Oak Park Baseball is starting back up with new hopes for a young team. The team had a 14-13 record last year, barely missing the playoffs. Coached by Head Coach Jeffrey Smith, the team hopes to make playoffs this year. Oak Park Baseball plays its first game of the season against St. Genevieve on Feb. 11. 

Smith, the baseball coach, discusses his hopes for the baseball season.

“We are excited for the upcoming season and the challenges ahead,” said Smith. “Our goal is the same as every season, work as hard as you can, support your teammates, get better every day, and enjoy the process along the way.”

Senior Jared Cornick discusses what will be needed to reach their goals.

“Play with passion, play with purpose, and play as a team. If we compete on everything this team has what it takes to make it deep into the playoffs. We have to stay true to what we preach in practice and let our play do the talking,” said Cornick.

The team lost quite a few players due to players graduating and transferring. Many younger players who have not played at the varsity level before will need to step up. One of these players is varsity freshman pitcher Jadon Holmes.

“We all gotta be locked in and do what we can to contribute to winning game after game after game. If we’re playing as I team I see this goal being very achievable,” said Holmes. 

One of the major themes that were talked about was the chemistry of the team last season. 

“Last year our team was so great because all of us had such great chemistry with one another. We went out there every day to compete and have fun and it worked well for us,” said varsity senior Landon Holmes.

Jadon and Landon Holmes are siblings playing on the same varsity team. Jadon is excited for the opportunity to play with his older brother.

“I couldn’t be more excited to be playing on the same field with him. Not many people get the opportunity to play with an older sibling so we gotta make the most of it,” said Jadon.

The team plays its first home league game against Camarillo on March 8. League games will be important to win for this team as they had just a 1-11 record in league the previous season.

A link to the team’s full schedule can be found here.