By Drew Terhall

Dailyadvocate.com

GREENVILLE — The Green Wave baseball team will be fielding a younger team this season. After graduating seven seniors from last year’s team, Greenville will be playing some more underclassmen this upcoming season.

“We’re going to be young this year. We’ve got some freshmen that are going to be playing some varsity baseball. They’re expected to pull their weight and do just as much as everybody else,” head coach Adam Eberwein said. “There’s a ton of potential on this team right now.”

They will have to replace the seniors’ production from last season. Seniors AJ Shaffer, Brock Short and Ricky Heidrich all hit above a .250 average. Short and Shaffer were one and two on the team in RBI.

On the mound, Heidrich and Short were two of the three players on the team that pitched more than 20 innings. Short and Heidrich combined for 61 of the teams 130 strikeouts last season.

But, this year’s team can grow to meet or pass those numbers. Eberwein said this group of players have the potential to make this season a good one.

“Our young group is talented. Our freshmen group has a lot of talent there. Our junior group has been together since they were seven. There’s a lot of camaraderie there,” Eberwein said. “Our senior class is low. Our sophomore has some talent there too. I think all in all, the potential is there for us to be successful.”

The talent and the youth has already been on display in the team’s scrimmages. Eberwein said overall, the team has had success at the plate has put the ball in play quite a bit. The Green Wave have scored 22 runs in three scrimmages.

Some of the youth and the inexperience show up defensively. Eberwein said some mistakes defensively have cost them on the scoreboard. Teams are able to get runs off their mistakes.

“The issues that we’ve been trying to overcome as a team are allowing too many unearned runs. Trying to figure out a way for us to play cleaner baseball defensively,” Eberwein said.

There will be a focus on getting the team to believe in themselves and in their talent. Eberwein said all the coaches have confidence in this team to go out and be successful. They see the talent and the potential.

It’s about getting the players to believe and trust that they do have the potential the coaches see and they can go out and be successful.

Eberwein said he is excited to watch the team compete and see the hard work the players put in pay off. He also wants to see if the team can gain that belief in themselves.

“There’s guys out here that put a lot of work and effort into our season leading up to now. Seeing that hard work and everything they’ve put into the season pay off for them,” Eberwein said. “The biggest thing is getting our guys, I want to see if our guys will, believe in themselves and believe in each other

Greenville will start the season on the road at Milton Union on March 23 for an 11 a.m. first pitch. They will host their first home game on March 25 against Fairborn at 5 p.m.

Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected]