By BUTCH HARMON
After graduating a number of key players from one of its most successful teams in years, one would think that the Owosso baseball team would be undergoing a major rebuilding project.
While the Trojans lost seven starters off last year’s team that reached the Division 2 regional finals, another strong group of players is in place and just needs to add some experience to the equation to be capable of a strong season.
“I’m not going to characterize this as a rebuilding season,” coach Kevin Moore said. “We lost some very talented players and a couple are doing well in college right now, but we have a lot of players who are talented and just need some game experience.”
One major hole the Trojans needed to fill was at catcher. Last year’s catcher Marcus Wojtkowicz graduated, and sophomore Austin Klapko has stepped in and been a team leader so far.
“We had some pretty big shoes to fill at catcher and Austin has stepped in and done a very good job,” Moore said. “Cody Greger is a senior who returns, and he’s done a nice job pitching and in the outfield. Jared Jackson is doing well as an infielder and pitcher, and Michael Schutt is a returning outfielder who is doing well.”
Along with Klapko, the Trojans have been receiving strong efforts from newcomers like junior pitcher/infielder Nick Foster and junior pitcher Josh Partain.
The Trojans opened the season with a 6-7 record in non-league games against a rugged schedule. With a strong group of pitchers, the Trojans are primed to make a run at the conference title.
“So far, our big strong point has been our pitching,” Moore said. “We pitched well in our games so far. We’ve played good defense for the most part, but we’ve had some costly errors.
Right now our main focus is to be competitive in the CAAC Red. We want to be in a position to possibly win the league, but there is some very tough competition in the Red with teams like DeWitt, Haslett, Ionia, and St. Johns.”