Huskies swing towards next step in rebuild

BY BRIAN CARSON Sports correspondent

LEWISTOWN—The Mifflin County baseball team looks to take the next step in its rebuilding phase with the return of six starters.

The Huskies slipped to 3-15 a year ago and missed the District 6 playoffs. Mifflin County coach John McGonigle believes his team is ready to return to winning ways and a district playoff berth.

“We have a good group back with six starters returning and several others with varsity experience,” McGonigle said. “We were young last year, and the guys learned from their experiences. Now, they are taking it to heart. We have a slew of good players who have taken leadership roles. I really like where we are at.”

The turnout for tryouts was a robust 48, with 15 making the varsity squad and 17 on JV. McGonigle brought up two seniors and a healthy 13 juniors.

“The turnout was great. We had 48 try out. We cut that down to 32, and they are ready to go. They are amped up,” McGonigle said. “The attitudes are great. We transformed the culture this year. It’s a family-like atmosphere. They bought in and are ready to go.”

Winning begins with pitching. McGonigle likes what he sees from his rotation, starting with seniors Ryan Hine and Bryson Bubb. Junior Ryan Kanagy is back at catcher.

“The pitchers have been working hard. We’re looking for leadership on the bump with our seniors, Hine and Bubb. We have a bunch of guys like juniors Dougie Weaver, Xavier Smith, and Landon Eich- horn, who will contribute,” McGonigle said. “We have good, quality arms that throw a ton of strikes. Throwing strikes is half the battle. Everybody is on pitch counts early in the season. We don’t want to overwork them. They’ll all be at a max of 50 pitches, and then we’ll gradually lengthen them out.”

Improving the defense will go a long way to determining the season the Huskies will have.

“You have to limit the free nineties. You must be able to play quality defense. Last year, we played Cumberland Valley hard twice. We lost by a combined total of three runs,” McGonigle said. “We were winning 3-0 in the sixth, and after a few miscues, we were losing, and they were a top-four team last year.

That was the story of last year. We want to write a new story this year.”

The infield is a veteran group with every starter back. Even so, McGonigle won’t name set starters, leaving competition open.

“We return our entire starting infield. They have a cohesiveness out there, and they know what each guy is doing. They know their tendencies, which is huge,” McGonigle said.

“There will be guys filling in some roles when the other guys are pitching, and we’re anxious to see how they do.”

The outfield will feature three new starters, and the competition is intense to see who slides into those slots.

“There’s plenty of competition out there. We have some guys, we feel, who will fall into those roles. The basic thing is we must make the plays out there,” McGonigle said. “Finding a group that works well together and communicates is huge. We have a solid group of guys who can fit into those roles.”

Rounding out the roster are juniors Farrell Souders, Tucker Gill, GianPaolo Pannizzo, Christopher Moon, Hunter Bailey, Hayden Yoder, Calin McKnight, Hunter Marks, and Jacob Ross.

Being in the Mid-Penn Commonwealth, the schedule is never easy going against teams like State College, Cumberland Valley, Central Dauphin, and Red Land. In addition, the Huskies have Mount Union, Midd-West, and Central Mountain in their non-conference schedule.

Pennsylvania. I tell the guys, respect everybody, but fear nobody.”

The coaching staff’s goals are the same every year—make the playoffs and play for a district championship.

“We have to grow from last year. We want to return to the district tournament and play for the district championship. That’s the goal every year,” McGonigle said. “We weren’t that far off last year. I think we are going to surprise some people. We have a strong group of guys. I feel that, and the coaching staff agrees. We are heading in the right direction, for sure.”

“They’re all tough. We are playing 5A and 6A baseball every day, plus we added some difficult teams to our non-conference schedule,” McGonigle said.

“We added some tough non-conference games with closer teams, which should be fun. The schedule is tough the whole way down.

You’re playing the best of the best every night.

It’s the best conference in

Mifflin County

Record: 3-15 (1-13 MidPenn)

Coach: John McGonigle. Assistants: Cody Heane, Kalen Gearhart, Isaac Maclay, Bailey Hetrick, Ray Hoppel, Josh Nichols.