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