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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (March 11, 2022)
PAGE B12, KEIZERTIMES, MARCH 11, 2022 McNary baseball turns to seniors to lead By JEREMY McDONALD For the Keizertimes One thing we know about baseball: pitching is a crucial part of the game. And for the McNary Celtics this spring, they’ll have a nice little bullpen to go to once the game starts on March 16 at Lakeridge. Eben Meyer, Logan Ready, Hayden Kaiser, Jake Allen, Carter Hawley all saw varsity pitching experience, accruing about 100 innings between them enter- ing this season coming off the Celtics 12-8 spring season this past year. In addition to the five pitchers, head coach Larry Keeker is expecting sophomore Trevor Ratliff, junior Anthony Cepeda and freshman Jordan Araiza to add depth to the rotation. All in expec- tation to competing a tough Mountain Valley Conference with the likes of West Salem, Sprague, Mountain View and Bend this upcoming seasoan. “Our league is good and not just our teams in town, it’s also the Bend schools… it’s going to be a good experience for us. It’s going to be a battle every game, for every team,” Keeker describes. “So, it’ll be interesting to see how everything plays out.” This senior class, said Keeker, is McNary meets as a team prior to the start of the March 7 practice at McNary High School. talented. He knew that coming into McNary four years ago. Pointing towards Ready, Meyer, Kaiser, Zane Aicher, Gunner Smedema and Quinn Bach to be their ‘sta- ple’ of their program. They bring in a lot of baseball experi- ence into the program and will be looked to be the trend setters as they enter this season. “If you just start with the core senior class, that’s going to be…they’re going to be the staple of our team in terms of lead- ership,” Keeker said. “Setting the standard of how we practice and how we play, what our culture is going to be. It’s all going to start with those six seniors. There’s no doubt about it.” But here’s the trick. How can they con- vey that leadership? Yes, they know the standard and the expectations, but they have to learn how to be the leaders they and Keeker are expecting of them this spring. It is something he’s gone over a few times with his senior leaders going into the second week of the season. “I’ve already discussed this with our senior class. They know the standard that I expect, however, they never really had guys in front of them to show them how to Photo by JEREMY MCDONALD for the Keizertimes
