Hornets Baseball Vied for SEC and District Titles

The Saline Hornets varsity baseball team had its share of adversity through the season, but they persevered and had a superb season that ended just short of the SEC and a district title. The Hornets smashed their way to a 24-7-2 record, but were unable to muster much offense against Bedford in the district title game.

“We battled through some adversity, losing a player and having some injuries that affected our lineup. I felt we did a good job fighting through that and had some guys fill in at some positions that they weren’t well suited to play; they did a good job nonetheless,” said head coach Scott Theisen.

The season started off wet. Really wet. The Tecumsehdouble header was rescheduled twice before they managed to get the games in. Practices were not much better, but the team worked hard and improved as the season progressed. They ended the regular season playing for the SEC Title in a double header against Ann Arbor Pioneer. As the season progressed, the Hornets showed they could not only hit, but hit with a purpose.

“Offensively, we learned a good approach at the plate, and not just being kids that swing to pull the ball.  They learned an approach that was based on the situation and the pitcher,” said Theisen.

Saline’s pitching exceeded what many thought it was capable of during the season. Pitching ahead in the count is one area that needs improvement, according to the coach, but overall, he was happy with how his pitching staff performed this year.

“I think we excelled in pitching out of some things that we got ourselves into.  Most of the time, we were able to leave some runners on base and make some pitches at critical times,” said Theisen.   

The team had a number of good players this season, including the player-voted Most Valuable Player Doug Mitchell. Mitchell was reliable to play almost every position on the field, including pitcher, and he did so while maintaining a batting average that stayed well above .400 throughout the season. Garrett Gordon and Nick Ostrander also had a plus-.400 averages for the season, as well as having the two highest RBI totals for the team. 

“Doug did a lot of things for us. He played a few different positions in the field and was pretty consistent at the plate,” said Theisen.