Benny Westcott
In their last full season, in the spring of 2019, Sweet Home baseball went 17-10 overall with a 13-5 league record.
This year, like in years prior, Head Coach John Best is setting expectations high for his team.
“We’re expecting to compete for a league title. That’s always our goal,” said Best. “But this is going to be a little bit younger of a squad than I usually have, so we’ll have to see how we play in the first few weeks.
“We have some young guys that are going to have to step up a little bit.”
Sweet Home will only suit up three players this year who have varsity experience from playing as sophomores in 2019.
These returnees include Russ Holly, who will pitch, catch and play infield, and Dawson Armstrong, who plays the same positions as Holley. Treyson Smith started as a sophomore in the Husky outfield in 2019, and will be returning as a senior.
“I could give you a list of guys that I think are going to do good, but they have zero varsity experience,” Best said. “I have high expectations for a lot of these guys, but they’re going to have to earn the stripes.”
Other varsity players include seniors Dawson Armstrong, Kaiden Deckard, Wyatt Erickson, Austin Marler, Kyle Marler and Tucker Weld, junior Joshua Wilson, sophomores Dylan Luttmer and Casey Valloni, and freshman Jon Holly,
In addition to dealing with some inexperience, Sweet Home will have to overcome a slightly reduced preseason practice schedule.
The team’s first practice was April 5. Their first game of the season will be this Thursday, April 15, when they host Woodburn at 4:30 p.m. in a league contest.
Best said his team usually has two full weeks of practices before their first game, but this year their preseason will be shortened from 10 practices to eight due to the compressed season. “That does definitely play a factor,” he said.
But the biggest thing that will be different for his athletes this time around is the fact that all of the different sport seasons are so close together this year. Best noted that some of his players had to miss the first few practices because they were competing in football, which wrapped up its season last Thursday.
“That part of the timeframe is kind of tricky,” he said.
Looking ahead to the end of the baseball season, Best also mentioned that “we have a lot of basketball kids, and our season is going to cut into their practice time for basketball.”
Sweet Home usually plays three games against each of its league opponents, but this year the Huskies will only play each league team twice.
“Every game is super important,” said Best.
Their schedule starts with league play, and then there are three non-league games at the end of the season, which is “kind of an odd thing,” he noted.
But Best noted that every team will be coping with the unusual conditions.
“We have a lot of kids that would have played last year as juniors,” he said. “But everyone’s losing a season. I think everyone across the league and the state is going to be in that same boat, where you feel like you’re young, but your kids are pretty good still.”
The bright spot for the Huskies looks to be on the mound.
“The pitchers we have are going to be really good,” he said.
But Sweet Home’s pitching staff could be top-heavy. “I’m not sure yet what our depth will be,” he said. “I’m hoping that we have some guys that can eat up some innings.”
Best hopes that this year’s team can keep up the work ethic that players have shown in the past during practices.
“Last year, I thought one of our strengths was how hard we worked in practice,” he said.
But he noted that game experience is the only thing that can get his players up to speed at the varsity level.
“Really, it’s just going to be experience,” he said. “That’s a huge thing in baseball. Obviously, we’re working our tails off in practice, but we’re going to need to see live action, and get after it in games and learn as we’re competing.”
“I think that they’re up for the challenge,” Best said of his team. “A lot of these kids have been playing baseball their whole life, so they know what’s up.”
Junior varsity team members include Taiden Burger, Chris Christman, Caleb Christman, Brandon Elder, Kelso Ellis, Daniel Goodwin, Alex Kisselburgh, Vegas Mauer, Brady Nichols and Austyn Wray.
Freshmen include Deacon Bachand, Kason Forum, Landon Godell, Wesson Mahr, Bradley Marks, Jayce Miller, Case Miller, Mason Montigue, Brady Petersen, Kyle Siemenski, David Steagall and Broc Tuller.
Sweet Home’s first few practices have touched on a little bit of everything.
“One of the things we emphasize is doing things the right way,” said Best. “We’ve been training in running bases correctly, learning how to play small ball and learning how to bunt and move guys over.”
He said he has been emphasizing “just playing the game the right way, the smart way. Not trying to do too much or too little.”
“We can live with a few physical errors, as long as we know what we need to keep working on,” he said.
Best said his players’ attitude in the first few practices has been good.
“I think everyone’s super excited to play. I mean, it’s been almost two years.”
Last year, the team had nine practices and were days away from their first game when they were shut down by COVID.
With the lack of games last year, Best said “I really don’t know what to expect from our league. Usually, you have a good idea going in.”
He said that “a lot of times we don’t have a big scouting report on JV teams. And that’s really what’s happening, is that all of these JV teams are now seniors.”
But Oregon West Conference are usually pretty good, he said, and “I think it’s going to be a very competitive league this year.”
Best was very pleased with the turnout for baseball this spring, and said his team’s numbers are “amazing.”
“I bet that in 4A we have more baseball kids than almost anybody in the state,” he said.
Best said 40 boys have come out for baseball, and he expects that number to swell to 45. Sweet Home will be able to field three teams, with two levels of junior varsity and one varsity squad.
“People are excited to play,” he said.