Talented Highland baseball team grows during 2022 season, looks forward to next spring

In a season punctuated by “spurts” of winning and overall success, the Highland baseball Bulldogs checked several boxes during the 2022 season.

The only one the Bulldogs did not get checked was a deep postseason run.

That box ended up unchecked due to Mississippi Valley Conference foe Mascoutah and a very talented freshman pitcher named Austin Musso.

Musso and the Indians stopped the Bulldogs with a 3-1 victory in the IHSA Class 3A regional championship at Glik Park in Highland on May 28.

“The kids did fine in the (regional) championship game,” Highland coach Joel Hawkins. “We just weren’t able to get the good at-bats and good swings on the young man that we saw that night.”

A middling 3-3 start had the Bulldogs needing a change of direction with their pitching and defense. A 14-4 winning stretch from April 1 to May 6 helped HHS get rolling as Highland defeated Chatham Glenwood 9-2 on May 6 to cap that surge.

“Our pitching was ball four for the first six games,” Hawkins said. “We had a 16-12 loss (against Freeburg) early where we had 12 walks in that game. I feel like right out of the chute we were really struggling (with our pitching) for whatever reason to get it in the strike zone.”

Highland pitchers Matt Miscik, Blayne Kapp, Chase Knebel and Trent Clemons found their groove during the early win streak, and the Bulldogs stayed in the thick of the MVC race until the end of the regular season in late May.

“As that (the pitching) came around and we got a little more comfortable out there (on the bump), obviously, the results came after that because if you can’t throw the ball in this game, it’s going to be a long miserable time (for you),” Hawkins said. “As the guys started to throw it in there and started to challenge hitters and not worry about having to make great pitches and let their defense do some work ... things started to turn around a little bit.”

Hawkins also credited his top four hitters — sophomore outfielder Jake Ottensmeier (.404, 24 RBI, 23 stolen bases), senior catcher Luke Darling (.376, 34 RBI, 3 home runs), Miscik (.391, 35 RBI, 3 home runs), and Kapp (.329) — for also helping turn the club around at the plate.

“The reason we were able to do what we did (offensively) was those four guys at the top of the batting order ended up being quite loud all year long,” Hawkins said.

In the pitching department, youth served HHS as Clemons, a sophomore, and Knebel, a freshman, came up big, going 5-0 and 4-0, respectively, to aid the Bulldogs cause this spring.

“Trent Clemons winning five games as a sophomore and Chase Knebel going 4-0 and he’s a freshman, those guys were very encouraging future-wise and were nice surprises for us,“ Hawkins said. “We’re excited about that.”

Hawkins notes other impressive performances

Junior reliever lefty Nick Schoeck and senior reliever Blaise Pearson manned the bullpen and helped close games with 14 and 17 games pitched, respectively. Pearson notched five saves.

“Nick Schoeck and Blaise Pearson — both of them — just the fact they came out and were able to help get to the finish line was big for us,” Hawkins said.

Hawkins also praised the contributions of freshman infielder Grant Fleming, senior infielder Aiden Duft, and junior outfielder Tyler Griesbaum.

“The reason for the team success (this season), for the 26 wins, was putting all those pieces together,” Hawkins said.

Bulldogs post big wins against Belleville East, CM

Highland finished the regular season with an eight-game win streak that included a 9-6 season-ending win over a talented Belleville East club on the road May 23.

Two days later, the Bulldogs beat Civic Memorial 5-2 in the regional semifinals at Glik Park. It was the Bulldogs third win of the season over CM and set up the regional title showdown with Mascoutah three days later.

Despite losing to the Indians, HHS learned a valuable postseason lesson.

“When you get to those regional championship games, it’s the team that makes the fewest mistakes that wins and you just have to be mistake-free and we weren’t able to do that,” Hawkins said.

HHS finishes with win, looks to the future

Despite the Mascoutah loss, Highland finished the campaign on an up note with a 4-1 non-conference win over Neoga on May 29 at Busch Stadium.

“It was a nice way to finish up the season,” Hawkins said.

Highland wrapped up at 26-10 and Hawkins is looking forward to the 2023 campaign with this group.

“We’ve got a lot of young guys. We lose some great players, so we’ll have to figure out how to replace Darling and Miscik, Blayne Kapp and Griesbaum,” he said. “Those guys will be difficult to replace, but we’re also excited to see how these young guys do. These young guys got their first experience (this year) and it will be interesting to see what happens with them.”

This story was originally published June 10, 2022 at 1:39 PM.