Trinity Lutheran's Chase Bode pitches to a Crothersville batter during the 2023 season.
Arv Koontz | The Tribune
One of the most important things to having a successful high school baseball team is a strong pitching staff, and Trinity Lutheran Coach Ben Kleber is excited to see what his pitchers can do this spring.
“We have a lot of experience back with seniors Peyton Pollert, Cowan Gross and Chase Bode, and we’ve got the two sophomores in Jackson Trueblood and Drake Goodpaster,” Kleber said. “We expect big things on the mound. We’ve got our pitchers prepared to come in when they need to and do their job.”
Junior Nathan Finke returns at catcher.
“He has come a long way in three years. He was a kid as a freshman who struggled to get the ball to second base,” Kleber said as he begins his sixth year as the Cougars’ head coach.
“In the scrimmage at Edinburgh the other night he threw out three kids trying to steal, so he’s made some nice adjustments. He’s been in the weight room, he’s gotten stronger, and he is a kid who just works year around on getting better.”
Bode will play a lot at first base, Levi Pottschmidt will be at second and Trueblood and Goodpaster will be back at shortstop and third base.
Heading up the outfielders will be Pollert, who returns in center field. Blaine Wehmiller will start in left and Kade Gillaspy and Gross will be in right field.
Kleber expects his four seniors to carry some big bats this spring.
“They’ve had a lot of high school at bats. This year we’ve worked more on approach and they seem ready to be able to swing the bat,” he said.
Also being counted on to produce at the plate is Trueblood, who hit over .300 last year and Goodpaster, who hit over .400 last spring.
The coach said he is looking for Gillaspy and Wehmiller to also come up with some big hits.
“We’re excited where our bats are at, but we’ve still got a long way to go.”
Kleber said he is excited about his starting unit.
“You’ve got those four seniors there who have started since they were freshmen. I know they are excited to get going here and excited to get a sectional championship.
“That’s always your goal when you start the year, something we fell short of last year,” losing to Rising Sun in the championship game at Shawe Memorial,” Kleber said. “I think that was a good experience for some of our younger guys getting to play in that situation.”
The Cougars were 13-16 last spring.
“I think we’ll be able to pitch and I think we’re going to be able to play good defense,” Kleber said. “We’ve got some guys in the outfield that can go chase it down, and that’s always good to have, and in the infield we have lot of experience back.”
He said freshmen Bode Brooks and Lincoln Huff could also help on the varsity in certain situations.
Kleber toughened up the schedule by adding New Albany, Bedford North Lawrence, and they still play Brownstown Central, Indianapolis Lutheran and Greenwood Christian.
There are 23 players on the roster, and Trinity will play 14 junior varsity games.