Ernest Seaholm High School - Piper Yearbook (Birmingham, MI)

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This was the best per- |Bf ' ' IPS) formance from a ninth grade team that Seaholm j 1 -: has had in a long time. COACH ANDY LITTLE FRESHMAN BASEBALL OPPONENT SHS OPP Berkley Andover 11-13 3-7 Webb 4-5 Ferndale 9-5 Kimball 8-7 Beecher 1-4 Groves 13-2 Brother Rice 6-7 Cranbrook 11-6 Berkley South Lathrup Andover 3-5 2-5 11-0 Webb 2-8 Ferndale 9-5 Number 15. Joe Kopcha. stares down the pitcher Steve Scheckell. one of the Maple ' s better hitters, trving to predict the next pitch to be thrown to him. puts one past the second baseman to drive in a run Steve ' s batting average for the team was just over for Seaholm. The final score was 9-5 Seaholm. 260. pholo by Paul Donar pholo by Mike Ralferly Large Squad Gains Experience, Recognition by P. Donar and L. Wilson The Boys ' Freshmen Baseball Team ' s coach, Andy Little, started this season by keeping 19 of the 35 boys that tried out for the team. This is enough to make up two teams and makes it hard for players to get into the games. But Little remarked, 1 would rather give the players a chance to improve with practice. Seeing as they are only freshmen, most of them haven ' t had much experience in good games and 1 hate to cut boys from the team that may become better players just because 1 only need a small number of them to make up a team. Because they were freshmen, there were no regionals or play-offs to com- pete in, and it truly was just for the fun and experience. And why not give the players game experience that would help any team they might later play on? Due to the fact that there were many first year kids on the team, it took Coach Little almost half way through the season to get them to be able to work together well. This is when the ' 85 season began to loo up for the fresh- One of the leaders of the team was Steve Scheckell who was a threat on the mound as well as at the plate. He had a 3-3 pitching record with an earned run average of 4.0. Equally as promising was his batting average of .350, which made him twice as dangerous to the op posing team. Coach Little felt that his three most outstanding players were Todd Siefkin, Rob Kaye, and Todd Glandt. Comparing his team with others. Little said, If they want to equal last year ' s record of 13-2, they have to pick up the pace. Despite their late organi- zation, they pulled together and started winning. Because this was a freshmen team, it suffered from the usual: a lack of press coverage and more importantly, student support. Overall, the team did a great job of pulling together and began to play as one. And when they did, they began to win. 228 BOYS ' FRESHMAN BASEBALL

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Sophomore slugger Tom Weddle assumes the perfect batting stance which led him to his outstanding .520 batting average- the highest on the team, photo by Mike Rafferty Anticipating a bunt, junior Steve Kurth prepares to steal second base in the second game of the double header against Brother Rice which the Maples won. 3-1 and 4-1. photo by Mike Rafferty BOYS ' JV BASEBALL 227

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FRONT ROW: Mike Lowe. Scott Kang. Mike Hess. Adam Karibian, Scott Luikart. Todd Glandt. Steve Brett Szabo. Dirk Hoag SECOND ROW Mike Scheckell. Ken Dabish. Engell Pellumbi. Joe Keppler. Todd Slefkin. Rob Kaye. Scott Apple- Kopcha. lord. Jeff Milius. Jason Bitonio. THIRD ROW: Patiently waiting f ie next Seaholm batter, sopfio- more Cary Carton fulfills his duties as first base coach to give the Maples an advantage in key game situations. photo by Paul Donar Freshman pitcher. Todd Siefkin. delivers a barn- burning fastball to get the last out against Kimball. Siefkin used his pitching skills to record solid per- formances. pi i ' Paul Donaf BOYS ' FRESHMAN BASEBALL 229