Warrior baseball begins defense of State title

After winning back-to-back titles and solidifying their place as one of the state’s best baseball programs, Washington is back to the grind.

As they begin this season in search of State title number three, developing players from their pool of talent will be important.

“We have a lot of depth but a lot of it is not proven,” said head coach Jeff Kulbeth – who is entering his seventh year as the Warriors’ skipper.

Washington indeed has a deep bench, especially at pitcher.

“The other day in practice we had 18 kids throw bullpen,” Kulbeth said.

Returning on the bump this year are seniors Tristin Babbitt, Marlon Moore and Easton Berglan.

“They are guys who we’ll use for District games,” he said.

Other pitchers who Kulbeth will rely on this season are Kade Norman, Owen Andrews, Zeke Wilson, Jonathen Montoya and Spencer Barton.

“Kade is a District guy and will pitch relief,” Kulbeth said. “Owen was really good through winter workouts. Zeke was forced in the other day and pitched it really well.”

For the rest of the defense, Case Taylor has been handling catcher duties while fellow senior Dax McCaskill will man first base.

Sophomore Liam Keltner will play shortstop and Moore will play second base.

Moore will slide to short when Keltner pitches and Jake Coles will plug into second.

Norman will man the hot corner at third base.

In the outfield, look for Cage Morris at left, Mayson Thomas at center and Koen Scarborough at right field.

“We have a lot of quality players,” Kulbeth said.

The Warriors lost several key contributors to graduation, including Kane Springer, Cam Bates, Sutton Moore and Jake Wells.

“We lost some offensive punch,” Kulbeth said. “They were four of our six best hitters. This team will have to grind out at bats and battle,” he confirmed.

“At times we’ll need to play some short game and run game,” he said. “So far we’ve done a good job of taking pitches we can’t do anything with. I’ve been pleased with our plate approach.”

As the two-time defending State champions, the Warriors will be circled on every team’s schedule this entire season.

But that’s something the team is equipped to deal with, according to the coach.

“They know what’s in front of them and the target they carry around,” Kulbeth said. “They’ve accepted that and I truly believe we’ll give ourselves a chance in the end.

“That’s leadership and the way the program is built. Our guys believe they can win every game.”

4-1

The Warriors are 4-1 to start this season with their only loss coming to 4A powerhouse Tuttle.

They’ve defeated Mount St. Mary (6-0), Class B No. 1 Fort Cobb (2-1), Marlow (8-6) and Lexington (10-0).

Washington is getting some strong pitching early from veterans Moore and Babbitt.

Through nine innings pitched and 36 batters, Moore has an ERA of .000 while only giving up four hits.

Babbitt has an ERA under 1.00 as well and has struck out eight batters.

Offensively, Moore is batting over .400.

Keltner and McCaskill are both batting .357.

Moore and McCaskill both have a pair of home runs on the young season.

The Warriors are scheduled to play a District double header at Frederick today (Thursday) before they leave for Alabama to play in the Gulf Coast Classic over spring break.

They played Lexington Tuesday.