out for the season after suffering a knee injury in the fall. Goldsmith was the Warriors' starting center fielder last season. Burle characterized Goldsmith as the best outfielder in the GAC North last season. He anticipates there will be a learning curve for Warrenton’s outfielders.
Peth headlines the list of pitchers returning to the team this season. He threw a team-high 46 innings last season and led the Warriors with five wins and a 2.86 ERA. Oliver and Wortham each logged over 20 innings.
“There’s a lot of question marks there. There’s a lot of guys that we know that can pitch but a lot of guys don’t have a lot of varsity experience,” Burle said. “There’s at least three guys that saw a significant amount of innings last year. There’s a lot of youth there so hopefully they can get some experience throughout the year and kind of figure out what their role is pitching-wise.”
Burle stressed the Warriors know what their returning starters can bring to the table. They are counting on the newcomers to fill in the gaps left from players who graduated last year or did not return to the team this season.
Warrenton dropped a pair of road games Monday to open the season. They lost to Ft. Zumwalt East 9-5 and St. Dominic 6-3.
