The start of spring can mean many different things: it can mean that the school year is coming to an end or that warmer temperatures are on the horizon. However, for a group of young men at Loy Norrix, it’s the start of a pivotal season for their baseball team.

Last season, the baseball team finished just under .500 for their record, meaning they lost more games than they won. Since last season’s varsity team was made up of mainly sophomores and juniors, they are all returning for this season. 

Senior Sam Davis, who played shortstop last season, is very excited for the potential this team has.

“I think we have the potential to be really competitive in our conference Southwest Michigan Athletic Conference (SMAC) this year,” said Davis. “We have eleven returning players from last year’s varsity team and even some new sophomores and freshmen to make an impact on our team.”

Davis was a starter last year and earned an all-conference honorable mention last season while having a batting average of .333. This season, he is hoping to earn a first team all-conference spot while having a batting average of .400.

While the varsity team may have had some struggles last year due to the team members being younger, they were able to get a year in of adapting to varsity and can now be more competitive this season.

Head Coach Zachary Rickli is confident that his players can grow from the lessons they learned from last season as sophomores and juniors.

“We knew last year was going to be rough with learning curves from the younger guys,” said Rickli. “This year is the year when all of our pieces can come together to take the next step and compete in our conference.”

Norrix has historically been bottom feeders in the SMAC when it comes to baseball, but Rickli and his team are confident that they have what it takes to make it back to relevance in both their conference and even their district.

Ever since Rickli took over the baseball program three years ago, he has been implementing new ways to improve the baseball program. Some of these include more offseason training such as team weight lifting and batting practice. Rickli believes this will help prepare his team physically and bring them together as a family as well to help prepare players for their spring season.

“We like to get our hands back on our players as soon as fall to help get them active and knock off any rust they may have so that they are ready to compete come spring,” said Rickli.

With an abundance of returning players and hard work put in the offseason, the baseball team is primed for an exciting season that students can start looking forward to in the coming months.