The Revere men’s baseball team is practicing weekly to get ready for the season and is hoping to obtain the Suburban League title.

This season, the baseball team lost the class of 2014 graduates, but they are hoping they can work through the loss of key players. Senior Sam Sustersic explained the differences between this season and the last.

“Last year we lost some key aspects of the team. Losing Nolan Dyko will hurt us because he was our number one pitcher. Then losing Chase Somple will hurt us because he was consistently on base. But, this year we return around six starters and three pitchers. So, we should be stable in the lineup. Certain players need to step up in order for us to win games,” Sustersic said.

Last season, the baseball team was close to moving on to Districts semi- finals, and the team hopes to challenge themselves for the league title. Coach Jason Cottrell explained how the team has been doing and how he expects the baseball team to perform.

“We’ve been in the middle, had a season where we battled injuries to eight out of our nine starters, and we’ve been really young. So hopefully this year, four years of experience will pay off. I expect us to compete in every game we play, work hard and show the character that is required to be a student athlete,” Cottrell said.

The baseball team is doing a number of activities to prepare for the season such as open cages where players can practice batting. Senior KJ Brzuziewski explained the team’s practice schedule and how they plan to prepare for the season.

“For the past two months, we’ve been in the weight room doing lifting and conditioning, and now we just started in the middle school actually hitting baseballs,” Brzuziewski said.

Since Nolan Dyko graduated, the baseball team is working to find a new pitcher. According to Cottrell, the team is looking for their pitching staff to step up and help out. Brzuziewski explained the struggle for a new pitcher.

“We should have a solid pitcher competition this year, and I hope to be the top one on it,” Brzuziewski said.

The baseball team plans to compete for the Suburban League title and work hard at each game. Senior Brady Tieland explained how the team will succeed this year.

“We are a promising team this year, bringing back some experienced players that are going to continue playing in college. It’s not something you see every day with high school programs,” Tieland said.

Many of the seniors on the baseball team plan to continue playing baseball in college. Brzuziewski will play baseball at Hiram College. Sustersic will attend the University of Dayton on an athletic scholarship, and Tieland will go to University of Mount Union next fall to continue playing baseball.

The men’s baseball team will have their first game on March 31 at Nordonia High School.