2012 Mercer Island Varsity Baseball Preview

baseball has begun this week with great expectations for the season. Varsity, JV and C team rosters have been set and the preseason opens Saturday with a 3-team Jamboree at Woodinville HS against Interlake and Redmond high schools. The team also begins regular preseason games all next week against Garfield, Seattle Prep and Newport before traveling to Moses Lake for a double header on the March 17.

Season Outlook: With 11 players returning with some varsity experience, I feel really positive about our ability to compete at a high level. Max Dammeier and Hunter Goldberg will give us a chance to win every time they’re on the mound.  Between Isak Morris, Phil Pugel, Chris Lawler and Alex Himstead, we should have two or three solid starting pitchers and a quality reliever. Offensively, David Oppenheim will be a catalyst at the top of the line-up with his ability to get on base and run. 1^st Teamers Cam Ogard and Dammeier should provide some punch in the middle of our line up. Orehek, Himstead, and Holstead should put up some quality numbers as well and help keep our Runs Per Game average above 5-6.

As far as the league goes, Mt. Si has its top 3 pitchers back from last year’s state championship club so they should be a tough opponent. There are no easy wins in the KingCo 3A so we will have to play consistent defense and throw strikes if we expect to compete for another league title. Those two factors will be even more important this season with the new BBCOR bat regulations. I would expect to see some very close, low scoring games this year.

Returning All KingCo Players: 1^st Team: Max Dammeier, Sr-P/1B; Cam Ogard, Sr-C, 2^nd Team; David Oppenheim, Sr-OF. Honorable Mention: Nick Holstead, Sr-INF; Hunter Goldberg; Sr-P, Brian Higgins, Jr-UT.

Returning Varsity Players:  Phil Pugel, Sr-P/OF; Isak Morris, Jr-P/OF; Matt Orehek, Jr-INF; Alex Himstead, Jr-P/OF; Chris Lawler, So-INF/P.

Newcomers to Watch:  Mack Schlamp, Jr-UT; Steven Petrie, Jr-OF; Karsten Sherman, Jr-1B/P; Sean Casey, Jr-INF; Eric Kittilsby, Jr-P/OF; Jackson Richartz, Jr-P/INF; Keegan Ogard, So-C; Zach Rothenberg, So-UT.