Shepherd Blue Jays already working hard

By Noah Shepardson
Edited By: Alexis Kowaleski Dan Schultz

With the loss of some key players to the varsity baseball team, improving on last year’s record will be a challenge for the Blue Jays junior varsity baseball club.

After last year’s .500 season the Blue Jays are looking for a little redemption, Ryan Harkerater, a senior at Central Michigan University, will once again take the helm of the junior varsity baseball program at Shepherd High School.

“We did lose a couple of our best pitchers to the varsity team, but there are some strong arms that will be coming up from last year’s freshman team”, Harkerater said.

Working hard is an understatement. For the last week and a half the Blue Jays have been conducting 6 a.m. practices with workouts including wind sprints, weight training and endless position drills.

The fun is only beginning though; the team will travel to Florida next week to play a few preseason games around the state with game sites yet to be determined.

“The team always enjoys the trip to Florida, we are not always sure who or where we will play but that is part of the fun. It really brings the guys together as a team”, said Harkerater.

Once the team returns they will play just one more preseason game before the regular season starts on March 9.

For a complete spring sports schedule go to http://shepherd.edzone.net/hssports/hssports.php.