NTL BASEBALL: ATHENS LOOKING TO RIDE STRONG PITCHING TO SUCCESS IN 2023 (2023-03-24)

By TIM BIRNEY
Valley Sports Report
ATHENS — Athens baseball coach Charlie Havens knew pitching would be a strength for the Wildcats in 2023, but the addition of former Sayre standout Lucas Horton has taken his staff “to the next level.”

“We know pitching is our strength, so we’ve really been concentrating on that in the first three weeks of the preseason,” said Havens. “Those guys did a good job coming in during the offseason, so we already have our pitch counts up, and we’re gaining strength.

“We’ve already done live hitting with them, so they’re ready to roll Game 1 with pitch counts.,” he noted. “We’re pretty excited with where we’re at.

“Having (Lucas) Horton with us just adds another level to where we already thought we were going to be,” Havens added.

Havens was impressed with Horton after coaching against him the last two years, but watching him prepare for the season has him singing his praises.

“The biggest thing we’ve seen from Horton is the leadership he’s brought.

“We lost a good leader from the last couple years in Karter Rude, and Luke Horton has come right in and replaced him,” said Havens.

“We had guys come to the open gyms who weren’t normally there. The younger guys just enjoy watching Lucas work.

“He’s been an unbelievable addition. He’s at practice running sprints before I get there, and he’s throwing with guys after I leave,” added Havens. “It’s impressive to watch him work.”

Horton will be joined on the pitching staff by seniors Mason Lister, Cameron Sullivan, and Lucas Kraft, with sophomore Troy Rosenbloom and freshman Nick Grazul expected to see some time on the mound as well.

“Our pitching staff is deep.

“Mason Lister has been working on other pitches,” said Haven. “He’s really condensed the amount of movement he has with his throwing mechanics, and he seems much more confident with the way he’s throwing the baseball.

“His work ethic is unbelievable, and it always has been.

“Cam Sullivan is going to be an innings eater for us, and he knows it,” noted Havens. “He can throw every day, he’s an impressive kid.

“And, Lucas Kraft, who started our District game last year, is an impressive kid as well,” continued Havens. “He throws a heavy ball, and he’s always working fast.

“We have a deep and very good pitching staff,” added Havens. “Our main focus has been to build on our strength.”

In the field, Havens notes Horton will play whatever position the day’s starting pitcher normally plays.

Senior Caleb Nichols will start at catcher, with junior Kaiden Hyjek, who could see time in corner outfield spots, backing him up.

Senior Carson Smith and junior Nicholas Jacob will both see time at first base, with the other likely at DH. Junior Connor Mosher could also see time at first base.

Sullivan will start at second base, with Lister at shortstop, and Kraft at third base.

Senior Jaren Glisson will man center field, with senior Matt Machmer in right field, and Grazul in left field. Senior Caleb Fritsch will see time in both corner outfield spots.

Rosenbloom could see time in multiple positions in the outfield, and the infield.

Horton isn’t the only former Sayre player in uniform for the Wildcats as senior Joey VanAllen will see time at second, shortstop, and third base this year.

“You can tell he’s put a lot of time getting ready for baseball,” said Havens. “He looks really sharp, especially defensively.

“You can tell he’s looking forward to playing,” he noted. “He’s been a really fun addition to our team.

“He will be a utility guy who can play multiple infield positions for us,” added Havens.

While pitching has been a strength for the Wildcats, defense has, at times, been a source of contention.

“We’ve had conversations about our struggles defensively, especially early in the season,” said Havens.

“It takes a while to get going … we get better defensively, but we don’t stay consistent,” he noted. “Our defense cost us in the District playoffs last year.

“We’ve done a lot of situational work … we’ve tried to make practice game-like this year.

“We’ve really taken a very different approach to our preseason than we have in the first two years,” continued Havens. “Most everything we’re doing is to make things competitive and game-like, with faster action trying to get us more consistent defensively.

