Spring is blooming and with the changing of the seasons, Cleveland baseball takes the field to play America’s pastime. The Warriors have high hopes for this as they head into preseason play. Preseason opponents are teams that are not in the PIL. Although the Warriors are not jockeying for a PIL championship, these early games are not without importance. The team finished 2-5 in the preseason.

This edition of the team is led by head coach Robbie Trebelhorn. On the player’s side Cray Hamilton and Colin Williams are the team’s only seniors, but the team has a bevy of juniors, six in total, such as Eli Morse. The team also has promising freshmen as well, such as Ethan Barfield. The team has a nice balance of experienced and young players.

According to Trebelhorn, the goal for the team this year is to “grow together as a team, build lasting friendships and win as many games as we can.” Hamilton simply put his team’s goal on the record: “Make playoffs.”

The Warriors have started out the season in a deficit, losing three of five games. They did have two impressive wins against South Albany and Newberg, trouncing both opponents 9-1. But the team has multiple hard losses in the last few weeks, losing 5-0 to Tualatin, 10-1 to Sunset and 11-1 to Mountain View. The team is ranked 41st in 6A.

But that is not to say that there have not been great individual contributions. Hamilton and Williams have both been hitting well, batting .480 and .320, respectively. Morse has been pitching well, earning 15 strikeouts.

“Poor weather has made it difficult to get reps outside. Our pitching has done well. We need more timely hitting and stringing a couple of hits together. I am confident we will start putting it together heading into league play,” Trebelhorn said.

Junior Noah Elkin said, “Considering there are only five returning varsity players, the team is doing better than expected.”

The Warriors look to improve their record heading into league play, with games against Grant, April 4 and 5, to kick off a monthlong series of games against PIL opponents.