HHS baseball preview
The Holton High School varsity baseball team started practicing Feb. 27 and already has six or seven outdoor practices under its belt.
HHS head baseball coach Joe Purcell is in his 17th season at the helm of the Wildcat baseball program. Returning assistant coaches are Don Brees and Ryan Noel.
The Wildcats will be looking to improve on the team’s 6-6 Big Seven League record from a year ago when the team finished 8-12 overall.
The Wildcats have five returning lettermen back from last year’s team and two of them are pitchers.
Senior pitchers Aaron Bain and Brady Forrester are back on the team as is senior catcher Brady Mulroy.
Also back in the outfield are senior centerfielder Parker Zeller and junior leftfielder Lawson Henry.
All together, coach Purcell said, there are 36 baseball players on the team, including a “nice group’’ of 16 freshmen players.
“I think we will have a balanced team,’’ Purcell said. “Generating runs will be a key for our success. We’’ have have some young kids making an impact in our lineup, too.’’
Purcell said Nemaha Central and Jefferson West are perennial good teams in the Big Seven. Royal Valley is replacing a lot of starters this season. This year will also mark the first year that Sabetha High School has fielded a baseball team. Next year, he said, Hiawatha will be adding a high school baseball team, too.
The biggest change to the high school baseball rules starting this season, Purcell said, involve mandatory days of rest for pitchers based on the number of pitches they throw in a game.
There is a 105 maximum pitch count per game, starting this season, but the biggest change is the number of days rest that is mandatory for any pitcher who pitches 76 to 105 pitches in a game, Purcell said. That total is four days of rest, meaning a pitcher could not pitch until the fifth day.
The other pitch count and corresponding days of rest are as follows – 1 to 30 pitches (0 days rest), 31 to 45 pitches (1 day rest), 46 to 60 pitches (2 days rest) and 61 to 75 pitches (3 days rest).
“With the number of doubleheaders we play and the frequency of rain outs in the spring, plus the junior varsity schedule we play, we are going to need as many pitchers as we can find,’’ Purcell said. “Most teams will be in the same boat. It’s going to add a lot more strategy to the game.’’
The Wildcats will open their season on Monday, March 27 at Silver Lake.