“We’re fortunate at Athens with the facilities we have,” added Havens. “We were on our field (Wednesday), which is awesome, but we’ve been on the turf since Day 1, with the exception of a couple snowstorms.”

The Wildcats hit .277 as a team last year, and only Nichols (.312) and Glisson (.300) return with a batting average at .300 or better.

“It was shocking to go through the numbers at the end of last season, and see how low some of our batting averages were,” said Havens.

“The biggest issue we had with hitting last year was we couldn’t get the big inning going. We couldn’t string together multiple hits,” he noted. “We would get guys on base, not move them over, and leave them on base.

“We’ve even put a lot of concentration on ‘small ball’ this year. When we do cage work everything has been situational … hitting with 3-1 counts and looking for a pitch to drive, hitting with two-strikes, and working on a different approach.

“We need to get more consistent, and string together more hits,” continued Havens.

“Every time we watched Sayre play that was how they buried teams, by stringing together hits,” he said. “It’s not one or two hits in an inning, it’s multiple hits, it’s moving runners, it’s scoring four or five runs, instead of one or two.

“That’s one of the biggest discussions we’ve had … we’re trying to fix that by doing a lot more situational hitting.

“And, with our pitching staff, we’ve done a lot of live at-bats … we’re hitting on a regular basis against Horton, Lister, Sullivan, and Kraft — that should make us better,” added Havens.

Adding Horton, who hit. 467 at Sayre last year, will give the line-up an instant boost.

“We’re looking at batting Lucas (Horton) in the lead-off spot to get his as many at-bats as possible,” said Havens. “We know we can move him down in the line-up if we have to.

“Caleb Nichols will bat second, Cam Sullivan third, and Mason Lister, who has really simplified his swing and looks very good this spring, will bat clean-up.

“We feel like we have really good baseball players,” added Havens. “From top to bottom, we feel like we have a pretty good line-up, it’s all about being consistent.”

The Wildcats went 12-9 last season, and lost in the opening round of District 4 play. Havens says his senior-laden team has been driven to do better this season.

“I think our hunger is a huge part of our strength this season,” said Havens. “The leadership on this team is very good, and this group is hungry. The kids came in with goals of competing for the District championship — that’s our main goal.

“We have some major competition in the NTL, so we are not remotely looking past our league,” he noted. “The NTL is unbelievably loaded. Every team in our division is tough.

“Wyalusing and Wellsboro are very good, and there are teams that are coming too — Towanda is building, Troy has an excellent young team, and North Penn-Mansfield has a good young team, too.

“The competition in our division alone is going to be unbelievable baseball, so by the time we get to the postseason, we think we should have a lot of game experience that should carry us,” he said.

“The goal is to be playing your best ball at the end of the season, but we have to have a much better start than we did last year,” added Havens. “You can’t be playing catch-up all season.”

Having 10 seniors on the team is a source of concern for Havens.

“With the number of seniors we have — 10 — it could go one of two ways … they could be completely focused on ‘this is our last run,’ especially since most of these guys have been playing together since Little League, or the senior-itis could kick in at some point as you get closer to the end of the year.

“I think the biggest challenge is going to keep our seniors focused, and not let that senior-itis set in,” said Havens. “We need to make them understand how quickly youth can go away.”

The Athens non-league schedule includes games against Danville, Ithaca, Waverly, and Titusville, which will be played at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

“It’s going to be a really cool experience for the guys to place at PNC Park. We’re excited about that,” said Havens. “It’s a night game, so that makes it even better.

“The biggest thing we’re trying to accomplish with our schedule is we’re trying to give ourselves a chance for a home game in Districts,” he noted. “The last two years we’ve been on the road Saturday mornings after three-hour bus rides.

“We think it’s a huge deal for us to get a home game in Districts,” added Havens. “Somehow, we need to get that first one out of the way before we can even think about a championship.”

Athens opens the 2023 campaign this afternoon at Cowanesque Valley.

——————

IN PHOTO: From left: Cam Sullivan, Lucas Horton, and Mason Lister. … STOCK PHOTOS.