Park Hill senior Dayton Howard is one of four returning starters from 2022.
With a new coach, the Park Hill baseball team will have a mixture of experienced upperclassmen and inexperienced underclassmen this spring.
The Trojans are coming off an uncharacteristic single-digit win season after five consecutive double-digit win seasons when they ended 8-20 in 2022. Seniors Garrison Mertz, Jaxson Grayson, Dayton Howard and Jase Johnson are returning starters who are going to try to help Park Hill improve.
“We will be strong in the outfield with Mertz, Grayson, and Howard, but very young on the infield with most everyone seeing their first year of varsity baseball,” Park Hill boys’ baseball coach Jon Davis said. “Our pitching staff will be led by three seniors in the starting rotation that will help to keep us in a lot of games.”
Ford Deusing will join Johnson and Mertz on the mound this season as the top pitchers, although Jaxon Tenschert, Braydan Resch and Jaxson Grayson spent some time pitching last spring. The Trojans’ starting lineup will include Jaxon Miller, Caelin Bradford, Logan Hampton, Zane Baker, Tyson Kiser, Grayson, Resch, Mertz and Howard.
“We will be old and young at the same time. Everyone on our infield is seeing varsity baseball for the first time, with a lot of senior leadership in the outfield,” Davis said.
Park Hill has shifted into the Silver Division of the Kansas City Suburban Conference and will be in the Class 6 District 8 Tournament, both of which are highly competitive. The Trojans haven’t won a district title since 2010 but will look to end that drought this season.