After a long wait and rigorous tryouts, the baseball season is finally upon Homestead. The boys baseball team will open the season with a doubleheader on Saturday, May 23 at Waukesha West High School.

The state runner-ups from last year are ready to return to the diamond even with the loss of nine seniors. With seven returning varsity players, the team is confident in its ability to compete with the best.

West Allis Hale will be the boys’ first matchup of the day, followed by what is sure to be a competitive game against Waukesha West. “The 2015 season is off to a very good start.  I have been very impressed with the hard work ethic that our players display everyday in practice.  We will need some players to step up and perform well at the varsity level as we lost five talented starters from last season,” Coach Dan Juedes said.

This team has a lot of talent and the potential to compete with the top teams in the state. There are still a few questions with the lineup, but after the first couple of games, those should work themselves out. After losing senior catcher Luke Lebesch last year, the team is expecting Brooks Ralph, junior, to step up and fill that position.

The focus for the first practices of the season has been on fundamentals of the game, bunting and fielding. Coach Millard wants the team to focus on hitting for contact and not just swinging for the fences every time, so he emphasizes the importance of bunting. The Highlanders will focus on improving their offense all season.

Last year’s state runner-up team was strong in the area of hitting; losing the seniors took away a lot of that power for the offense. “This year we have to rely on our pitching and defense. We have returning players and a lot of solid first year guys who will be able to fill those spots nicely,” Trevor Cho, senior, said.

In the conference, Cedarburg, West Bend West and Whitefish Bay will be the toughest matchups for the Highlanders to overcome. With strong senior leaders on the team, the boys hope to win the conference and ultimately bring a state championship to Homestead. Mitch Sutton and Cho will both be continuing their baseball careers at the college level next year. Cho has committed to St. Cloud State University in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Sutton will be staying in Wisconsin to play at UW-Lacrosse.

According to Coach Juedes, his goals for the team are for them to love the game and be the best team they can possibly be. As for Cho, he hopes the team will win as many championship titles as possible for his senior season.
This weekend’s double header will be a good start for the team to be able to see how the team plays together and if the line-up is where it needs to be. “I think we’re all just really excited to get back out on the diamond and play some baseball,” Tyler Woldt, junior, said.