Season Preview: Simley Baseball Team Looking to Boost Offensive Power This Spring

The Simley baseball team is hoping to show continued improvement in the competitive Classic Suburban Conference under third-year head coach Stanley Winnie. 

“Our hope is to be a .500 club,” Winnie said. “We were 5-16 last year, not the best record. We still have a very young team, but we have seven returning varsity players and five returning starters.”

Last spring, the Spartans lost three veteran players to graduation, all of whom will be tough to replace.

“We graduated Alex LaShomb, who was a five-year starter at the varsity level,” said Winnie. “He was honorable mention All-State and a Lions Club (All-Star Game) Player. Anytime you lose a catcher, he is the only one facing the field all the time, it can be a big loss. We lost our number one and number two pitchers, who also played second and shortstop for us, so we had some big losses up the middle. All three of them are playing college baseball.”

Key returning players

Winnie thinks that his team’s defense and camaraderie will be key for the team’s performance this season.

“The strength of our team will be fielding and player relationship and how they bond,” said Winnie. “We have seven returning players who played varsity and most of them were sophomores last year ... This will be [their] second year playing at the varsity level and they really, really liked each other and therefore are really supportive of one another.”

Winnie has high hopes for several returning players.

“Conner Lewis, a senior, will be our starting catcher,” said Winnie. “He played all nine positions last year. Logan Busch played JV, but played varsity late last year. I think that he will be a big impact player. He will be our starting first baseman and will also pitch. He is a lefthander.”

“We have a sophomore who will spending his third year of varsity, Brodie Schintz. He is a third baseman and pitcher. He will be the ace of our pitching staff this year.”

Winnie knows that the team needs to step on the offensive end, if they hope to reach their goals. 

“Our hitting has to improve,” said Winnie. “We hit .206 as a team last year.  Our team reduced our ERA by two runs a game, which is pretty decent. If you are in the fours as a pitching staff in high school with aluminum bats, I think is pretty decent. We just did not score runs. I think that our fielding will be sound. We’ll have decent pitching, so we just need to score runs, which means hitting has to improve.”

Conference outlook

The Classic Suburban Conference 2010 champion was St. Thomas with a 15-1 mark in conference play, three games ahead of second place Hill-Murray. Four teams won 10 or more games in conference action last year and Winnie expects most of the same teams to be tough competitors this year.

“I believe that it will be a three-way race,” said Winnie. “I believe that it will be Hill-Murray, Tartan and St. Thomas.”

Winnie said that the conference champions provide the league’s hardest road games. 

“St. Thomas is the toughest venue,” said Winnie. “They get pretty large family support and I’ll tell you, it is always windy out there. They get a lot of kids out to support their team, so right field can be nuts for right fielders.” 

Winnie feels that there is plenty of individual talent in the Classic Suburban Conference this season.

“(Hill-Murray pitcher) Robert Youngdahl is the one who really sticks out,” Winnie said. “He has a D1 scholarship to Kansas. There are four or five really good players, but he is the stud.”

Last season: 5-16
Conference record: 2-14 (tied for sixth place in Lake Conference)