Author Spotlight
Ben Henschel
Varsity baseball lost senior leaders pitcher Luke Anderson and first baseman Henry Miller last year to college programs — Anderson to Missouri and Miller to Xavier. Seniors and underclassmen alike are working to replace the loss of talent with grit and acuity.
The Lancers have their first game on Tuesday, Mar. 22, and with new head coach Will Gorden at the helm, the East baseball team’s tone going into the spring season has changed from a more relaxed atmosphere to a more determined and serious outlook, according to senior pitcher Dalton Mall.
To Mall, the new more detail-oriented focus is pushing the team in the right direction.
“I love the amount of intensity and competitiveness that Gorden’s bringing,” Mall said. “We’re becoming more of a team than we were last year, more organized and natural.”
This intensity and competitiveness brought by Gorden is a byproduct of his experience coaching, including coaching in Asia for the MLB as the Head Coach of the Major League Development Center in Wuxi, China since 2015. He brings a fusion of different techniques he’d seen during his time coaching overseas.
“I’ve really just put in what I’ve learned from various coaches over there and my experience with them,” Gorden said.
Although a state championship is part of Gorden’s vision for the team, it’s not the main focus. Instead, he wants the team to improve one game at a time, focusing on their practices that day, how it will help tomorrow, and waiting until later in the year to worry about the postseason.
Gorden is also trying to build the prestige and respect of the East baseball program, according to senior and catcher Jonah Watt.
“The whole mindset is now much more cultured than it was, focusing on this game rather than the whole season” Watt said. “Coach [Will] Gorden has been focusing on not just varsity, but developing all of the teams, kind of making East a baseball school, not just a school with baseball.”
With the key seniors moving on last year, who held much of the singular talent according to Watt, the team doesn’t have the ability to rely on individual players anymore. Through the changes in coaching and style, though, Watt sees an opportunity to showcase the team’s strong link and ability to play well together.
“I know that we don’t have the talent we’ve had,” Watt said. “But we have more chemistry this year than we’ve had in a long time, and with those guys we were relying on moving out, we’re going to go play a lot harder to keep the competition level up.”
Mall values this harder play and determination as well, especially after suffering an early season-ending injury last year. A rotator cuff strain forced him to watch the rest of the season from the dugout, and now Mall is looking to make a name for himself as not only a senior and someone who has something to prove.
“Last years injury, it really gives me a lot of inspiration in different ways, but most of all it makes me want to get out there and show everyone what I can do,” Mall said. “For the seniors, it’s our turn this year, and we’re going to make the most out of it.”
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