SCHUYLERVILLE — Coach Darrin Renner has been head coach of the Schuylerville varsity baseball team for the last five years and has been coaching in the district for 16 years total, he is also the AP United States History teacher.
Last season, the Schuylerville Horses finished 15-6, with a tie in the Foothills Division against Queensbury.
“Although, they swept us, so they won the division and then went to the championship game, which they won,” Renner explained.
“From the team we had last year, we return with all but one player. We lost one senior named Brady Griffin and everybody else is back. So, we’re expecting a successful season this year. We were a young team last year but we’re an experienced team now with six seniors, and we’re really just going to try to piece it together and figure out where everybody can be the most effective in what position. That’s really a big part of our challenges this year is just figuring out how to put the best defensive and offensive team on the field,” Renner said, explaining the challenges they face this season.
This year, the team has a very young pitching staff. Two sophomores, Alex Vallee and Matt McCarthy, and one junior, Stratton Sherman.
“Those three guys mixed with senior George Olsen, are going to be really key to our success with how well they’re able to manage their innings and be effective at throwing strikes,” he said.
While team bonding has been more necessary in previous years, Renner said it isn’t a necessity this season.
“I’d say that I’ve been very lucky with this group because I feel like they’re pretty tight-knit as it is. A lot of them play basketball together, a lot of them play football together, and even the ones that aren’t on the other teams with them, I just feel like the chemistry is really good with the groups we’ve had the last couple of years,” he explained.
As far as practices go, Renner likes to practice on the field and implements some philosophies and visualizations.
“We do philosophies where we talk about our base running approach, our pitching strategies, and we talk about our hitting approach to different counts. We have sheets that the boys get in terms of what our expectations are, and we spend a lot of time talking about that,” Renner stated.
Carson Dunkel, #1, is bound for Sienna and will be playing Division I for them as a catcher. He was actively recruited.
“He’s our leading hitter right now. From a catcher’s perspective, he’s not just the best catcher in the league, I think he’s one of the best catchers in Section II. He’ll be closing for us this year,” Renner said.
Team Headshots by Super Source Media.
