After winning its second state title, Highland baseball team excited for another shot
While it might seem tempting to linger on the memories of Highland’s second state baseball championship last spring, Bulldogs coach Joel Hawkins has been telling his team to put all those great moments in the rear-view mirror.
“It’s time to turn the page,” said Hawkins, whose team closed out the 2015 season with seven straight wins to claim the Class 3A state title. “They wrap dead fish in yesterday’s newspaper and that’s really true. It’s time to go forward and that’s how we’ve approached things here. We’ve got a new year, so here we go.
“We’ve got a lot of experience and our practices have been really good. They’re excited to get going.”
Experience won’t be a problem with 14 seniors on the roster, most of whom saw duty on the statet championship team.
Season outlook
One big question mark is the healthy of senior star Andrew Winning, who suffered an ACL injury during football and still isn’t ready for the start of baseball. Winning hit .426 last spring with nine doubles, one homer and 28 RBIs to earn first-team News-Democrat All-Area honors.
“Hopefully we’ll get him somewhere around midseason,” said Hawkins, who may use Winning as a designated hitter once he returns. “He’s swinging the bat and looks good swinging. He’s not completely released to run around on grass yet because of the strain on the knee.
“At this point we’d just be tickled to have him back. If he could just hit we’d do that and if he can play we’d put him in a corner outfield spot. We want to get him healthy.”
It’s time to turn the page. They wrap dead fish in yesterday’s newspaper and that’s really true. It’s time to go forward and that’s how we’ve approached things here.
Highland coach Joel Hawkins
Hawkins and Edwardsville coach Tim Funkhouser were both recently inducted into the Illinois Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
The Bulldogs return dangerous senior center fielder and leadoff man Will Greenwald (.333, seven RBIs, 36 runs scored, 42 stolen bases) and senior Chris Dickmann, a right fielder and pitcher.
Seniors Jordan Smith (.284, 19 RBIs) and Trent Carriger will handle first base duties with Smith also seeing time on the mound. Smith was 3-1 with a 2.46 ERA last season.
Senior Griffin Welz (.235, 16 RBIs) also returns at third and seniior Matt Beyer (2-0, 4.47 ERA) is another anchor in the pitching rotation along with DH Sam Green (.312, 17 RBIs; 1-1, 3.55 ERA).
Baseball roller coaster
The 2015 roller coaster ride of a season included a 15-1 start, a 6-12 middle and a 7-0 finish.
“I’m embarrassed to lose 13 games with that good of a team,” Hawkins said. “I’m not sure how good of coaches we are with losing that many games.”
Senior Mike McGill (.231, four RBIs) will play shortstop and pitch and Seth Luitjohan (.235, 10 RBIs) can play second base and shortstop. Senior Tyler Pollard will also see time at second base while senior Austin Brown will be the catcher.
Junior Steven Diaz is vying for time in the outfield.
The games were full of drama. This was totally different than any other experience that we’ve had because there were a lot of things that had to go right. It speaks a lot to the kids.
Highland coach Joel Hawkins
Beyer is at or near the top of the pitching rotation, joined by Dickman, Smith, Green, McGill and Welz.
“We feel like we’ve got seven or eight arms that are good, but don’t know who’s No. 1,” Hawkins said. “We don’t come in with a real clear idea on how good guys are.”
Mississippi Valley Conference rival Waterloo is drawing a lot of hype and early attention with its talent-laden roster, but also was eliminated from the playoffs by Highland in the sectional last season.
The teams figure to continue their intense rivalry once again this spring.
Hawkins said the overriding memory of the state championship run was his team’s ability to come from behind. The Bulldogs trailed in all but a handful of their late playoffs games, including the state title game.
“The games were full of drama,” Hawkins said. “This was totally different than any other experience that we’ve had because there were a lot of things that had to go right. It speaks a lot to the kids. These kids have seen what needs to be done to get through there and the kind of preparation that goes with that.
“They’re excited about getting out there and trying it again.”
Norm Sanders: 618-239-2454, @NormSanders
This story was originally published March 27, 2016 at 8:46 AM with the headline "After winning its second state title, Highland baseball team excited for another shot."