Battle Creek Lakeview Spartans
March 9, 2023
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2023 Spring Team Preview: Battle Creek Lakeview
BATTLE CREEK - State semifinalists a year ago, Battle Creek Lakeview is hoping to take the next step in 2023.
“We had a good regular season and got hot at the right time and were playing our best ball at the end of the year,” noted head coach Kyle Kracht, whose Spartans lost to Grosse Pointe North in the Division 1 semis to finish 29-8 for the season.
Kracht points to a number of strengths in looking at this year’s squad.
“We have a majority of our pitching staff back and every player in the middle of the field is returning,” explained Kracht, who was an assistant at Lakeview for 14 years starting in 2005 before taking over as head coach.
Now 98-43 in his coaching career, Kracht is looking to bring home a fourth state title at the school, the last coming in 2006.
Juniors Jake and Zach Kucharczyk return after big seasons at the plate in 2022 for the Spartans. Both hit .458 with Jake, a center fielder ranked eighth in the state among 2024 outfielders, driving in 37 runs and scoring 49, while Zach, the sixth-rated junior catcher in Michigan, plated 57 runs.
Six senior starters are also back including first baseman Jackson Haywood, a Kellogg commit who batted .381 with 45 RBIs. Another Kellogg signee returns in Jayden Miller, the ninth-ranked 2023 second baseman in the state who hit .417
First baseman Malachi Goss (.323), third baseman Cade Oxley (.293), shortstop Bryce Pane and pitcher Braydon Longnecker (.313) are others returning for their final year of high school.
Kooper Etheridge, now at Kellogg, is a key loss from a year ago after batting .477 with 38 RBIs while winning six of seven pitching decisions. DH Owen Baum also graduated after batting .283.
Haywood, the 26th-rated senior right-handed pitcher in Michigan, logged the most innings of returning pitchers for Lakeview, going 5-4 record with a 3.256 ERA in 43 innings on the mound. Goss was 5-0 with a 3.10 ERA in 38.1 frames, Jake Kucharczyk 2-1 with a 3.92 ERA in 25 innings, Miller 2-1 with a 2.40 ERA in 23.1 frames, Plane 2-1 with a 1.55 ERA in 18 innings, Longnecker 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA in 16.1 frames and Oxley 1-0 with a 1.13 ERA in 9.2 innings.
“The biggest strength that we have with this team is a team connection,” Kracht concluded. “This group really really enjoys each other on and off the field. This team bonding has really helped us during adverse times.”
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