Mikes hope to continue winning tradition
Over the years, Carmichaels baseball has been one of the most successful and consistent programs in Greene County and the Mikes continued that success last season as the lone county squad to make the playoffs.
The Mikes registered a 10-6 overall record under Richard Krause and solidified themselves as the second place team in the section with a 6-4 mark.
Carmichaels, who lost eight key seniors from last year’s team, had their 2016 campaign come to an end with a hard-fought, first-round playoff defeat to Union.
“We have a lot of holes to fill from last year’s team,” Krause said. “We lost a lot of experience keys that knew how to handle playing varsity baseball and knew the system. We are looking for leaders now. This group we have now is a good group. They are hardworking and very respectful. They are upbeat and positive. We just need to know if they are ready and ready to step up into new roles on this team.”
Carmichaels has made the playoffs 18 of the last 19 years and has been in the postseason for the last 16 seasons.
Realignment affected the Mikes, as Carmichaels will be bumped up to Class AA and play in Section 1 with Bentworth, Beth-Center, Burgettstown, California, Chartiers-Houston, Frazier and Fort Cherry.
“This new section will be a challenge for us,” Krause expressed. “It’s going to be highly competitive and there’s no gimme games. We are playing a 14-game section schedule instead of a 10-game schedule, and that makes a difference. We have to be ready to play every day against some stiff competition.”
“I think it’s too early to tell who is going to be the favorite in this section. I have talked to a lot of coaches and I’ve been hearing good things about Char-Houston. Of course, California is always going to be California. We are very familiar with Bentworth and they are always well-coached.”
Offensively, the Mikes will try a different approach this year than in years past.
“We lost a lot of power from last year’s squad,” Krause expressed. “We don’t have a lot of thumpers in our line-up and I think we are lacking that gap-to-gap power. We have to be creative and score any way we can. We have to hit to contact and we can’t afford to give up at-bats.”
Carmichaels will be led on offense by two seniors, Joel Spishock and Cody Brown.
Sophomore Matthew Barrish will be the ace on a young staff.
“He’s our main guy,” Krause said. “He is so poised on the mound and he is a gamer. He is never overwhelmed or let the pressure get to him. Behind him is a lot of uncertainty on our pitching staff. We have a lot of kids, around six or seven, who can pitch. They just don’t have enough experience. We are trying to teach them how to pitch, not just how to throw out there.”
As it relates to the new pitching monitor rule, Krause said his team is prepared for the change.
“We always have our coaches keep pitch counts and I’m always on top of it when it comes to how many pitches a kid throws,” he said. “I like the new rule and I don’t think it will be a big deal. We can’t be too fine with our pitchers and we are just telling them to pitch like they normally would out there.”
Carmichaels opened the season Friday with a non-section victory against Jefferson-Morgan and will officially kick off section play on April 3 at home versus Bentworth.
“We have to fight through our youth,” Krause explained. “We have a lot of keys we have to do in order to be successful this season. We have to execute in all three phases of the game. We have to pitch consistently and hit in the clutch. We are optimistic because all of these kids work so hard.”