What's the outlook for Livingston County baseball teams in 2024?
Baseball is typically one of the strongest sports in Livingston County, but local teams head into the 2024 season with lower expectations, at least from the rest of the state.
None of the county’s six teams appear in the Michigan High School Baseball Coaches’ Association’s preseason top-20 rankings. A year ago, Hartland was ranked No. 7, Howell No. 14 and Brighton No. 19 heading into the season.
On top of that, the county’s three KLAA members are in the same division with top-ranked Northville and defending Division 1 state champion Novi, which mysteriously is only No. 9 despite returning many key players.
Pinckney plays in the SEC White with an Adrian team ranked No. 4 in Division 2.
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“It really doesn’t matter in March where we’re at,” Brighton coach Charlie Christner said. “I don’t put a lot into that. The kids like that type of stuff. I’d rather be on that list come mid-May and playing well.”
Some teams will attempt to play this week, March weather permitting, before everyone takes a week off for Easter break.
Three of the county’s teams will have new head coaches.
Here’s a look at what to expect from the county’s teams in 2024:
Brighton
► Top returners: Parker Aten, 1B-P, Sr.; Cooper Andrzejewski, OF, Sr.; Braeden Chiles, 1B-P, Sr.; Ryan Metz, SS, Sr.; Lane Petit, OF, Sr.
► Outlook: Chiles will take over as Brighton’s ace from Easton Storey, who is pitching at Purdue. Figuring out the rest of the rotation will be a focus early in the season. Brighton returns four of the top 17 hitters in Livingston County in Petit (.365), Metz (.328), Gregg (.327) and Andrzejewski (.327). Chiles led the county with seven home runs and was fifth with 27 RBI. Brighton has five seniors who are in their third varsity seasons.
► Coach Charlie Christner: “We’ve got some really good players with a lot of varsity experience. This will arguably be one of the best one through five batting orders we potentially have had, and we’ve had some really good ones with Hopman and Krause and some of those guys. Six through nine, we’re gonna figure out where those guys fit.”
Charyl Stockwell
► Top returners: Drew Goodwin, OF-P, Jr.; Teddy Gottbreht, 1B-P, Jr.; Aspen Jendrusik, OF, Jr.; Landon Knight, OF-P, Jr.; Noah Piesko, SS-P, Jr.
► Outlook: The Sentinels graduated the two top players in their program’s history in pitcher Aidan Liedeke (403 career strikeouts) and catcher Caleb Moore, who are playing at Kalamazoo College. The core of this team is a junior class that features five players who were significant contributors last year. Piesko went 5-2 last season and Gottbreht was second on the team with 24 RBI, hitting .329. Gabe Clark, an assistant for the Sentinels last year, takes over as the third head coach in three seasons.
► Coach Gabe Clark: “Obviously, when you lose that many seniors, it’s going to take a toll. But, thankfully, we were given a lot of good returners. We have a lot of good core guys who can help build this team and really get our new guys comfortable with high school baseball and the process of practice and games.”
Fowlerville
► Top returners: Griffin Gonzalez, SS-P, Sr.; Ryder Lukasik, C, Sr.; Brendan Ray, OF, Sr.; Will Shrader, CF, Jr.
► Outlook: Matt Minaudo takes over as coach after working as an assistant at Byron. The Gladiators return their top player in Gonzalez, whose .380 average ranked fourth in the county. Gonzalez struck out 32 batters in 27 innings. Shrader was the team’s third-leading hitter (.296) and Lukasik was fourth (.286). For a team that will look to play small ball, Gonzalez (18 steals) and Ray (13) will put pressure on opposing batteries when they reach base.
► Coach Matt Minaudo: “They definitely bought in pretty quickly. They’re very coachable kids. They love the process. The first couple days, practice goes so long because there’s so much to do for baseball, but they seemed engaged. You could tell from football and basketball season they were pretty disappointed. They want to end their season on a good note.”
Hartland
► Top returners: Landon Brown, 3B-P, Sr.; Brayden Crowe, C-3B, Jr.; Owen Pace, C-OF, Sr.; Michael Zielinski, CF-P, Jr.
► Outlook: A senior-heavy team was ranked seventh in the preseason last year and reached the regional championship game, but this year’s group is getting less attention entering the season. Zielinski, entering his third varsity season, will be counted on heavily at the plate and as the team’s ace. With a .326 average, he was the only Eagle in the top 20 in county hitting. Hartland will need to improve at the plate to be a factor in the league and beyond. Hartland has eight seniors, several of whom will play bigger roles after being backups.
► Coach Brad Guenther: “Several guys might have executed or performed better than some seniors last year, but didn’t necessarily get the chances early on. Toward the end of the year, ‘Hey, those guys are hitting’ or in the offseason, ‘Maybe we have something here with this guy’ who didn’t play as much. Maybe we’re not worried about losing all those seniors. Maybe we are flying under the radar a little bit. It’s just the next crew’s turn to get their opportunities and go out there and put on a performance.”
Howell
► Top returners: Landon Allen, OF-P, Sr.; Curt Dell, 1B, Sr.; Brandon Hamilton, U, Sr.; Danny Hampton, 2B-OF, Soph.; Andrew Hiller, U, Sr.; Nick Hoorn, SS-P, Jr.; JT Thomas, C, Jr.
► Outlook: Howell had the best young core in the county last year on a 25-14 squad, with Hoorn and Hampton making first-team all-county and Thomas making the second team. The Highlanders return four players who were among the county’s top 12 hitters in Hoorn (.370), Hampton (.344), Hiller (.343) and Thomas (.333). Junior Gavin Pejakovich, the ace of the junior varsity team last year, should slot as the No. 2 pitcher behind Hoorn. Matt Hunt takes over as head coach after going 75-29 with three district titles at Fowlerville from 2017-19.
► Coach Matt Hunt: “The potential is very high. We have a strong junior class with some strong senior leadership. The potential’s there. It looks good on paper; we’ve just got to make it happen on the field.”
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Pinckney
► Top returners: Landen Bauer, P, Jr.; Nolan Carruthers, CF-P, Jr.; Carson Emery, OF, Sr.; Jonny Hoffman, SS-P, Sr.; Talon Koppmann, 1B, Sr.; Evan McGlothin, C, Jr.; Ethan Putnam, C, Sr.
► Outlook: After taking some lumps with younger teams the last two years, Pinckney could have a breakout season after going 17-17 last year and 12-21 in 2022. McGlothin received honorable mention all-state last year and Carruthers led the county with 34 stolen bases. Bauer and Hoffmann each won four games on the mound. Koppmann was third in the county with a .390 average.
► Coach Bill Cortez: “It’s just a great group of kids to be around. That’s what’s gonna make them pretty darn competitive is how much they get along with each other. These guys are all buddies outside of baseball. They’ve grown up a lot here. It’s a lot of their junior and senior years. We’re expecting big things out of them.”
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on X @BillKhan
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Livingston County high school baseball preview for 2024
