Baseball Preview: Area dugouts welcome three new coaches, teams aiming high in 2023

Mar. 31—Baseball programs in Crawford County are a mixed bag in 2023.

Three teams are welcoming new coaches to the dugout while the other three will aim to build on success of last season.

All in all, the area returns an all-region player and pitcher of the year, as well as nine all-region selections.

Meadville

Meadville head coach Tony Tartaglione enters his third year leading the Bulldogs.

In 2021, the team finished 7-11 with a first-round playoff exit. Last year, the 'Dogs finished 11-9, won a playoff game and lost to eventual district champion Cathedral Prep in the District 10 Class 4A semifinal round.

What's in store for year three? Tartaglione wants to see improvement each game and players do the little things.

"I think the more the kids buy into what us coaches are selling, you're starting to see the progression. That's a big thing," Tartaglione said. "We have a lot of kids that have played together for a long time. They're building and hopefully we can keep rolling.

"We need to do the little things. The little things are a long story, but the kids know what the little things are."

The 2023 Bulldogs return nearly their entire starting lineup from last season. It's an experienced group that has seen a lot of playing time since Tartaglione took over.

This year's seniors are Brady Walker, Mason Walker, Gavin Beck, Owen Garvey, Jordan Young and Andre Jefferson. Beck was a first-team all-region selection last year. B. Walker and junior Rocco Tartaglione were both second-team all-region selections.

"The young team thing was over two years ago. Now, the kids know what they have to do," Tartaglione said. "Now they just have to go out there and do it and do what we work on."

B. Walker, M. Walker and Tartaglione are experienced pitchers. Freshman AJ Feleppa will see time on the mound as well.

"He (Feleppa) pounds the zone. This is a good freshmen class. They'll see some playing time," Tartaglione said. "The better they get the more games we play and can press these upperclassmen."

Conneaut

The Conneaut baseball team will be led by Adam Bronson this season.

Bronson is a 2011 Conneaut Lake High School graduate and is excited to see more time in the dugout. He is the head coach of the French Creek Valley American Legion team in the summer.

"I realized I needed baseball in my life on a more consistent basis — two months in the summer wasn't enough and I wanted to get more involved with my high school alma mater," Bronson said. "Last year is done and over with."

Conneaut's season was cut short in 2022. An undisclosed incident during the team's spring trip resulted in the suspension of 14 players and the coaching staff in late April. The team was 4-6 before the decision from the school board.

Bronson is eager to establish a winning culture at Conneaut.

"Of all teams that I've ever coached before, there have been two pillars of the program — attitude and effort. If we control our attitude and effort, establishing a winning and positive culture will come naturally. So far, the kids have been very self-governing and have shown an appetite to be winners," Bronson said. "I'm very fortunate to have the opportunity to coach these young men and can't wait to watch them grow together and find success."

On the mound this season, Bronson will lean on Dawson Thomas as the team's ace. Wyatt Kornman will be the No. 2 pitcher and freshman Alex Wilpula could see time on the mound too.

Bronson expects big things from his lineup of Gavin White, Ryan Herr, Ethan Stright, Greg Klink and Dan Bartholomew. Another freshman that could see time is Ashton Headley in the outfield.

"My expectations for year one are a region championship and a deep playoff run. I don't coach to just have fun and give back. I coach to cultivate genuine relationships in the community and to win championships," Bronson said. "There's no feeling like winning a championship and the community feeling that tangible accomplishment and sense of pride."

Saegertown

The Saegertown baseball program had a successful 2022 season. The Panthers won the Class 1A District 10 championship in an 11-1 effort against Kennedy Catholic.

Saegertown won a state playoff game before the Panthers were eliminated by DuBois Central Catholic in the state quarterfinal round. It was the last game for longtime head coach Scott Walters, as well as eight seniors, five of which were all-region selections.

This season, the Panthers will be led by Nick Leslie and will have a youthful lineup.

Leslie is entering his 12th season of coaching. He was an assistant at DuBois Area High School, Gannon University, a head coach at McDowell and was a volunteer assistant with Saegertown last season.

"Saegertown has a great baseball tradition and is supported extremely well by the community. It was an easy decision to buy into that culture and build upon what had been started," Leslie said. "Even though I'm newer to the area, I'm not new to the game. When the position opened, it was an easy decision to jump in and continue what coach Walters had been doing. Plus, we have an excellent group of coaches who stayed on to help."

Leading the charge this season will be Henry Shaffer. The senior committed to play baseball at Penn State Behrend in February and is the returning region player of the year and pitcher of the year in Region 3.

Leslie expects to lean on Shaffer's ability and experience this season.

"He's always been a leader, but in the past he's been able to do it with on-field play. This year he finds himself in a new role, as mentor," Leslie said. "The younger guys look up to him and it's going to be important he communicates and talks them through different situations that we are going to face through the season."

