The Hubs varsity baseball team is less than two weeks from its season-opener against the Harlem Huskies, and Rochelle head coach Jarrod Reynolds is eager to get his players throwing balls and swinging bats once again.
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ROCHELLE — The Hubs varsity baseball team is less than two weeks from its season-opener against the Harlem Huskies, and Rochelle head coach Jarrod Reynolds is eager to get his players throwing balls and swinging bats once again.
Rochelle will be aiming to build on its 11-13-1 record from the 2016-17 school year. The Hubs relied on many seniors including Kyle Seebach, Cristian Burciaga and Caleb Gould for production at various positons last season, and with a much younger team this time around, Reynolds said he will need Rochelle’s next crop of talent to emerge quickly.
“It’s always an exciting time of year and I look forward to it all year long,” Reynolds said. “There’s a lot to look forward to… We really put last season in the hands of our seniors and we had a lot of guys graduate. We have a really young team this year so we have a lot of juniors who will need to step up.”
While the Hubs may not have as much experience as they did last season, Reynolds said the team’s pitching staff will be filled with players capable of logging varsity innings. Junior Johnny Beck will headline the Rochelle pitching staff, while seniors Riley Lodico and Noah Mershon could also take the mound for extended time. Juniors Brandon Johnson, Cody Johnson and Hayden Jones could battle for mound time as well as senior Johnny Kisner.
“We have 7 or 8 kids who we feel can go out and do a good job on the mound,” Reynolds said. “We’re expecting big things out of Johnny this year, and we’re going to need Riley and Noah to pitch as well… We have a lot of guys who we feel can come in and be effective.”
The Hubs will be young at catcher, with Cody Johnson, Kisner and sophomore Gavin Ansteth expected to suit up behind home plate. However, Reynolds said that defense could be a big strength for Rochelle this spring due to the team’s versatility in both the infield and the outfield.
“We have guys who can play a lot of different positions,” Reynolds said. “Noah Mershon was one of the best outfielders in our conference last year so it will be nice having him in center field again… We have a lot of new faces in the infield. My biggest thing is making routines plays and that’s what we focus on.”
Rochelle and Harlem will play on Saturday, March 17 at 10 a.m. to start the 2018 season.
