Several of the players seeing action on the mound this summer on Falls’ VFW baseball team could also be back for the next couple of years.
That’s because pitchers who are part of Falls’ Junior League team have been providing depth at that position for the VFW squad, which also includes some returning players with pitching experience.
“With so many players crossing over from Junior League to VFW, pitching depth becomes an issue,” said VFW head coach Eric Walls. “We have lots of arms, but need to coordinate pitching so (Junior League head coach) Jay Bartkowski has arms available for his Junior League games.”
The list of returning VFW players includes four sophomore infielders from the 2011 Bronco varsity baseball roster that Walls also has slated as available pitchers.
They include Gunnar Anderson, who has already homered on more than one occasion this summer while also seeing time on the mound, Caleb Dahlin, Josh Potter and Ryan Kilbride.
“Pitching is our team strength, and will keep us in every game we play,” Walls said.
Junior League players who have already pitched innings for the VFW include Ben Humbert, Wyatt Ulrich, Cole Miggins and Jackson Vollom.
Coupled with having several eighth- and ninth-graders available, however, Walls said the VFW team also has inexperience and youth with players who have little or no VFW game experience.
Walls said he is looking forward to watching the team develop “into solid players that can think the game one play ahead of what is going on at the moment.”
“This is a very solid group considering how young we are as a team,” he said.
Walls said the team goals include winning the Sub-District Tournament it hosts July 22-24 and then advancing from the District Tournament to the State Tournament.
“We always gauge our progress as a program by how we perform (and) stack up against Grand Rapids,” he said. “We will be narrowing the gap with this group, and look to knock them off come tournament time.”
