The baseball team had a rough start. They started the season by dropping two games against one of the top teams in the state the Laporte Slicers. They bounced back with a shutout thrown by senior Dylan Pearson against the Bronchos of Lafayette Jefferson. This would be their first win of the season but the joy was short-lived. The team dropped game two against Jeff, a game against Western, and two games against McCutchen. After losing four games straight they would go on a four-game winning streak securing wins against West Lafayette, they beat Norwell and Crawfordsville in a tournament placing first, and a win against Kokomo. They are currently on a one-game winning streak after taking the second game against Benton Central.
The team stats are very permissible on the hitting side of the game. Junior Deagan Kitchel leads the team in every main hitting stat on the team. He would be considered the hottest hitter on the team by many on the team and from other teams. He leads the team in batting average (0.438), on-base percentage (0.534), home runs (2), runs (18), hits (21), runs batted in (13), slugging percentage (0.833), and triples (5).
On the other side of the ball, the pitching staff is struggling to keep the team in games walking 1.5 batters per inning. This is putting pressure on the defense and the offense to outperform by a more substantial amount. Sophomore Josh Middleton is leading the team in earned run average with a 2.72 ERA. He also tacks on two wins on the mound with his latest one being in the second game against Benton Central. The pitching staff will need to improve greatly if the team wants to make a run in the second half of the season.
Injuries have been another big problem for the Berries. Senior shortstop Issac Russel has been battling a hamstring injury since the second game of the year being on and off being able to play. Junior Micah Rogers is battling shoulder soreness since early in the year. He is an important piece of the team’s pitching staff as he has thrown the most innings on the team. Finally, senior catcher Jacob Fincher has been battling injuries on and off the field as he is the only catcher who catches solid innings. He has had knee problems as well as some bad blocking errors.
The team has a lot of work ahead of them if they want to make great strides in the second half of their season. Pitching will need to improve greatly for the team to be able to make a run in the tournament or even string multiple wins together in the future.
All the games remaining in their season are important stepping stones for the rest of the year.
