Orioles Look to Rebound after Last Season’s Sad Ending
Posted March 19, 2018
With the bases loaded, the tying run on first and two outs, a swinging strike three would end the game and give the Lennox Orioles their first loss of the season. Unfortunately, it meant no state tournament for the Orioles.
Like 2017, Lennox will be coached by Drew Sweeter in his second season as head coach with assistants being Johnny Mike Kirchner, Grant Sweeter and Tyler Lesinger, as well as pitching coach Robbie Sweeter
After the disappointing ending the 2017 high school season, the Orioles will look for a big bounce back. Losing multiple seniors including Brock Stien, Marshall McLaren, Braedon Wallenstein, and Devon Jongeling will be tough for the Orioles to find replacements for them.
“Losing senior experience is never easy to replace. The seniors last year had a remarkable season and they will be missed,” Drew Sweeter says. “However, we also return a lot of experience. We have a few juniors who will have two years of varsity experience.”
With a young team coming in this season, the Orioles will have a lot of potential that they haven’t seen in a while. They have 25 players and only four seniors and two sophomores making most of the players either Juniors or Freshmen.
“We have a few guys whose roles will be changed from role players to everyday starters. We have a talented group of players that all want to get better and help the team win,” Head Coach Sweeter says.
This season, the Orioles will travel out west before they get into the thick of the season. The Orioles travel to Rapid City to play two games on Saturday and one game on Sunday.
First Douglas and Lennox will play then the Orioles play Rapid City Steven’s, both of which are class A schools. Then Lennox will play Sunday afternoon against St. Thomas More before heading home.
“We are hopefully headed out to Rapid City to take on St. Thomas More who is usually one of the top teams in class B. Getting to face some good competition right off the bat should help us down the road,” Drew Sweeter says.
Lennox will be trying to battle one of the toughest regions in the state. They must play tough teams such as West Central, a state bound team last year, Sioux Falls Christian and Tea Area.
“Region 3 is going to be tough. West Central is always a team to beat. Hanson County has more experience and a great lefty pitcher. McCook Central and Sioux Falls Christian have a great group of players,” Drew Sweeter says.
The Orioles home opener is March 29th, vs last season’s defending state champions which is Dell Rapids. These two teams will make one interesting home opener for Lennox.
“It should be a great home opener! The defending champs have a few returning plays from last year’s team,” Coach Sweeter says. “It should be a great night for two top teams to battle it out.”
Five of the first six games for the Orioles are in Lennox and with the weather slowly warming up, the Orioles expect a lot of fans to come out and cheer.