Apr. 11—BIRD ISLAND — After sporting young squads the past couple seasons, the BOLD baseball team is hoping for an end to the growing pains.
The Warriors have four seniors back in the lineup from a squad that went 4-16 overall and 4-10 in the West Central Conference last season.
"We return several key players from the past two seasons for us," said BOLD head coach Brian Kingery, who is 214-113 going into his 14th season. He's joined on staff by Derek Falnn and Trent Athmann.
Kingery continued: "Our pitching should take a step forward this season and our lineup should be better top to bottom. With returning several starters from our infield, we are hoping to cut back on the amount of errors we have."
The Warriors' four returning seniors are Daylen Weber, Jonah Walton, Owen Flann and Jack Kaiser. Weber is a pitcher/shortstop. Walton is a middle infielder and will also pitch. Flann plays outfield and pitcher. Kaiser is penciled in at third base.
Junior Emmitt Flann is also back and is slated to play at first base. He'll be joined by sophomore Nolan Braulick, who'll play both middle infielder and pitcher.
BOLD has four junior outfielders vying for playing time with Trey Zammeron, Jason Amberg, Brody Beckler and Kole Uhlenkamp.
Other players to keep an eye on, according to Kingery, are sophomore first baseman Jacob O'Halloran, freshman catcher Colton Baumgartner and freshman outfielder Marcus Benson.
"Our conference and section are very tough," Kingery said, "but we are hoping to be more competitive."
