Many of the seniors on the 2016 edition of Medical Lake’s baseball team earned their first playing time when the Cardinals’ 2013 team advanced to the round of eight in the state 1A playoffs.
ML head coach Kerry Kelly thinks those years of experience are going to play significant dividends for his team that looks to turn around a 9-14 overall record and a 6-8 mark in Northeast A League play where the Cards finished fifth.
Seniors Cory Wagner, Brayden Hale, Tristin Keith, Jayln Musser and Tyler Munden all played varied time with the team the went 20-4 and that experience, Kelly thinks, will transcend to younger players.
“I really like the chemistry, the attitude,” Kelly said. “That have a lot of fun but they also work hard.”
Wagner, a four-year starter will be a captain of the 2016 team, and as usual play in a variety of spots, pitching and in the infield.
Cole Soliday is another senior who has played three seasons in Medical Lake and will pitch and play first base.
Soliday and Wagner are making the speedy adjustment from basketball, where they played in the state 1A tournament and finished seventh. “That group who played basketball, with that success, they are coming into baseball hungry,” Kelly said. “They’re fired up, there’s nothing I need to say to motivate them.”
A group of juniors are part of a varsity squad that numbers about a dozen, depending on how players move to and from junior varsity.
“Tyler Edison is a kid we brought up halfway through last year,” Kelly said. “It looks like he’s really going to compete for an infield position.”
Dylan Vercoe is another returnee who will play infield and Philip Murrey will pitch and catch. Catcher Ben Evans is the lone sophomore. Others on the roster include Kyle Thompson, a pitcher/infielder
“Our numbers are about the same, we have about 30,” Kelly said. “I’d like to have about 40, but we’re not going to make that.” That’s varsity and junior varsity, he said. “It puts us on the cusp of almost having a C-squad.”
Normally Medical Lake mixes up positions with kids playing in multiple spots, sometimes in the same inning. But that might change this spring as Kelly said there are some players who will have dedicated positions.
“We have some dedicated outfielders,” Kelly said. “We have more balance that way so that I won’t be making a pitching change and move five guys. Maybe we’ll limit that to two or three moves.”
Still, every kid, despite maybe being slotted for the outfield, has also taken ground balls so that they can do infield duty as well. “You never know,” Kelly said. “They’ve really honed in on the skill set they need for their position.”
“Freeman will be tough as they always are, Lakeside will play us tough,” he added. “This league, you just never know but I think we’re one of the teams, should we play up to our potential, be right in the mix.”
Kelly thinks Medical Lake has an opportunity to be pretty good.
The Cardinals opened play with a series of nonleague contests, at home with Cheney this past Tuesday, at Davenport today at 2 p.m. and hosting St. Maries Saturday at noon.
Medical Lake’s Holliday Field received some spiffing up with the addition of about 4,000 cardinal-red slats in the outfield fence. “We have one great ballpark,” Kelly said.
Cardinal Baseball 2016 Roster
No. Name Pos.
1 Cole Soliday 1-B-PITCH
2 Cory Wagner PITCH-INF
3 Dylan Vercoe INF
4 Tyler Munden INF
5 Tristin Keith OF
6 Justin Parker OF-CATCH
8 Trevor Griffey OF
9 Kyle Thompson INF-PITCH
10 Jayln Musser OF
11 Brayden Hale PITCH-INF
13 Ben Evans CATCHER
14 Tyler Edison INF
15 Philip Murrey PIT-CATCH
Head Coach: Kerry Kelly
Asst. Coach: Rob Beamer
Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaneyatcheneyfreepress.com.
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