The last time the Garfield G-Men’s baseball team faced serious doubts before the beginning of the season was two years ago and they finished with a 21-7 record. With some big holes to fill in the wake of graduating some key contributors, the G-Men will once again fight to defy expectations.
“We were lucky to have had some good seniors on our team last year and it will be hard to replace and rebuild that,” Coach Michael Paes said. “There are things that some of the guys do really well and hopefully we can put some guys together to make a team that can duplicate some of the stuff that we had last year.”
In the last two seasons, Garfield has reached new heights by appearing in consecutive OHSAA Division III district championship games and has also been near the top of the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference Grey Tier standings. Each season has ended with them being ousted in the district championship and falling short of the league banner, as conference rival LaBrae triumphed as MVAC Grey Tier champions.
“We could not beat LaBrae last year,” noted the 11-year coach. “We had to beat LaBrae once and we didn’t do it. LaBrae has been our Achilles heel the last couple of years so we are just going to do whatever it takes to win that league title and make it to a district title as well.”
Although the G-Men graduated only three players from last year’s squad, one of the graduating players was ace right-hander Eric Geddes, who is now playing collegiate baseball at Ohio Dominican University.
Senior righty Aidan Hill will take over as the number one pitcher in the rotation after going 5-1, hurling 36.2 innings while allowing 19 runs last year and also hit .355/.448/.553 with nine doubles, two home runs and 24 RBIs in 26 games.
“He is a good athlete,” Paes said of the California University of Pennsylvania commit. “He is a heck of a basketball player, and he is a good football player; he does it all really well. I can put him anywhere. He will probably play shortstop mostly this year and will play some first and he can play third. When he was younger he caught a little bit. The only thing he didn’t do when he was younger was play the outfield.”
The other returning senior is Tyler Lutz, who slashed .255/.441/.275 with one double and seven RBIs in 21 games.
“He did well for us in the field and he can hit the ball,” said Paes. “He does well hitting all over the field. Some kids fall in love with pulling it and that kind of stuff. He will hit the ball and hit it all over the field and we are going to rely on him heavily this year.”
Colin Cunningham is the other senior on the roster but is a first-year varsity player.
Catching will be junior Brock Pesicek, who enters his third year as the starting catcher and is coming on the heels of a season in which he slashed .269/.425/.448 while slugging five doubles, two triples and one home run to drive home 15 runs in 26 games.
“With those guys graduating we need a guy like Brock to step up who has a lot of experience playing,” said Paes. “He has to get a little more consistent at the plate and he is ready to do that.”
The G-Men’s junior class is also highlighted by Brandyn Bogucki, who set the school record for batting average in his freshman year. Bogucki’s sophomore season was just as strong as he hit .432/.533/.534 with five doubles, two triples, 20 RBIs and swiped 37 bases in 26 games.
“Brandyn is a two-time second-team all-state player and he is a special kid. He really does it all,” Paes said. “He is heck of an infielder and may play some center for us this year and at the plate he is as good a contact hitter as I have seen.”
Junior Jack Neikirk will handle most of the playing time in center field, and junior Garrett Warnick will be primarily used as a designated hitter after slashing .302/.439/.340 while hitting two doubles in 24 games. Right field will be anchored by Carson Norton who hit .186/.294/.481 across 21 games last year.
“We have a ton of juniors that are probably going to have their shot and will hopefully take it and make good on the shot that they get,” Paes said.
The G-Men’s season kicks off when they host Bristol on Saturday morning at 11 a.m. in Garrettsville.
