Members of the Wildcat varsity baseball team are from left, front row, Anson Brown, Ozzy Wilson, Austin Haubiel, Spencer Parish, Aaron Krebehenne, Caden Potts and Tyler Krebehenne; back row, head coach Nick Blakeley, Evan Hoffer, John Hughes, Jeremiah Pickens, Kamren Apt, Landon Converse, Bray Wenger and assistant coach Cory Lyles. (Journal-Tribune photo by Aleksei Pavloff)
Members of North Union’s JV baseball team are from left, front row, Logan Otten, Max Ruhle, Myles Marlette, Tim Collier, Connor Lassister and Bodie Johnson; back row, coach Brandon Lowe, manager Brey Wenger, Ashton Haubiel, Evan Beery, Drew Schmidt, Josh Ahern, Tayden Peck and assistant coach Dylan Thompson. (Journal-Tribune photo by Aleksei Pavloff)
Nick Blakeley is embarking on his first year as head coach of the North Union baseball team.
Blakeley is succeeding Klarke Ransome, who had to step down as coach because of teaching conflicts.
Blakeley, a former assistant coach at Fairbanks High School, welcomes back six lettermen from a team that went 10-16 overall and 6-10 in the Central Buckeye Conference.
“Right now, our goal is to get better every day,” Blakeley said. “If we can do that, we are capable of doing a lot of good things.”
Returning lettermen include seniors Evan Hoffer (pitcher, infielder), Aaron Krebehenne (outfield) and sophomores Landon Converse (pitcher, catcher, infielder), Mason Bright (pitcher, shortstop) and John Hughes (pitcher, utility).
Bright is currently sidelined with an injury and may not play this season. He was 2-3 with a 3.98 ERA last season.
Newcomers to varsity play are seniors Austin Haubiel (utility), Anson Brown (utility), Spencer Parish (first base), Jeramiah Pickens (first base), junior Kamren Apt, sophomores Caden Potts, Ozzy Wilson and freshman Tyler Krebehenne.
“We are still a relatively young team with a lot of room to grow,” Blakeley said. “I want to see how our group of players respond to the peaks and valleys this year.”
Two of the Wildcats’ top hitters from last season, Grayson Beeny and Trevyn Feasel, graduated, but they still have some hitting on the roster.
Converse fashioned a .365 batting average while Hoffer (.348) and Hoffer (.346) will be backing up the offense.
Hoffer led the team in innings pitched last season and was 3-6 with a 5.12 ERA. Hughes and Potts also had time on the mound last season.
“One of our pitching question marks is who is going to step up and perform in big games,” Blakeley said. “We haven’t won a tournament game in a while and we need to get that done before we can achieve anything else.”
Blakeley feels Benjamin Logan and Indian Lake will once again be at the top as they have done in recent years.
He is hoping North Union can improve on its fourth-place finish from last year.
“I think we can improve on that if we reach our potential,” Blakeley said.