By John Miller (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Question marks surround the 2020 Hillcrest Hornets as they prepare for the upcoming baseball season. After finishing last year with a 10-13 record, including a 5-4 mark in the Ozark Conference, the program returns four starters and five lettermen but lacks experience on the mound heading into this spring.
“We have four or five very talented returners that will need to step up and play leadership roles,” noted 14th year coach Ryan Schaffitzel. “Our biggest concern is our lack of experience on the mound. We lost 160 innings of pitching to graduation. There are several guys who can fill these roles, but they are going to have to throw strikes to give our defense a chance.”
Last year’s team was senior heavy. Caden Morrow, Brock Schaffitzel, Carter Campbell, Caleb Wiseman, Jordan Wallace, and Grant Morris all led the Hornets in 2019 as seniors. Campbell is now playing juco ball for Three Rivers. Schaffitzel is at Drury, playing alongside his older brother, Brant. Wiseman went to Central Methodist, where he’ll compete at the NAIA level.
“We got a lot of great leadership from these seniors,” coach Schaffitzel recalled. “Even though we were three games under .500, we played several close games and had opportunities to win nearly every game. Our senior class was a good one and will be missed.”
With such a large group of leaders and key performers now gone, the Hornets will turn to their five returning lettermen to lead the way in 2020. This group includes seniors Austin Bonham, Garrett Cates, and Dean Phillips and juniors Avery Grant and Landon Clark.
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Bonham will lead from behind the plate, where he enters his third-year as a starter. He batted .328 last spring with five doubles, two homers, and 16 RBIs. For his efforts, he was selected Second Team All-Conference.
“Austin does an excellent job handling the pitchers and controlling the running game,” Schaffitzel noted. “He had an excellent offensive year last spring, leading us in several offensive categories. As one of the few returners with a lot of varsity experience, we will lean on him quite a bit this spring.”
Cates will play both infield and outfield for the Hornets this spring, offering versatility. He’ll look to build upon his 2019 season where he batted .271 with 19 total hits and nine RBIs.
“Garrett is very steady and leads quietly by example,” Schaffitzel said. “He is a good contact hitter who can spray the ball to all fields. We are counting on him to play a big role as a senior leader and expect big things from him both offensively and on the infield.”
Phillips is a defensive-minded outfielder who will also be needed to log innings on the mound this spring for the Hornets.
“Dean will play either center or left field this spring,” Schaffitzel said. “He has worked hard this offseason on his offense and has improved a great deal.”
Grant was a Second Team All-Conference infield selection last spring after batting .289 with 10 doubles, two triples, a home run, and 10 RBIs. Schaffitzel has high hopes for the junior this spring.
“Avery his probably the best athlete on the team and has tons of talent,” he said. “He works very hard on his game all year long. He has a lot of pop at the plate and an excellent arm. We will need him to have a big year for us if we are going to be successful this spring.”
Clark returns after missing part of the year last season with injury.
“He has a ton of ability,” Schaffitzel said. “We need Landon to put it all together for us this year, at the plate and in the field.”
Hillcrest will also depend largely on a group of newcomers that includes senior Chase Griesemer, junior Andrew Wood, junior Cooper Ryan, junior Gavin Davis, sophomore Jackson Hermann, and sophomore Kannon Brayfield.
Schaffitzel knows that the success of his team this spring will come down to the two most important facets of baseball: pitching and defense.
“Defensively, we will need to be solid because don’t have a lot of strikeout guys on the mound,” he said. “We have been preaching to our pitchers all offseason that if you throw strikes, you give us a chance. Offensively, we have a steady top-part of the order but have several roles that need to be filled in spots 5-9. There are 7-8 guys who will be competing for those spots. Those guys have talent but lack varsity experience.”
There are many questions surrounding the 2020 Hillcrest Hornets. If all those questions are answered in the right way, it could be an exciting spring for the program this spring.
