Hillsboro Indians baseball is in position for a big season

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The Hillsboro Indians varsity Baseball team and Head Coach Matt Garman are anticipating the start of the 2019 season and are looking to make noise in the Frontier Athletic Conference despite losing five players to graduation following the 2018 season.

The main reason the Indians are optimistic is the return of all of the starting pitchers from last season including Seniors Ethan Watson and Ethan Humphries and Junior Luke Magulac.

“We’ve got a lot of pitching back. We are real excited about the fact that we feel like we feel like we can be in every game we play,” said Garman. “Because our pitching staff will keep us in it.”

The Indians finished 14-12 overall last season and rattled off three consecutive tournament wins before falling to Circleville in Ahtens and Garman thinks that experience will be helpful for the returners this season.

“”Any time you make a tournament run I think just the experience of being there and being around it,” said Garman. “I always tell the guys there is nothing like do or die baseball.”

The experience that the team gained during it’s tournament run will be tempered by the fact that five of the key contributors on that team are no longer available.

“Yeah we have a lot of pitching back and yeah we have a lot of guys that can play,” Garman said. “But we also have a lot of guys that are going to have to cut their teeth defensively and we will see what they can do.”

The Indians face a tough opening week of the season but Garman thinks that is a good thing for his team, ” That is what we want. We want to be tested. I would attribute that solely to our success in the post season last year. Yes, we were 6-11 at one point in time last year but we played a really tough schedule.”

Garman also thinks that his team will fare better in close games this season, “We didn’t lose any games by a lot. We lost 12 games last year and 10 of those were by one or two runs so, we were in every game that we played. Being a little younger with the pitching staff and those guys just learning how to win made that one or two run difference in the games late in the year.”

Ryan Applegate is the Sports Editor for The Times-Gazette. Reach Ryan Applegate at 937-402-2572, or on Twitter @RCApplegate89.

Hillsboro’s Luke Magulac throws a pitch in a tournament game against Gallia Academy during the OHSAA District Tournament in 2018.
https://www.timesgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2019/03/web1_Luke-Magulac-Hillsboro-Baseball-Preview-photo-2019.jpgHillsboro’s Luke Magulac throws a pitch in a tournament game against Gallia Academy during the OHSAA District Tournament in 2018. The Times-Gazette file photo

By Ryan Applegate

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Schedule

Saturday 03/23/19 Adena High School Away 10:00 AM

Monday 03/25/19 Unioto High School Away 5:00 PM

Tuesday 03/26/19 New Richmond High School Away 5:00 PM

Thursday 03/28/19 Batavia High School Away 5:00 PM

Saturday 03/30/19 Heath High School (@ Paints Stadium) Away 10:00 AM

Tuesday 04/02/19 Western Brown H. School Home 5:00 PM

Wednesday 04/03/19 Washington CH High School Away 5:00 PM

Friday 04/05/19 Jackson High School Away 5:00 PM

Saturday 04/06/19 Whiteoak High School ( Whiteoak Invitational DH) Home 10:00 AM

Monday 04/08/19 Miami Trace H. School Home 5:00 PM

Wednesday 04/10/19 Chillicothe H. School Home 5:00 PM

Friday 04/12/19 McClain High School Home 5:00 PM

Saturday 04/13/19 Wilmington High School (@ Paints Stadium) Away 10:00 AM

Monday 04/15/19 Washington CH High School Home 5:00 PM

Wednesday 04/17/19 Jackson High School Home 5:00 PM

Monday 04/22/19 Chillicothe H. School Away 5:00 PM

Wednesday 04/24/19 McClain High School Away 5:00 PM

Friday 04/26/19 Miami Trace H. School Away 5:00 PM

Monday 04/29/19 Blanchester High School Home 5:00 PM

Thursday 05/02/19 Clinton-Massie H. School Away 4:30 PM

Friday 05/03/19 Clermont Northeastern Away 4:30 PM

Saturday 05/04/19 Circleville High School Away 11:00 AM

Tuesday 05/07/19 Western Brown H. School Away 4:30 PM

Wednesday 05/08/19 Fayetteville-Perry Home 5:00 PM

Friday 05/10/19 Huntington High School Home 5:00 PM

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