Youth will be served with this year’s Goodrich varsity baseball team.
The Martians lost six seniors to graduation, and junior pitcher Basil Wilson moved to Georgia. This year, there will be only three seniors on the team, including Matt Hughes, who will transfer back to Goodrich in April after spending much of the year in Montana.
Hughes, who made second-team All-State in Division 3 last season, transferred to Montana during the summer and has attended school there for the 2005-06 school year.
Even though he will be back in Goodrich in time to graduate with the rest of his class, Coach Bob Foreback said there is a good chance Hughes will miss the season because of a broken collarbone he sustained around December or January.
‘It will be a pretty devastating loss for us,? Foreback said.
Also, for the first time in school history, there will be three freshmen on the team ? Caleb Jones, Steve Hughes and Jake Bourassa, dubbed by Foreback the ‘three amigos.?
In Foreback’s previous 11 seasons at the helm of the Martians? program, there have been a total of two freshmen who made the varsity team. However, he said the three freshman are talented and have earned the right to be on the varsity.
‘They’ve played a lot of baseball,? he said. ‘Their ability is there ? they’re three of the better players in the school.?
Last season, the Martians went 30-7, including a 16-0 record in Genesee Area Conference Red Division play, the first time in school history the Martians have gone undefeated in league play. They captured their fourth straight league championship in the process.
Goodrich has four returning all-league players from last season ? Hughes, Dusty Bourassa, Dom Rivera and Bennett Gillam.
The Martians will face some stiff competition in the GAC Red this season, as Foreback said Durand (whom he said has ‘two excellent pitchers?) and Mt. Morris will be the teams to watch in that division.
In addition to Hughes, the other returning seniors this year are Rivera and Weston Coleman. Rivera, a left-handed hitter, will play mostly in the outfield this season and bat near the top of the order. Foreback said Rivera will pitch on a limited basis due to arm trouble last season.
Meanwhile, Coleman was a utility player last season and is expected to fill that role again for the Martians. Foreback also said Coleman has above-average speed on the basepaths.
Another key returning Martian is sophomore Dusty Bourassa, who anchored the Martians? offense along with Matt Hughes last season. Bourassa will start at third base and see some time on the mound.
The other two returning Goodrich players are junior Gillam, who was the Martians? leadoff hitter last season, and sophomore Ty Purdy, who will be the team’s starting catcher.
Foreback said Purdy saw some quality time last season behind the plate, and is expected to also see time at first base and in the outfield in addition to his duties as the Martians? catcher.
As far as Gillam is concerned, Foreback said he is expected to again see plenty of time in the leadoff spot, and is a contender for the starting center field job, replacing the graduated Kirk Elsworth, who manned that spot for the past three seasons.
Making their way up from the junior varsity this season are infielder Eric VanDerkarr, first baseman Andy Krause, third baseman Robert Novak, shortstop Dan Johns, pitcher/third baseman Josh Johns, and pitcher Tom Holton. The three freshman ? Jones, Steve Hughes and Jake Bourassa ? will round out the squad.
Foreback said VanDerkarr has a broken leg and is expected to miss about the first week of the season.