Even though the Washington School baseball team lost quite a few talented players to graduation last season, Generals head coach Hunter Palasini has made it clear to his players on this year’s team that he does not believe in rebuilding years.
Now in his eighth season at the helm, Palasini has seen pretty much nothing but success in his tenure. The Generals won the state championship in 2017, made it to the state championship game three other times and reached three other state semifinals.
“We always have the same goal,” Coach Palasini said. “We first focus on winning the district and the conference, and then we move on to the state title. Nothing changes this season.”
If the Generals are going to have similar success in 2020, the coach said they will need the steady leadership of the four seniors; Caleb Janous, Eli Fratesi, John Franklin Ingram and Will Giachelli.
Fratesi and Janous will be two of Washington School’s aces on the mound, along with junior Harper Ross and sophomore Patrick Spencer.
Fratesi said he and his fellow seniors will do whatever it takes to help the underclassmen on their team become better players.
“This sport is really important at our school,” Fratesi said. It has been the best sport we have had over the last four or five years. We have to keep it going.”
Washington has opened the season with three straight losses, but Coach Palasini said that this record is a little deceiving since the Generals’ first three games were against teams from bigger Class 5A schools. Furthermore, because of all the rain in recent weeks, the Generals first day of outside practice was Monday.
“This is the early season,” Coach Palasini said. “I always like to schedule a tough early season so we will have no surprises come conference time. The more games we play, the better we are going to be.”
The Generals were scheduled to play their first home game Tuesday night against Tri-County Academy.
Along with the seniors, key players at the plate this season look to be Ross and junior Peyton McPherson, among others.
“What I like about the start to the season is moving people around and seeing some young guy step up to the challenge,” the coach said. “The only way to find that stuff out is to throw them in there.”
