Blending the old with the new gives Pilgrims promise for the coming season

Story courtesy of The Pilot News

PLYMOUTH — Snow in March means that it is clearly baseball season in Indiana and fortunately, Mother Nature has been kinder in previous weeks to local teams to get out and knock the rust off.
Plymouth head coach Ryan Wolfe lost key components to last year’s team, Cam Shively (.370, 20 RBIs) and Matt Manzuk (.322, 18 RBIs) but has a lot to look forward to for the coming season with a crop of new talent to mix in with some veterans. Having a handful of summer games with the revived Post 27 team allowed him a preview of some of the pieces.
“It should be a fun year to finally coach all these guys after watching them come through,” said Wolfe. “Getting that legion team back up and seeing that camaraderie build during the summer and allowing us to play some guys at different positions that we might have foreseen them playing and just keep them together.”
Wolfe has some returning seniors that will add some leadership.
“Ryan Jolly has been with us for three years. He’s going to be a big part of what we want to do,” said Wolfe. “Caleb Bowling is another guy that had quite a few innings on the mound and we are looking for him to make that next step and get some more conference innings, he’s that kind of guy that could play a lot of different positions, move him around and that helps us out.”
“Cooper Grolich played JV last year but probably could have played some defense for us last year he’s improved a lot and looking for him to be somewhere in the lineup,” said Wolfe. “Evan Giese tore his ACL in the second game of the year and was looking to catch a lot for us last year but he’s back healthy. Tre Jordan played a little for us last year, he’s always had a great glove at first and I think he’s gotten some things figured out at the plate.”
Some younger players also made their presence known a year ago.
“Preston Wolfe (5-1, 2.10 ERA) had a really good year on the mound last year,” said Wolfe. “He hurt his wrist and only got 16 at-bats so we are looking forward to getting him back offensively. Tre Delp played third most of the year. Malachi Sieh was our number one pitcher on the JV and he will likely play centerfield and pitch a lot for us. Kaden Milliser (.296, 16 RBIs) had a great year for us and we are looking for another good year out of him as well.”
“Aiden Landis is a kid that could help us in the middle infield, Nick Manzuk could see some time on the mound,” said Wolfe. “Parker Wolfe got some playing time last year and has gotten into the weight room and gotten bigger and stronger. Ethan Hall started some games for us behind the plate and he’s really worked hard and gotten stronger and more confident.”
“We have a well-rounded group, we are still relatively young but this group has played in a lot of competitive games in the past five to seven years together,” said Wolfe. “They will be ready to go.”
The name of the game is pitching and Wolfe has a talented group that has a big upside.
“This is probably the most pitchers in our program that I feel are able to get guys out,” said Wolfe. “But we have some guys right now that I feel might be ‘one time through the lineup’ guys until they get more confident in their pitch development and get some innings.”
“Preston (Wolfe) was pretty much lights out last year. He’s confident and that gives us a good solid number one,” he said. “A lot of the rest is unproven. I like where we are at. No matter who we put on the mound this year what I’m really excited about is the defense we can put behind them. It lets us say no free bases, let them hit the ball.”
“We may not have a lot of guys with ‘wipe out’ stuff but we have guys who can get ground balls and fly balls and we have a lot of guys with a lot of athleticism that can catch the ball.”
They will need all the pieces to come together as the non-conference schedule is tough enought with the NLC schedule presenting a challenge all its own.
“It’s never been easy,” said Wolfe. “You get asked who’s going to be good (in the NLC) and you just say ‘all of them’. Concord was really young last year but they were competitive. Warsaw is going to be really good. Northridge is always good. I don’t know if they will be as good, and the same with Mishawaka they lost a lot to graduation but they will still be good. I expect us to compete for a conference title. I don’t see why we can’t be in meaningful games at the end of the season. It’s going to take some work but these guys have been in competitive games and I think they are up for it.”