With seven starters returning, the Cardington-Lincoln Pirates are looking to move up the baseball ladder in the conference standings this season.
The past two seasons have seen the Pirates finish in the bottom half of the standings, and coach Ryan Goetzman wants to improve upon that. Last year, the Pirates just missed the chance to end above .500, going 13-14 overall with a long playoff run, and 5-7 in the Knox Morrow Athletic Conference (KMAC).
“We lost two starters from that team – second team all-KMAC and Central District outfielder-pitcher Nate Hickman, and honorable mention Central District infielder-outiflelder-pitcher Joe Denney. Our challenges are to fill those two’s shoes,” Goetzman told the Mount Vernon News.
Dealing with that loss, a strong base of returning starters might be an advantage that could push the Pirates up in the KMAC.
“We are counting on all seven returners to step up and compete at a high level this year,” Goetzman added.
Key returners include Dillon Minturn, Wyatt Wade and AJ Hall, three players who peppered the leaderboard in some offensive categories last year, opening the door for them to fill the void created by the departures of Hickman and Denney.
“Both of those young men brought a lot to the table and were incredible leaders,” Goetzman said.
That said, Minturn and Wade, who both were named all-conference players a year ago, and Hall bring the Pirates some offensive punch.
Minturn posted a .551 slugging percentage, ranking him ninth in the conference. Wade and Hall were part of last year’s hit parade, stroking batting averages of .479 and .430, respectively, placing each of them in the top 10 in the KMAC. They were second and third in the conference for total hits, with 35 for Wade and 34 for Hall. Milburn came in tied for 10th in that category with 28 hits.
The Pirates open with an away game March 17 at Marion Harding. The home opener will be March 20, when they host Utica. Conference play kicks off a week later.
One C-L objective is to compete at the top of the KMAC, Goetzman said, and repeat last year’s run to the district title game.
Goetzman has roots in the area, playing high school baseball for Mount Vernon before competing collegiately at Northwestern of Ohio. He broke into coaching as an assistant at Mount Vernon Nazarene University.
“I was beyond lucky to coach under Keith Veale for four years at MVNU, where I learned a lot about the game of baseball and life,” Goetzman said. “This is where I mold my program and philosophy from.”
That philosophy means the Pirates look to continue being aggressive at the plate and on the basepaths.
Ultimately, Goetzman said, he’d like to restore Cardington-Lincoln to the days when the team shined on the diamond.
“We do have a lot of baseball tradition here, including a state title,” the coach said. “A lot of what we bring up is that the biggest goal a program can set for itself has been done here at Cardington and not a lot of schools get to say that.”
