by Devan Matthews

Correspondent

Having lost nine seniors to graduation, the Maple Heights baseball team will be a bit young and inexperienced this season, at least at the beginning of the campaign.

But that doesn't deter second-year head coach Dan Kovalak, who welcomes back just two seniors. Those seniors are Marc Beechuck and Kevin Thomas. Beechuck will pitch and play shortstop, while Thomas will also pitch in addition to roaming center field.

Maple Heights finished the 2007 season with an overall record of 8-13, as well as a mark of 4-6 in the Lake Erie League.

Kovalak also has some players back who saw limited action at the varsity level last year. Those players include sophomore Tim Ciccarello (catcher), senior Abdul Ismael (first base and pitcher), junior Darius Carr (shortstop and second base) and Sean Williams (second base and pitcher).

The Mustangs will be counting upon a group of newcomers, as well, players who will need to make contributions throughout the season.

Among them are senior Mike Payne (first base), junior Chellie Colbert (outfield), freshman Clay Miller (third base) and freshman Bennie Payne (second base and catcher).

"We're definitely young, which certainly has its downfalls, but it also has its benefits," said Kovalak. "With this only being my second year, I can work with these guys a little more and get them up to speed on how I want them to play the game."

According to Kovalak, there are some question marks in the pitching department, mainly because so few of the pitchers threw at the varsity level last season.

"I've only seen two of these guys pitch against real teams," said Kovalak. "And we haven't been outside yet because of the weather. I've only seen them throw in the cage."

Kovalak has fewer doubts when it comes to the Mustangs' offensive potential. He believes they won't have trouble scoring runs.

"Offensively, we're going to hit the ball," he said. "We just have a few questions with some of the younger guys on the little things. With the seniors, you know that when you call on them to bunt or hit a fly ball with a guy on third base and one out, they can execute that. The younger guys don't have that experience yet. In terms of pure athleticism, though, we're beyond where we were last year."

Things have changed a bit in the Lake Erie League from the 2007 season, specifically re-alignment. Admiral King and Lorain Southview moved from the Erie Division to the Lake Division. (The Mustangs are in the Erie Division.)

Cleveland Heights, conversely, moved from the Lake to the Erie. That means that besides Cleveland Heights and Maple Heights, the other squads in the Erie Division are Shaw, Warrensville and Bedford.

The Mustangs will play each one of the teams in their division three times during the course of the campaign.

"That's going to cut down on our travel time," said Kovalak. "It takes a while to get to Admiral King and Southview."

Kovalak's varsity assistant coach is Rick Wakefield, who's new to the team. The junior varsity coach is Mike Mazurkiewicz.

Maple Heights is scheduled to open the new season April 4 at Keystone. On April 7, the Knights will travel to Shaw before hosting the Cardinals the following day.

E-mail: stowsports@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3113