As the baseball season starts to heat up, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the team has the capability to have a great year and expand on last season’s eight wins. Two years ago, the majority of the current varsity players made up a JV team that posted a 12-2 record and was one of the county’s top teams. While varsity was mediocre or worse the past few seasons, the team finally has the ability to live up to their Walter Johnson namesake.

The team’s strength lies in their pitching depth and defensive prowess. Senior Carl Yaffe and junior Robin Mowatt are expected to anchor and provide standout pitching. And along with juniors Aaron Weiss-Rice, Mac Gill, Reid Litowitz and Sam Coe, the pitching staff has great depth from top to bottom.

“We’ve got six guys that I think are pretty good pitchers,” said coach Kim Ahearn.

Against back-to-back state champion Sherwood on March 20, the team opened the season with a disappointing 7-1 loss in which Yaffe gave up a two-run homerun and the team committed multiple costly errors. Offensively, they looked a lot better than the score would indicate, hitting many balls deep into the outfield.

Despite an off game, all other indicators point to the game being an anomaly. The team came back with a victory at Northwood on March 23 by a score of 8-3, showing that they can have an excellent season and possibly make a run in the playoffs.

“We had a rough loss opening game against the back-to-back state champions Sherwood, but we still have a lot of confidence in our team, said senior third baseman Eric Paul.

The team prepared for the season by working hard to improve on some of the problems last year’s team had.

“Last year we lacked power, but we’ve been working during the offseason in the weightroom and it’s been showing in our games that we‘ve been hitting very hard lately,” said Paul.

While the team has high expectations, they remain focused and diligent in their pursuit of a good season.

“Potentially, we’re really good, but potential is basically a wish list,” said Ahearn. “But we do have some really good baseball players. And we have the ability to do really well.”