NTL BASEBALL: WITH VETERAN SQUAD NEB HAS HIGH HOPES FOR 2024 (2024-03-22)

BY CHRIS MANNING
Northern Tier Sports Report
There’s a buzz at Northeast Bradford this spring as the Panthers are in a first for their program - defending a district title.

“I’m super excited,” said Dillon Donnelly. “ After our season last year we’re hoping for another great year. Everyone on the team is super excited this year.”

They had an up-and-down season last year but finished strong to get into districts, won the title, and then won their first round state game, too.

“We have all the confidence to expect to do it again,” Cayden McPherson said. “Obviously, Benton’s going to be tough again, because I don’t think they lost much, either, but we only Joe (Stanton). Joe was huge to the team, but we return a bunch of seniors that can all play, so we should be alright.”

One area they’re focusing on for improvement is at the plate. As a team last year they hit .220, a number that will need to go up if they’re going to compete for an NTL Small School title along with defending their district title.

“We’ve done a little bit of stuff in the offseason here, not necessarily guys, but even the coaching staff,” said coach Brian Salsman. “I’ve been talking with Brendan Hitchcok to help us to be better able to relay techniques, thoughts, whatever, that Brendan has to offer. He was a great hitter, and we’re trying to get the kids into that, as well.”

The players believe the added preseason focus will bring their bats around.

“We’re working the soft toss, we’re in the cage all the time, hopefully we can hit better as a team,” McPherson said. “Last year we just scratched runs together when we could and we’ve got to be a little better on that end.”

Clay Wiggins was their one hitter over .300 last year, and has been a stalwart in the line-up since his freshman year. 

They’re also an unusual team in that they have four lefties in the line-up, down from five a year ago, with McPherson, Donnelly, Wiggins, and Eli Stanton.

“Most teams don’t have very many lefties so it might be harder for their pitchers to pitch to lefties, so that might be an advantage to us,” Donnelly said.

They’re in good shape pitching wise as they bring back everybody, including their top two - Wiggins and Josh Stanton. 

“It’s always nice to have pitching, but we’re going to need some more arms, obviously, as those two guys can’t pitch every inning,” Salsman said.

He’s looking for Ethan Hunsinger and Gavin Puza to soak up some innings.

Behind the plate they need to replace their one loss, Joe Stanton.

“A big loss,” remarked Salsman. “He’s not just a catcher but also with his senior leadership. Our plan is to move Kohen Hugo, who played third base for us at the end of the year, move him to catcher. Andrew Beers has also come out for the first time since his freshman year, and he has a little bit of experience catching. We’ve just got to find where all the pieces fit.”

They’ll be chasing history again this season as they try for their first league title since 1967.

“That’s going to be big,” McPherson said about chasing that. “We’ve won our first district title every last y ear, so we’d like to win a league title and district title this year.”

They have to go through defending league champions Canton, along with stalwarts CV and Sayre, while facing an improved Williamson team.

“When Bill (Lutz) and I took over a couple years ago we kind of looked at this as being our year where we could do that,” Salsman explained. “We thought, maybe, last year but a little lack of experience might have caught up to us, but this year is what we’re really shooting for. I know that there are no givens, anybody can have a great game against you, you can have an off day.”

Still, after several seasons in the wilderness, NEB has something they haven’t had in a while - expectations.

“We know that we’ve got to come in and practice every day and work super hard,” Donnelly said. “We know no team is going to give us a win, we’ve got to come in and earn it.”

ROSTER (Grade) - Number

Kohen Hugo (10) - 1

Tyler Goodenow (10) - 2

Josh Stanton (12) - 3

Dillon Donnelly (12) - 5

Eli Stanton (10) - 6

Clay Wiggins (12) - 7

Tanner Judson (10) - 8

Gavin Puza (10) - 9

Ethan Hunsinger (11) - 10

Jaedon Puza (9) - 12

Ransomme Van Riper (10) - 13

Andrew Beers (12) - 14

Aaron Fassett (10) - 15

Carter Satterly (12) - 17

Cayden McPherson (12) - 18

Connor Johnson (11) - 24

SCHEDULE

Mar. 22 at Sayre, 4:30 p.m.

Mar. 26 at CV, 4:30 p.m.

Mar. 28 vs NEB, 4:30 p.m.

April 1 vs South Williamsport, 4:30 p.m.

April 5 vs Williamson, 4:30 p.m.

April 9 vs Towanda, 4:30 p.m.

April 12 vs NPM, 4:30 p.m.

April 13 at Muncy, 10 a.m.

April 15 at Millville, 4:30 p.m.

April 16 at Troy, 4:30 p.m.

April 19 vs Sayre, 4:30 p.m.

April 23 vs Cv, 4:30 p.m.

April 26 at NEB, 4:30 p.m.

April 30 vs Sullivan County, 4:30 p.m.

May 1 vs Troy, 4:30 p.m.

May 3 at Williamson, 4:30 p.m.

May 7 at Wellsboro, 4:30 p.m.

May 10 vs Wyalusing, 4:30 p.m.

May 13 at Montoursville, 4:30 p.m.

May 14 at Athens, 4:30 p.m.