The Cardington-Lincoln baseball team is looking to improve on a 13-14 season in 2021, in which the Pirates went 5-9 in the Knox Morrow Athletic Conference, with Coach Ryan Goetzman saying despite the challenge of having a young squad, he feels they will be able to compete at a high level this spring.
“The upcoming challenges will be our youth,” Goetzman said. “I believe we can overcome that, but it will take some time and continually grow. Our expectations this season are to compete in the upper half of the KMAC and continually improve.”
While the team is young, Goetzman said the team is counting on quite a few returning players to step up this season and be great leaders on and off the field. He said that one of the Pirates' strengths will be that they work hard and grind through at bats, while also moving runners and playing the game right. He also said that the weakness of youth could be turned into a strength, albeit something the team will need to overcome to succeed.
In high school, Goetzman was a player for Mount Vernon and then went on to play a year of college baseball at Northwestern of Ohio. He went on to be an assistant coach for four years at Mount Vernon Nazarene University. While there he coached outfielder and Cardington alum Devin Pearl, who is having a solid career and is using his COVID-fifth year with the team. He said there are also a few players on the team who have the ability to play at a higher level, and that it will just take hard work and learning.
Goetzman said that he takes an aggressive approach when coaching his team and models his coaching philosophy after legendary Coach Keith Veale at MVNU. Veale is in the NAIA Hall of Fame Class of 2020 and has led the Cougars to a 1,068-551 record, nine conference titles, five National Christian College Athletic Association national championships and two berths in the NAIA World Series, while also being named NCCAA National Coach of the Year six times, according to the university website.
“My philosophy is being aggressive at the plate and on the basepaths,” Goetzman said. “We will do the best we can at putting pressure on other teams and let them make mistakes. Using small ball will be a big part of who we are.”
Cardington-Lincoln has plenty of history as a ballclub and is hoping to return to prominence this year after a sub-.500 season.
“We often discuss the ability of the program and the heights we can take it back to,” Goetzman said. "There is a State Championship in our program's history and not a lot of programs can say that. State Championship is the ultimate goal but I want the players to start by year in and year out competing for the KMAC title.”
The Pirates have started the season 2-3, with a 1-2 KMAC season. Their next game is away against Centerburg High School at 5:15 p.m. Wednesday, April 13.
