Tuscarora Baseball is ready for its second season and is bent on improving every facet of the program

By: James Cassar           
Tuscarora is no longer the new kid on the block. Our inaugural year was wrought with hurdles and hardships, but like any admirable institution, we’ve been able to overcome the dreaded sophomore slump. Take a cue from ABC’s LOST. The penultimate season ended with a white screen – the train wreck television trademark was in need of a dire reboot. For Tusky Baseball, 2012 is their white screen, reinventing the way they play from the ground up.
            While their record was admittedly lackluster in the previous season, the team remains undaunted and hopeful that they’ll turn the tables on their competition this time around. “We only won six games [last year,] but we have seven seniors on our varsity team this year, so we’re older and bigger,” asserts senior Travis Burke. A good majority of the veteran sluggers from last spring’s squad have returned to the diamond, and off-season workouts have definitely honed their skills. Catcher Hunter Oke remarks on his experience in the preseason, “By not playing basketball, the new off-season workouts with have helped us learn our new teammates’ strength and improve our own with the new lifting schedule.”
            Oke continues, “We lost a lot of games that we really shouldn’t have lost. This season we will be one of the top teams in the district.” To back up that claim, Burke elaborates on their eventual success: “We have two of [the district’s] top pitchers and we’ve played together since [we were] little kids.” If familiarity creates finesse, Husky Baseball, built from the ground up, is gearing up for its most enthralling season yet. “There is a lot of downtime in baseball, but things can get truly exciting if you come out and watch,” Burke concludes.
            Brace yourself, Husky Nation. Baseball is back, and built from the ground up.