SARATOGA SPRINGS — Andy Cuthbertson, head coach for the last three years, has been physically and mentally preparing his boys for the season.
“I think last season we were pretty successful, we ended up losing in the sectional semi-final, 5-3 versus Shenendehowa and that was the third time we had played them during the season, so it was a tough loss for us. We had high expectations, but, we did have a pretty young squad last year so, we returned a majority of those guys back this year and we’re looking to do good things,” Cuthbertson said.
Key players include: center fielder Brian Hart, “he has big shoes to fill this season. He’s going to Marist on a full baseball scholarship,” Cuthbertson explained.
Brad Hipsley, shortstop, also going on a full baseball scholarship to Stonybrook.
“I think we’ve got a good and cohesive group with a lot of returners coming back and I think they already know how to play the game with each other. A couple of the guys are new to the squad this year and are very talented and will play key roles when asked,” he said.
His three starting pitchers include: Alex Henderson, Quinn Jones, and Nate Chudy. Henderson has accepted a verbal offer to Fordham University as a junior.
“We spent some time on mental training this year and one of the pieces that we’ve talked about is moving one domino at a time and I think that kids have grasped that concept. Usually when you ask a high school baseball team, ‘what’s your main goal for this season?’ The first thing they say is, ‘win at sectionals.’ So, we’ve broken that down to if you want to win a sectional title then you need to win an x number of games. We break it down to how every second of every practice and every game counts and how we can make those achievable goals,” Cuthbertson explained.
His favorite part of coaching is building the relationships with the kids and going through the journey of a season.
“At the end of the day we want them to be successful baseball players but more importantly, better quality young men and I think if we work toward building better quality young men then the winning will take care of itself,” he stated.
Team Headshots by PhotoandGraphic.com
