With an opening season record of 1-1, the Oxford varsity baseball team is heading into a tough season with some difficult opponents, including Lapeer West who is favored to win the league.
“Our schedule is brutal this season,” he stated, “but we’re right in there.”
The team will be setting some season record goals, but right now the only game plan is to compete on every pitch.
“If we show up and compete on every pitch, we can make the rest happen,” explained Nuss.
Leading the team this year are returning players Andrew Bukoski, a first pitcher; Bryan Mattack, short stop; Steven Flores, center field; Adam Terry, second catcher; Ryan Stull, a first pitcher; Bryan McCambell, outfield; and Sean Maher, a first pitcher.
Other team members include David Reile, Loren Plassey, Nolan Walter, Joel Grifka, Mike Jones, Brett Brammer and David Fischer.
Last season, the team had an 18 game winning streak right before district competition. But with four sophomores, Nuss is expecting this season to go differently.
“We will be better at the end of the season than we will be at the beginning,” Nuss said, “but we will be competitive the whole time.”
The team went up against Notre Dame prep this past Saturday and won the first game 8-4, but lost the second game 4-2.
Sean Maher got the winning relief in the first game after pitching four innings and striking out eight. Ryan Stull, Brett Brammer, Andy Bukoski and Joel Grifka each had two hits. In the second game, David Fisher had two hits.
The Wildcats then lost to Davison last night at home. The first game was 11-0 and the second was called for darkness.
Coach Nuss said the team competed like a young group, which is not going to make the cut with some of the tough teams ahead.
The Oxford team competes again tomorrow (Thursday) at Goodrich.