By Drew Terhall

Dailyadvocate.com

ANSONIA — The Ansonia baseball team will have a good mix of experience and inexperience this season. The Tigers lost four players that played at least half the season last year.

But, they are returning four seniors who did a lot for them last season. Head coach Dustin Hecht said everything with the team starts with his seniors.

“We got several young guys that are coming into positions. We got two starting freshmen,” Hecht said. “Our upper classmen are great. We have four seniors and two juniors. Those guys are really leaders of the pack and the younger are starting to learn.”

Nick Burns, Keegen Weiss, Landyn Bowman and Trevor Hemmerich are the four seniors returning this season. Hecht said the leadership from these four players have stood out so far.

With their attitude and their play, they are setting an example for the younger players.

“The leadership of these seniors right now. They’re playing at a high level. They’re anxious and they’re hungry. That’s going to roll over to the younger guys and they will start to catch on,” Hecht said.

Weiss and Hemmerich were one and two on the team in batting average and RBI. Hemmerich led with a .380 average and 24 RBI. Weiss hit for an average of .379 and had 16 RBI.

Burns hit for an average of .243 last season and Bowman hit for an average of .238. Both drove in double-digit runs last season.

Hemmerich also was the workhorse on the mound for the Tigers. He had 41.1 innings pitched last season and had 53 strikeouts. Both he and Bowman appeared in nine games.

Hecht said Hemmerich and Weiss will get most of the work on the mound. Weiss couldn’t pitch last season due to an injury. Hecht also said sophomore Noah Heck will get some run this year along with two to three more players.

It was a roller coaster season for Ansonia. It was a constant string of winning streaks with some good wins followed by some losing streaks.

Ansonia was 9-16 last season with a 6-5 WOAC record. Hecht said if they can work out the little things, they can do big things. They are working on finding that consistency.

The senior leadership could be the key to consistency.

“If we start getting consistent, I think we’re going to do big things. This senior class, their leadership can take us a long way,” Hecht said.

Ansonia will start their season on March 23 at Minster. First pitch is set for noon. They will then head to Dixie on March 25 for a 5 p.m. first pitch.

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