Sports Reporter
WASHBURN — Victories have been difficult to come by in recent years for the Beaver varsity baseball team, and that trend is continuing this season as well.
WASHBURN FIRST BASEMAN Andrew McLaughlin gets ready to receive a throw as Ryan Campbell of GHCA scurries back to the base during last Tuesday’s doubleheader in Washburn.
Washburn dropped its first seven games of the season after Monday’s 29-1 loss to Madawaska, but with a roster that includes numerous inexperienced players, fifth-year coach Ben Goodwin is banking on improvement in the second half of the campaign as those players gain more time in the field.
Last year, Washburn’s struggles centered primarily around its defense. Of the 256 runs the team allowed, 152 were unearned. Also, the two pitchers who were able to hurl complete-game victories in 2011, Justin Howe and Salvatore Viola, graduated. Howe was also the team’s leading hitter with a .441 batting average.
Still Goodwin said overall pitching should be better this season, led by a pair of younger players in sophomore Nick Bragg and freshman Keagan Page.
“Their mechanics are pretty sound and they should be our top two hurlers,” Goodwin said, adding Bragg throws a knuckle ball that “danced nicely during the preseason.”
Bragg is also the leading returning hitter, having possessed a .405 batting average as a freshman.
Other members of this year’s team are seniors Kyle Hews and Kyle Huston; juniors Kyle McLaughlin, Jeremy Hartsgrove, Anthony Viola and Ethan Pendexter; sophomores Andrew McLaughlin, Mike Forand and Sean Sperrey; and freshmen Chandler Dobson and Anthony Singleterry.
Hillary Jackson and Jacob Reed are the team’s managers.