Also returning are Joe Grundy and Wyatt Burchill. Guys who will be in the mix to see significant playing time are Torre Mosbacher, Garrett Crawford, Jon Grundy, Gabriel Jordan and Connor Shaw.

The expectations this year are the same as last season.

"Each one of our student athletes are trying to get one percent better every day. It doesn't matter if we are practicing, playing or weightlifting. We are focused on improving our individual and team skills," Leslie said. "Add those one percents up over the course of the year and we will be much better at the end of the season than the beginning."

Cambridge Springs

Cambridge Springs will have a new head coach this season — Andrew Brown.

Brown will replace longtime head coach Brad Wheeler.

"This is my first varsity head coaching gig. I've been a position/hitting coach in the past, but never head coach. I've also coached my son in Little League and football as well."

The first-time head coach was eager to apply for the position because he cares about this group of players.

"I was drawn to this job because I care about these young men. I've known a lot of them since they were younger, through other coaching or some are friends with my son," Brown said. "I want to see them succeed and I believe they can. I also believe I have a chance to make them better baseball players and more importantly, help them grow as men."

Brown inherits a team that finished 8-8 last season and lost in the first round of the Class 2A district playoffs to Lakeview.

Three seniors from last year's team are gone including first-team all-region catcher Brock Cunningham.

The team returns first-team all-region selection Brady Jardina and second-team player Bryce Kania.

"We have a good amount of seniors and juniors this year and many returning players. Bryce and Brady are seniors and leaders of this team that are looking to build off last year," Brown said. "I think they'll both have great seasons."

Other players who saw a lot of action last season are Preston Gorton, Josh Gorton, Alex Doubet and Owen Riley.

"We have a lot of players that I think are going to have a great year and be vital to our success," Brown said. "We truly believe we can win a lot of games this year. I think we have the talent, we just need to gel as a team and work hard and the sky is the limit for us this year."

Cochranton

Cochranton had a young team last year and this year is no different.

The Cardinals graduated four seniors, including Wyatt Barzak, who made the all-region first-team as a shortstop and the second-team as a pitcher.

Last year's team finished 9-8 and lost to Kennedy Catholic in the first round of the Class 1A playoffs.

This season, there are three seniors and three juniors on the roster. Head coach Scott Barzak will look to a youthful roster to find his ace and offensive production.

"We have a lot of young guys. It's gonna be tough to replace Wyatt and the other three we lost because they were all starters and major contributors to our offense and defense," Barzak said. "The plan is to get some of these guys that pitched quite a bit last year going on the mound and hopefully some of these young guys can step up offensively."

Isaiah Long, a junior, will likely be the team's No. 1 pitcher. Freshman Walker Carroll will see time on the mound as well as sophomore Andrew Albert.

"Walker is a lefty and he's a pretty good pitcher. He plays a lot of travel ball," Barzak said. "I expect a lot out of him as a freshman."

Barzak expects two sophomores that saw significant action last season to step up and play big roles this year — Ben Field and Albert.

"I expect us to be competitive. Being so young and not really knowing what these guys have, especially early in the season, it's hard to say," Barzak said. "I think we could make the playoffs. It's hard to say with so many young kids if we'll be able to step up and get the job done or not."

Maplewood

The 2022 Maplewood Tigers finished the season 9-9, but had a win in the district playoffs before losing to Saegertown in the district semifinals.

Gone from that team are eight seniors, one of which was a second-team all-region player in Stuart Hochstetler. Despite the big loss in experience, Maplewood head coach Ken Smock is ready to pick up where the team left off last season.

"The foundation was set last year with how we finished," Smock said. "I have three seniors this year that are setting the tone and picking up where we left off last year."

The Tigers return second-team all-region infielder Jacob Woge. Also returning is catcher Ethan Peterson, who will also see time on the mound.

"He pitched last year too. Mainly our closer. It's in the same role this year, but there will be some games he has to start this year," Smock said. "He's gonna have to get out from behind the dish there."

The team's ace will be Landyn Reynolds, a sophomore. Reynolds pitched a complete game in the team's opener earlier this week.

"Landyn will be our ace. He was a freshman last year and got a lot of experience," Smock said. "He pitched in the semifinals at Slippery Rock last year."

Younger players on the roster Smock expects to see playing time this season are Elijah Hochstetler, Mitchell Potosky and Paul Hirosky.

"The expectation this season is to compete. We wanna pick up where we left off last year," Smock said. "They're working hard. I lost seniors, but I have a good group and I expect good things this year. We'll take one game at a time and compete."

Alex Topor can be reached at (814) 724-6370 or by email at atopor@meadvilletribune.com.