Five Players to Watch
Zach Beckner, Sr., Lebanon - Kent State-bound shortstop led Warriors in average (.438), hits (35), runs (28), homers 94), RBI (25) and stolen bases (13), extra-base hits (11).
Travis Lakins, Sr., Franklin - The SWBL Southwestern Division player of the year and Ohio State recruit used high 80s fastball and strong breaking ball for 10-3 record, 1.35 ERA and 100 strikeouts; hit .411 with 15 doubles.
Jonathan Stone, Sr., Middletown: Injury derailed promising season for catcher that included .344 average, 10 RBI, three homers in 12 games.
Alec Turner, Jr., Carlisle - Third baseman hit .487 with 58 RBI, 17 doubles, six homers and 38 runs scored for Indians.
Andrew Zellner, Sr., Valley View – Cincinnati signee hit .426 with 12 RBI and 17 stolen bases for Spartans.
Five Don’t Miss Games
Madison at Carlisle, April 8 – The first of two showdowns that could determine the division winner in the SWBL.
Madison at Waynesville, April 15 – Mohawks travel to Waynesville in key SWBL contest.
Fenwick vs. Badin, April 15 – key cross over game in the GCL.
Valley View at Franklin, April 19 – SWBL showdown could feature showcase of Lakins vs. Zellner.
Middletown vs. Hamilton, April 29 – Middies host Big Blue in rival game.
Carlisle High School was flying high in 2012.
The baseball team had captured the Southwestern Buckeye League title, ended the season ranked first in the state and had a prolific offensive spring.
Then, it all came to a screeching halt.
Seventh-seeded Fenwick shocked the Indians 6-5 in the first round of the Division III tournament to close the year 24-3.
“Baseball can happen any given night,” Carlisle coach Chris Hawkins said. “It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, who you’ve beat you got to go out and play championship level baseball every night. We didn’t play terrible, we just didn’t finish.”
The one thing Hawkins noticed in the tournament loss was a little bit of a lack of killer instinct.
“I think it was an eye opener that it can end at any time,” Hawkins said. “You look at (Alex) Leach. He is one of the top two or three players to ever come out of Carlisle and boom, he’s done just like that.”
Leach, however, is the only one the Indians don’t have coming back.
Alec Turner, a second team All-Ohio selection, returns after hitting .487 with 58 RBI, Andrew Goodpaster (.494) and catcher Levi Boyer (.472) give the Indians solid offense again.
Goodpaster (6-1) and Josh Tarter (9-0) add solid pitching for Carlisle.
“We don’t have a one, we have a one-A and a one-B,” Hawkins said. “You are lucky any time you have guys up there that you can count on.”
To help avoid another tournament trap, Hawkins has beefed up the schedule to include bigger schools – such as Butler – to help the squad acclimate with playing against the best.
“We are playing some bigger teams and hope it will all pay off for us,” Hawkins said. “We just want to get out and play. We want to play championship level baseball every night out.”
For now, he’d settle on a nice spring day.
“It’s hard waiting on the weather,” Hawkins said. “It is tough hitting right now and we have a hard time battling the elements. All we can do is pitch and play defense well enough until the bats warm up.”
New face, same ace: It could be a good spring at Franklin High School.
Not only do the Wildcats welcome back Ohio State signee Travis Lakins (10-3 record, 1.35 ERA, 100 strikeouts), but they welcome home a new head coach.
Jake Long, the son of longtime Wildcat coach Doug, enters his first season as the helm after guiding Miamisburg the past four seasons.
Long will plenty of experience with him on the bench with the addition of long-time Miamisburg assistant, and Miamisburg Hall of Famer, Dan Mote.
Finally healthy: How good of a catcher is Middletown's Jonathon Stone?
Stone played just 12 games as a junior before being derailed by injuries, but was still selected to the All-Greater Miami Conference squad.
Healthy again, Stone looks to build on the .344 average, 10 RBIs, three homers he recorded prior to his injury.
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