The Western Nebraska Community College baseball team will have a good mix of freshmen and sophomores when they open up the season Friday in Garden City, Kansas.
In fact, WNCC coach Mike Jones, who is beginning his 16th as the head coach, said the players are anxious to get started.
"The guys are excited and want to get the season going," he said. "We don't know a lot about Garden City, but I do know they lost a lot of their starting players from last season."
WNCC, in the meantime, should have a good balance of players when they open the season against Garden City Community College Friday and Saturday. Both games will be available to watch on the Gamechanger.io application.
"We have experienced guys in our line up this year and we hope to use their experience to help manufacture runs," Jones said. "We are not a powerful line up but we have speed and should hit for a high average."
WNCC returns seven position players from last year's team and four pitchers. Alex Achtermann, from Aurora, Colorado, is a two-way player, playing third base while also seeing time on the mound.
The other six position players returning include outfielder Ty Benson of Scottsbluff, Infielder Ryan Grasser of Aurora, Colorado, outfielder Stuart Eurich of Elizabeth, Colorado, infielder Esai Hernandez of Gering, infielder Brandon Bachar of Russell, Kansas, and catcher Isaac Taylor of Cheyenne, Wyoming.
The returning pitchers include Zac Moran of Sydney, Australia; Nate Giefer of Loveland, Colorado; Lincoln Trujillo of Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Ian Fisher of Evanston, Wyoming.
Jones said while they have some sophomore throwers, the majority of the pitching staff will be newcomers.
"We will rely on some freshman pitchers," he said. "So it's important to play solid defense behind them and encourage them to overcome adversity."
Jones likes what he is seeing from four newcomers on the mound.
"Angel Cortes, Jacob Pekol, Claude Bova, and Alex Oehme have been good during pitchers workouts," he said. "We have depth within our pitching staff this year but we lack experience. I'm sure we will see our pitching staff develop throughout the season."
Cortes is a left-handed sophomore pitcher transfer from Miami, Florida, while Jacob Pekol is a right-handed pitcher from Parker, Colorado. Alex Oehme is a left-handed freshman from Perth, Australia, while Claude Bove is a right-handed freshman pitcher from Sydney, Australia.
The rest of the newcomers include infielders Cole Williams of Parker, Colorado, Brandan Maher of Westminster, Colorado, Lucas Piatchek of Aurora, Colorado, Brock Randels of Baldwin City, Kansas, Brevin Book of Gunnison, Colorado; outfielders Blake Horton of Windsor, Colorado, Harrison Yates of Laramie, Wyoming; catchers Cooper Buchhammer of Scottsbluff, Tyler Shubert of Windsor, Colorado, Ethan Howell of Loveland, Colorado; and pitchers Eddy Nordarse of Miami, Florida, Blake Slaymaker of Johnstown, Colorado, Nathanael Andresen of Gilbert, Arizona, Brevin Baessler of Severence, Colorado, Jacob Pekol of Parker, Colorado, Nate Kolb of Cloverdale, British Columbia, Devin Deboer of Littleton, Colorado, Damien Bauer of Denver, and Brent Barge of Gering.
For this team to be successful they will need to manufacture runs. Jones said this team should be able to accomplish that.
"To win this year will take timely hits with guys in scoring position. That will be important for this team," he said. "We should play a lot close games throughout the season so we won't need the big innings to win but smart at bats will be important."
After this weekend's contests, the Cougars will open up the home portion of their schedule when they host Miles Community College Feb. 18 and 19 at Cleveland Field in a non-Region IX conference contest.