Zach Snep hopes he can help bring Whitko its first baseball sectional title.

SOUTH WHITLEY – The journey for a sectional championship has begun for the Whitko High School baseball team.

It was a tough loss to eventual sectional champion NorthWood that ended the season for Whitko last year but back-to-back 20-win campaigns and six returning starters give the Wildcats plenty to look forward to in 2015.

“The last two years we’ve lost some good players to graduation,” began Whitko head coach Erik Hisner. “But we have some young guys coming back and we have some potential there. As long as those guys can duplicate what they’ve done then I think we can be competitive again.”

Hisner, who is entering his ninth season at the helm for the Wildcats, has had the benefit of some great senior classes the past two years. 2015 is no exception as the Wildcats will be led by senior captains Tanner Hughes and Zach Snep.

Hughes and Snep will hold down right and center fields for the Wildcats, respectively. The two have enjoyed plenty of success over their time in the program and Hisner sees them both as big cornerstones for what the team wants to do this season.

“Both of those guys lettered and played major roles for us last year,” Hisner said of his seniors. “Zach Snep is a three-time first-team all-conference outfielder and Tanner Hughes came on late for us last year and led us in hitting in the sectional tournament. Tanner has also had a lot of success in football over the last three years as well. So, both of those guys know about success, winning and leading.”

With the inclusion of Snep (.364 batting average), the Wildcats will return three of their top five hitters from last season’s 20-10 team with Tanner Gaff (.346) and Garrett Smiley (.305).Helping boast the lineup on offense will be Landon Goff, Hunter Sroufe and, of course, Hughes.

The team is not worried about finding success offensively. Defensively, there are few concerns given the strong outfield presence of Hughes and Snep and the promising play of sophomore Alex Bechtold. In the infield there are just two returning starters in Sroufe (third) and Gaff (shortstop). Another sophomore, Drew Bradford, will start at second while other newcomers will split time in various positions when needed. Junior Garrett Cokl has started on the JV level the past two seasons and will start behind the plate for the Wildcats in 2015.

Pitching is the biggest concern for Whitko and with good reason. Gaff (8-5 in 2014) returns as the ace for the staff but there is not much experienced depth after that. Snep, Goff, Bradford, Sroufe, Zach Hewitt and Riley Anderson all are slated to see innings behind Gaff this season.

Though the team is replacing some important seniors from last year’s team, the goals remain the same in looking to win the Three Rivers Conference and sectional titles.

“In my time at Whitko, we’ve never been the favorite to win the conference or sectional,” Hisner states. “This year is no different. However, the great thing about baseball is that the most talented team doesn’t always win.

“If we develop the depth we need and find adequate replacements for the starters we lost to graduation, then we have the ability to compete with the favorites in our conference.”

Whitko will start its season Thursday at Fort Wayne South Side with first pitch slated for 5:00 p.m.

Rounding Out Area Teams

Hoping to compete right alongside the Wildcats in the TRC and sectional will be Tippecanoe Valley.

The Vikings lost their ace in Tanner Andrews, who is continuing his baseball career at Purdue University, but have several pieces returning to help make the transition easy for first-year head coach Justin Branock.

Valley will lean heavily on seniors Jared Littlejohn and Drake Hyden to keep the strong baseball tradition going in Akron. Eric Hammer will be another big returnee for the Vikings as well as he will see time at first base and on the mound.

Joining Valley and Whitko in that Sectional 21 field will be Wawasee. The Warriors are loaded down with returning talent as they will dress 13 seniors and four juniors on their varsity roster.

Brothers Nik and Drew Anderson will be key pieces along with Kurtis Liston and Brett Carson in a strong fielding unit for the Warriors. Wawasee will also make its name on offense as big bats Nate Prescott, Harrison Shortill and Gage Reinhard all return for Wawasee.

The key question for Wawasee and second-year head coach Brent Doty will be pitching. While the roster boasts several pitchers, few have varsity experience. Senior southpaw Aaron Voirol and junior RHP Lucas Garza will be two players seeing a lot of time on the mound for the Warriors as they stride for titles in the sectional as well as the Northern Lakes Conference.

The Warsaw Tigers hope to be right in the race for the NLC crown this season as well. The Tigers finished 6-8 in NLC play last year but were able to make a run to the sectional championship before losing to Concord 2-1 in the title tilt.

Warsaw will return several players to its 2015 roster that will be key for the Tigers finding success.

The Triton baseball team will look to improve upon an 11-15 2014 season when it opens its season later this week. The Trojans won six games in the Northern State Conference last season before being eliminated in the opening round of the sectional by South Central.

This season the Trojans will lean heavily on Gabe McPherson and Landon Kaufman, both of which were named to the all-NSC team last year.