Spring sports preview: Baseball

Head coach: Dave Ditlefsen (14th year)

Assistant coaches: John Qualls, Kevin Royall

2018 finish: 4-8 (8-9, sixth in Olympic League)

Top returning players: Johnnie Young (sr.), Joseph Oliver (sr.), Kyler Rollness (sr.), Silas Thomas (jr.), Michael Grubb (so.), Michael Young (so.)

Newcomers: Brandon Barnett (so.), Connor Bear (fr.), Hayden Eaton (so.), Zach McCracken (fr.), Lane Mote (so.), Austin Newton (so.), Caleb Pozernick (so.), Colten Reed (so.)

Key competition: North Kitsap, Port Angeles, Olympic

When Sequim High’s Wolves take to the baseball diamond this spring, more than half of their roster will be seeing their first meaningful varsity playing time.

But SHS head coach Dave Ditlefsen said that his squad of just four upperclassmen and nine sophomores and freshmen can hold their own.

Several of Sequim’s particularly strong sophomore class lettered in other sports, he noted, and several are products of the Sequim-based Olympic CrossCutters Baseball club.

“We’re starting to see that pay off,” Ditlefsen said during a preseason practice last week. “They’re not intimidated at the varsity level.”

Despite their youth, these Wolves should score plenty of runs, the Sequim coach said.

“We all see the balls jump off the bats at practice,” Ditlefsen said. “I think offensively we’ll be better than last year.”

Leading the way will be returner Johnnie Young, a senior and second team all-Olympic League player who led the team in batting (.354), on-base percentage (.467) and doubles (six), and was second on team in in runs (12) and steals (10) as a junior.

Young also will look to anchor a pitching squad that saw ace Ian Miller graduate. Young led the team with a 3.15 ERA (among those with at least 10 innings) and wins (two), and was second on the team in innings (26.67) and strikeouts (27).

Ditlefsen said the Wolves’ pitching staff behind Young should be solid, including Silas Thomas, Young’s brother Michael, Caleb Pozernick, Brandon Barnett, Joey Oliver and Hayden Eaton.

“Pitching-wise we’re a little deeper (than 2018),” Ditlefsen said.

Backing up Wolves’ hurlers is an infield with returners Oliver (third base), Michael Young (shortstop) and Michael Grubb (second base), plus Young, Pozernick or Barnett at first base.

Grubb paced last year’s team in RBIs (15) while Michael Young led the team with 11 steals.

Sequim’s starting catcher is Zach McCracken, a ninth-grader with plenty of pre-prep baseball experience behind the plate, Ditlefsen said.

Patrolling the outfield will be Thomas in right field, Eaton in center and either Kyler Rollness or Austin Newton in left.

Sequim’s senior class of Johnnie Young, Oliver and Rollness provide leadership this spring, Ditlefsen said.

“(The) seniors have been fantastic,” he said. “Our seniors are excited to see the talent coming up behind them.”

Sequim lost eight players to graduation, including the second team All-Olympic League Miller, Ryan Clark and Cameron Welcher.

Defending league champ Port Angeles and North Kitsap, last season’s runner-up, look like the teams to beat in the Olympic League, Ditlefsen said, but that “three through seven, it’s wide open.”