Highland baseball hopes inconsistent 2023 season will lead to better finish in 2024
Two words aptly describe the 2023 season for Highland’s baseball team: Offensive inconsistency.
Due in large part to the Bulldogs’ offense struggling to come up with clutch hits and plays in key times, Highland lost six one-run contests during the regular season. Those losses helped leave the Bulldogs with an unsatisfying 21-16 finish this spring.
“Throughout the season, you see all the one-run losses and we felt we lost those games because we were not able to get over the hump in a number of those situations,” Highland coach Joel Hawkins said.
Highland seemed to catch fire in late April when a 10-5 win at Greenville kickstarted a four-game winning streak over six days. But after scoring 33 runs in the four wins, the HHS bats went cold in early May with tough losses to Mississippi Valley Conference rival Triad on May 1 and setbacks May 5 and 6 to Teutopolis, Edwardsville, and Chatham Glenwood in the Edwardsville Tournament.
“That stretch of the schedule was difficult,” Hawkins said. “It was Triad, T-town, Edwardsville and Chatham and then it went back to Effingham, which went to state. And everybody we saw in there had guys on the mound who were difficult,” Hawkins said. “Some of those guys were unbelievable.”
As the campaign wound down, HHS dropped a pair of one-run games, first to Mount Vernon (1-0) on May 20 and then to Belleville East 4-3 on May 22 at Glik Park in the regular-season finale.
The Bulldogs rebounded in the IHSA Class 3A Jerseyville Regional semifinals thanks to a 6-2 win over host Jerseyville. Junior outfielder Jake Ottensmeier led the way with three hits and two runs scored while Braden Bircher added three hits and Mason Emig, Chase Knebel and Adam Munie each chipped in two hits powering a 16-hit Bulldogs attack.
In the regional final May 27, the bats again were missing in action, as Triad standout Austin Brown threw eight shutout innings and held HHS to just one hit as the Knights ended Highland’s season with a 1-0 walk-off, eight-inning win for the regional championship.
“He was really good and we knew we had to put the ball in play. We saw an awful lot of sliders that day (from him) and we couldn’t deal with it. We had seen him earlier in the year and the second time around he had his best stuff, so you tip your cap to him,” Hawkins said.
Look ahead to next season
Not getting out of the regional definitely left Highland disappointed, but Hawkins is looking forward to having an even better roster in 2024 as virtually all of this year’s team returns.
Ottensmeier (.453) and Munie (.250) will return in the outfield. In the pitching department, Knebel (7-1, .88 ERA) who excelled as a sophomore, Trent Clemons (5-3, 2.18 ERA) and lefty DeKlan Riggs (6-1, 2.17 ERA) will be back along with catcher Keaton Favre, shortstop Trey Koishor, and Bircher at second base.
“So, everybody comes back (next season) and really everybody is in place. And with those guys, there’s a really great nucleus of folks that we have coming back, so that’s a good thing,” Hawkins said. “I think with the crew that we have right now, I like their attitude and they’re really positive and they’re really determined about what just happened to them (in the playoffs).”
This story was originally published June 12, 2023 at 7:39 PM.