The Titans baseball team didn’t have the season it was hoping for, going 4-15 after several years of competing for the WPIAL title. This can be attributed due to the lack of returning Varsity talent. From their team last year the Titans only had two returning varsity players, meaning the majority of the team was getting their first taste of varsity baseball.

“Most of the players from last year had been either a four or a three year starter, so a lot of them had a lot of experience. A couple of these guys have never played varsity baseball before,” Coach Ben Yeckel said.

Even with Coach Yeckel knowing this, his expectations for the season remained the same as they have always been.

“My expectations are always high. I’ve never gone into a game thinking I was gonna lose,” Coach Yeckel said.

With that in mind the Titans definitely battled their way through their schedule facing some of the best pitching talent the area has to offer.

“When we started section play, we saw some really good pitchers, but that only helped us later on in the year. Getting used to seeing velocity. when a lot of these guys haven’t seen that kind of speed before,“ Coach Yeckel said.

Through the ups and downs of the season there were definitely times that the Titans played a full game and saw a spark of what they could be. Coach Yeckel recalled their first win of the season against Penn Hills as a complete game for the Titans when he saw how good his team could eventually be.

“Still have a lot of talent, but if you’ve never been in certain situations before, it’s hard to know how to react. We’ve got a lot of good experience in that sense,” Coach Yeckel said.

There were many exciting moments for the Titans including when they were in a slugfest with Fox Chapel and also Alderdice, and watching Luke Glaser hit for the cycle.

With the few returning varsity players, new players stepped up to take a leadership role like junior Chance Rajkowski, Evan Yeckel, Trey Kostorick, Colby Colamarino, and Luke Jarosinski all made big time impacts on the varsity team.

Next season the Titans will look to be much more of competitors with a more experienced team for the next year, they will still need people to step up and fill those varsity roles.

“I think what we’re gonna do is take, kind of, step back, focus on fundamentals in the offseason to provide a base and a foundation for what we want to accomplish next year,” Coach Yeckel said.