Rudyard Railroaders
March 9, 2023
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2023 Spring Team Preview: Rudyard
RUDYARD - Athletic success has been at an all-time high at Rudyard High School of late and the 2023 baseball team is looking to keep the trend going.
Division 4 state semifinalists a year ago, losing to eventual state champion Riverview Gabriel Richard, the Bulldogs are hoping to match that - or better - in the upcoming campaign.
“They know how to win,” noted head coach Billy Mitchell about the current group of Bulldogs. “If you look at their record in all sports, they just know how to win. The juniors went to the Final 4 in basketball as freshmen and the juniors went to the Final 4 in football as sophomores.
“They’re constantly working,” Mitchell continued. “The moment is not too big with this group.”
Four seniors graduated from a 28-7 team a year ago that was rated as high as third in the MHSAA state poll, the highest ever for Rudyard. E.J. Suggitt, now playing baseball at Spring Arbor, and Tate Besteman, an all-state basketball standout currently playing at Mid-Michigan University, are the biggest losses according to Mitchell, who has large expectations about this year’s squad.
“Our goal is always to make it to Michigan State,” noted Mitchell, the third-year head coach at Rudyard who has been coaching for 24 years as well as 19 summers of American Legion baseball. “In order to get there we have to throw strikes and play defense. If we do that, I think we’re good enough offensively.”
Junior infielders Cam Peterson and Aiden Bickel were both second-team all-state a year ago and will anchor the left side of the infield with Peterson at third and Bickel at shortstop. Peterson batted .354 a year ago with nine doubles, 28 RBIs and 20 stolen bases while Bickel hit .324 with 29 steals.
Landen Mayer, another junior who batted .300 in 2022, will play second base and pitch with freshman Dalton Savoie, a utility player who could see time in the infield according to Mitchell, who in addition to coaching high school is the Michigan scout for Sault College in Ontario, a program in its second year of existence.
The open spot is at first where graduates Suggitt and Brett Mayer played last season.
Sophomore Tanner Baker, who hit .271 a year ago, will catch or play outfield with freshman Kyle Postma bringing potential behind the plate.
Eli Sprague, a .323 hitter in 2022 with 29 RBIs, will play center field with the junior also seeing time on the mound. Another 11th grader, Kallen Lawlor, will be in one outfield position while also providing depth at pitcher.
“Bickel may be the number one pitcher this year and he didn’t even pitch last year with shoulder issues,” Mitchell related. “Cam Peterson will also pitch.”
A year ago, Rudyard stole 213 bases and Mitchell expects that to be another strong point this season on a team “very junior and freshman heavy,” according to the head mentor. “It reminds me of the 2020-21 teams.”
That 2021 squad advanced to the regional finals and Mitchell sees similarities.
“This group is fun to be around,” explained Mitchell, who has four seniors on this year’s squad, Jesse Zeeryp, Dylan McMillan, Trevor Lamma and Caleb Charfield. “I hang around the football team and we all lift weights together. I also coach JV basketball and these are just good kids that are great in the community and good with little kids. It’s just fun to be around them.”
Mitchell points to Sault Ste Marie, a team Rudyard tied for second with in 2022, as the Big North Conference favorite this season with last year’s champion Cheboygan, a Division 2 team like Sault Ste Marie, another strong contender.
“Last year a turning point was when we split with Sault, losing the second game of a doubleheader 20-1 in the first week of May,” Mitchell reflected. “We challenged them after that and we could have gone either direction, but we never lost again until the state semifinals.”
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