Garfield G-Men baseball coach Michael Paes acknowledged that even after a historic 2023 season, nothing would be a given for his squad this year. The G-Men will try and prove that last season’s success was no fluke when they compete this year.
Garfield compiled a 21-7 record and reached the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division III district championship game last year for the first time in a decade. The nineth-year coach attributed last year’s run to the family atmosphere of the team.
“I think the best thing about last year was we were just a family and it was the most fun I have had in my years of coaching,” he added. “I am not kidding you when I tell you last year was by far the most fun season I have ever coached in any sport. The kids just had that family atmosphere and loved being around each other.”
It is too early for Paes to say if the G-Men will have that same culture this year but he will not be concerned even if it does not show early because Garfield did not find that identity until the middle of the 2023 season.
It does help Garfield that it returns five core players from last year, including senior right-hander Eric Geddes, who was named the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference Grey Tier Player of the Year last season, and sophomore designated hitter Brandyn Bogucki, who broke the school’s batting average record.
The 6-foot-3 Ohio Dominican University commit, who hurled a 1.51 ERA across 65.0 innings of work while striking out 95 batters, returns to the mound as the team’s number one pitcher.
“Eric is the leader and how we go,” noted Paes. “He is such a fun-loving kid who just loves the game of baseball. He just loves being out there and running around and playing baseball. That has set the family tone to just have fun. That means a lot to the team and then him being on the mound, I think we can win any game when he is on the mound.”
Pitching behind Geddes will be Bogucki, junior Aidan Hill and senior Alex Carter, all who received significant varsity experience last year and Paes hopes his team can capitalize on having that pitching depth.
Geddes will also be relied on to produce at the plate, as he was the team leader in doubles last year and will once again bat in the top three.
Bogucki will be the G-Men’s leadoff hitter and although he set a high bar when he made school history last season, Paes remained confident Bogucki could continue his success.
“The goal should always be now for him to hit over .500 and maybe have more doubles and maybe have more RBIs,” he added. “Maybe he can go off of that and then we should be in a good spot as a team.”
Although the G-Men only graduated three seniors from last year’s squad, they lost three significant players as all thee were Garfield’s starting outfield, including senior center field Jackson Sommer, who led the team in RBIs and recorded over 40 stolen bases and scored over 40 runs.
Senior Leo Grandizio will step into center field this year, with sophomore Jack Neikirk becoming the team’s new starting left fielder. The starting right fielder is still undetermined with several underclassmen battling to fill that position.
“Most of them played junior varsity last year and one is a freshman, so we are going to try and see what we can do with this but there are a lot more moving parts,” said Paes. “There are going to be more guys out there getting reps at the corner spot as well so it is kind of up in the air still.”
Bogucki, Grandizio and Geddes are slated to be the top three hitters but Paes said everything hinges on the middle and bottom part of the batting order.
With only three seniors on the squad this year, Garfield is dominated by a large number of sophomore players but Paes can see the potential for the underclassmen to continue to build off of the foundation set by last year’s squad.
“You always look ahead as a coach and have to worry about what is there but it is always nice to see that we have this guy coming back, we are going to be excited about him and we have this guy coming back and we are going to be excited about him,” Paes said. “You love seeing those guys on the paper.”
The G-Men’s season begins when they hit the road to face MVAC Grey Tier foe Campbell Memorial on March 25 at 5 p.m.
