What are the key takeaways from the first two weeks of baseball around Gaylord?

GAYLORD ― This doesn't feel like a typical start to a spring sports season.

Usually, teams around Michigan are dodging the last remnants of winter or those dreaded April showers with multiple weather-related cancelations. Not this season, at least not yet, as almost every scheduled game has gone off without a hitch.

All that means we know more about our area baseball teams than we ever usually do at this point this season.

We are still awaiting the most important games of the season for Gaylord, St. Mary and Johannesburg-Lewiston to start up, but we know enough from the first two and half weeks of action to give accurate analysis and, hopefully, some accurate predictions of where things will go from here.

Let's take a look at the key takeaways from each area baseball team so far this season:

Gaylord (8-3-1)

Key takeaway: Improved offense could make them a quiet contender this season.

Gaylord is off to a hot start in 2024, now 8-3-1 through their first 12 games of the season. However, they went through a very similar start in 2023.

The Blue Devils finished their April non-conference matchups 9-4-1, only to finish close to a .500 record after the Big North portion of their schedule. Maybe the biggest key for the 2023 team was run-scoring, or lack thereof; Gaylord was 3-13 in games where they scored four or less runs last season, with many of those losses coming against BNC opponents.

They're hoping their offense won't be an issue in 2024, especially with the hot start they've been on; since their 0-2 start at Mount Pleasant, they've scored five or more runs in all but three games, helping them five wins in a row last week.

Still, the real test for this new-and-improved offense will be how they stack up against BNC pitching.

Gaylord St. Mary (6-2)

Key takeaway: Early rust is gone, Snowbirds still SVC title contenders

Maybe it took a shock to the system, but GSM is back to playing championship-level baseball in 2024.

It didn't seem like it through the first 15 and 1/2 innings of the season as they got beat up by Adrian in the first doubleheader of the year before falling behind Bellaire in their Ski Valley opener. A six-run inning in the bottom of the fourth inevitably helped the Snowbirds prevailed over the Eagles and may have been an early turning point for GSM's season.

The Snowbirds are now on a six-game winning streak, sweeping Bellaire, McBain and Pellston in three-straight doubleheaders to not only jump-start the season, but to reset the expectations of a team hoping to win another Ski Valley Title.

Senior Dillon Croff and junior Daniel Jacobson figure to be big parts of whatever the Snowbirds accomplish this season. Croff, the team's No. 1 pitcher, is already 3-1 with 25 strikeouts in four starts this season, while Jacobson in 2-0 along with two saves. From the plate, Croff leads the team with a .407 batting average while Jacobson is not far behind with a .364 average and a .533 on-base percentage.

Johannesburg-Lewiston (6-0)

Key takeaway: JoBurg taking care of business as key matchups rapidly approach

So far, so good.

JoBurg has cruised through the first six games of its schedule this season, sweeping Mio, Pellston and Forest Area with relative ease to start the season undefeated and rolling as key matchups quickly approach.

Their first big test is right around the corner as they host a fellow undefeated SVC opponent Inland Lakes on Friday, April 19. The Bulldogs are the two-time defending Ski Valley Champions and haven't lost a conference matchup since 2021, meaning they present a perfect test for a JoBurg team hoping to prove they belong in the SVC title conversation.

JoBurg has relied on Rylan Rosso and Thomas Fox early on this season; Rosso is the offensive leaders, sitting atop the stat leaders on the team with a .500 batting average, seven hits and eight runs scored while Fox has been the No. 1 on the mound, tossing a no-hitter with 16 strikeouts in a 4-0 win over Pellston last week.

Contact GHT Sports Editor Dylan Jespersen at Djespersen@gaylordheraldtimes.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @dylanjespersen, and Instagram, @dylanjespersen

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Gaylord, St. Mary and JoBurg baseball takeaways from the first two weeks of the 2024 season