“We will focus to win just one pitch at a time,” Tim Burris,
Bradford High baseball coach says about his young team’s upcoming
season.
The Owls return just one letterwinner for the 2006 season, Nick
Foster, who played in the final seven games of last season. Foster
is slated to play catcher, pitcher and infielder.
“We are extremely young this year after losing 12 seniors to
graduation,” Burris pointed out. “That does not discourage our
optimism and enthusiasm for the season. We have a great bunch of
hard workers who continue to get better each day.
“We anticipate that we’ll continue to grow both physically and
mentally as the year progresses,” he added. “Hopefully that will
translate into competitive games.”
Burris does expect Foster’s experience to help the Owls through
what may be a rebuilding year.
“His biggest strength is his defense behind the plate,” Burris
said. “Just by playing some games at the varsity level, his
experience should carry over, and other players can look up to him
for that.”
The Owls have a couple of other strengths they can look to in
the coming season.
“We have a hard working group of players eager to learn and
improve each day,” the coach noted.
Four players on the Owls roster will be competing on the varsity
and junior varsity team in the upcoming season, something Burris
believes is also a strength.
“As for the players playing both, they will fill in and chip in
any way they can, whether it be as a pinch runner, defensively or
laying a bunt down, just to help out the team in certain
situations,” he explained.
Junior Karl McCracken, and sophomores Kevin Pautler, Taylor
O’Brien and Garrett DeCasper will each see double duty.
Lack of experience at the varsity level is the Owls’ greatest
weakness.
“They’re young,” he said patiently.
Bradford finished up its 2005 season with a first-round District
9 Class AAA playoff loss to Punxsutawney. Despite posting a 13-7
record on the season, the loss was tough to swallow for Burris as
the Chucks scored all seven of their runs in one inning in a 7-5
victory over the Owls.
“We had high expectations going into the playoffs; it just goes
to show you, one bad inning and anything can happen,” Burris said
of the postseason experience.
However, comparing this year’s team to last year’s squad is
“like comparing apples and oranges,” according to Burris. “It’s
totally the opposite of what we had last year with the senior
leadership and veteran players. We’re just very young this
year.”
Rounding out this year’s roster are seniors Garett Brown, Matt
Hursh, Matt Willard and Tyler Guthrie; juniors, Alex Faucher and
Jim Milbrandt; sophomores, Ryan LaBrozzi, Mark Willard and Lewis
Keller (sophomore manager); and freshmen, Mike Pascarella and Louie
Jones.
Also on the junior varsity squad are sophomores Tyler Auteri and
Ian Clark and freshmen Cody Matzner, Tyler Grandy, Maverick Irwin,
Clayton Yohe, Casey Graffius, Pat Perschke, Ryan Marshall, Cory
Viola and Nate Rhodes.
“Every game (on the schedule) is gonna be a dog fight,” Burris
concluded. “We have to play up on our toes and not get back on our
heels.”
Bradford hosts Brockway to open the season Wednesday.
