Tigers ready to build on last season's success

Mar. 30—After an up-and-down regular season, the Lebanon baseball team found its groove at the end of last year, winning the sectional title and battling with Beech Grove in the regional.

With a good portion of that team back this year, the Tigers are aiming to surpass that success this year.

"We talked about it over the winter with the guys, and the first thing we have to do is make sure we take care of the daily stuff," Lebanon head coach Rick Cosgray said. "We understand that just because we won the sectional last year, it doesn't mean we are going to repeat or create a successful year. We have to focus on all the fundamentals right now. We want to compete for the conference and sectional championship, and if we are lucky enough to make it back to the regional, we want to compete better there."

Prior to spring break, Cosgray liked the effort he was seeing from the group.

The group can in motivated and focused, and has put in the work.

"We are banking on our senior leadership to lead us on the right path this year," Cosgray said. "We have six seniors that a contributed a lot at the varsity level over the past several years. We are counting on those veterans to lead us to a successful year."

Caleb Linton hit .375 last season, and had a 3.50 ERA on the mound, striking out 26 in 22 innings.

Corbin Wells hit .354 on the year, with 28 runs scored and 21 RBIs. He also had an ERA under 4 on the mound.

Cannon Morton hit .347 with six home runs and Gavin Haines batted .294 with four home runs.

"Gavin Haines will be a four-year letterwinner for us, and we expect him to show a lot of leadership from the catcher position," Cosgray said. "Caleb Linton is a lead by example guy. Cannon Morton and Jacob Susong have both stepped up and done a good job as well. I think collectively as a group, our seniors will do a great job leading us."

When looking at the strengths of the team, Cosgray said several things stand out.

It starts with the offense, which brings back a majority of the line-up that averaged nearly seven runs a game.

"We finished the year hitting pretty well, and a lot of our line-up is back," Cosgray said. "If the group stays withing themselves and a have a good approach, we have an opportunity to be a good offensive team. We have eight pitchers that we feel like we can put out there and compete. The balance between a decent pitching staff and hopefully a line-up that can produce runs will get us to the victories that we want."

The Tigers are scheduled to kick off the season next Friday against Pike.

While the weather hasn't always cooperated with the pre-season work, the Tigers have been focused on the basics.

"We've been doing a lot of carryover from our winter workouts — just the fundamentals of all areas," Cosgray said. "We are really trying to hone in on that and limiting mistakes, so when we get out there we aren't beating ourselves and are forcing opponents to beat us."

Will Willems is the Sports Editor of the Lebanon Reporter. Follow him on Twitter @Will_Willems.