Goals

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6 playoffs last year and were eliminated in the first round by Southern Huntingdon, ending the season at 11-10.

East Juniata baseball

District 4 2A 6-10, 6-8 Tri-Valley League

Head Coach: Justin Martin, 6th year

Assistant coach Justin Austin and volunteer assistants Bob Price and Mike Weges

Tigers

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Bonnell, Trevor Brubaker, Evan Clouser, Matt Hoover, Blaise Lauver and Dylan Messimer.

The Tigers’ hopes rest with seven seniors in their starting lineup. At first base Hayden Treaster is back, while Aaron Kanagy can catch or play third base or the outfield. Kanagy hit .306 a year ago, with 1 home run, 2 triples and a double. His 14 RBI tied for seventh in the TVL.

Seniors Louis Reisinger and Noah Poorman are also outfielders, while Reisinger should also get innings on the mound. In limited action, Reisinger stole three bases.

Seniors Owen Dressler and Owen Yorks are also pitchers. Dressler is also a shortstop, while Yorks is an infielder. Dressler went 2-2 a year ago with 2 saves and a 2.65 ERA in 34 1/3 innings. His ERA was sixthbest in the league. Dressler fanned 27 and walked 22. His ERA was eighth in the league and his strikeout to- tal ranked ninth. Yorks was 1-3 with a 2.84 ERA in 32 innings. He struck out 32 and walked 15. At the plate, he also drove in 11 runs.

Tate Jamison rounds out the list of seniors. He can catch or play first base. He hit .360 last year and drove in 10 runs.

The three returning juniors on the roster are Briar Jamison, who is an outfielder; Clark Ritzman, who will man centerfield; and Kolten Martin, a pitcher and middle infielder. Ritzman led the Tigers with 19 hits and a .373 batting average. He tied for the team lead with nine steals.

“As long as everyone on the team puts the team before themselves, they should do very well this year,” Martin said.

The lone sophomore returning is Wyatt Weges, a pitcher-infielder.

Out for the first time are freshmen Kelton Bonnell and Trent Price, who can both pitch or play the infield or outfield.

Pitching carried the Tigers at times as their 3.68 team ERA was third-best in the TVL, behind Halifax

(1.57) and Line Mountain (3.48).

Martin sees a very balanced TVL as reigning league champion Halifax went all the way to the PIAA Class A title game a year ago, falling to DuBois Central Catholic 12-2. The Wildcats claimed the TVL with a dominant 14-2 mark. That was three games ahead of Juniata (11-5). Newport, Greenwood and Line Mountain were all bunched together, followed by EastJuniata and Upper Dauphin.

Greenwood also qualified for states, while Juniata lost in the District 6 Class 4-A final to Bellefonte. Upper Dauphin, Newport and Line Mountain also qualified for districts.

“Hard to say how the TVL stacks up,” Martin said. “Been hearing a lot of teams are struggling to field JV teams – ourselves included – which doesn’t bode well for being able to compete in varsity.

“As in year’s past, I think it will largely be a toss-up and a little bit of luck with scheduling and pitching matchups.”

The Trojans will rely on two pitchers to carry the load with senior letterwinner Abbey Brodbeck working the mound and bringing a 7-8 record from last season. Brodbeck pitched 20 games with 89 innings and had an ERA of 6.64. Brodbeck allowed 161 hits and had 55 strikeouts along with 43 walks. Letterwinner sophomore Reagan Yocum worked 35 innings last spring, posting a 4-2 record with 86 strikeouts and she allowed 67 hits. Yocum walked 22 and had an ERA of 9.20 at the end of the season. The Trojans had an ERA of 7.02 over their 21 games. Behind the plate will be junior letterwinner Patyn Crisswell, a very strongarmed catcher that had 93 putouts and just three errors on the season with a .970 fielding percentage. In the batter’s box Crisswell led the team with a .471 batting average. She had a home run, 27 RBI, 12 double and 32 hits over the 21 games.

Senior letterwinner

Kendra Gardner is back after an injury and will hold down the middle of the diamond. Gardner hit .434 last spring with 23 hits including six doubles and 13 RBI. Gardner played in 15 games.

Senior Chelsea Williams will work the other side of the infield and depending upon the pitching rotation she could see duty between shortstop and third base. Williams hit .431 last season with 31 hits and 18 RBI.

Senior letterwinner Sophie Smith will be back in center field with her speed. Smith hit .434 last season with two home runs and 24 hits along with 10 RBI from the leadoff spot.

Gracey Cramer, a senior letterwinner, will be in the outfield after hitting .356 last season with 11 RBI and scoring 14 runs.

Addison Glover, a junior letterwinner, will move around the infield this season with only 14 at-bats last season.

Maddie Dimoff, a sophomore letterwinner, played first base when Brodbeck was on the mound and hit .333 last spring.

Sophomore letterwinner Callie Trego played the outfield last season and will continue to be in and out of the lineup. She hit .200 last season with limited plate appearances.

Junior Autumn Sunderland is a returning letterwinner on the injured list with a return date unknown. She hit .235 last season on limited play.

“It is good to have the experience returning and that helped us get going in practice due to everyone knowing expectations,” Suchan explained. “The team came in ready to go working on proper sliding and fundamental drills. We have been outside and that really helped to see how the team progressed in the offseason and where to place players. We saw what the new players could do.”

“Our goals are simple,” Suchan said. “The team wants to improve on last year’s record and be competitive every time we go out, winning the ICC and moving on to the District 6 playoffs. “