With spring just around the corner, the baseball team prepares to open its season with its first official game on Monday at home against Hamilton Heights.  The players have been training for this season since the beginning of the school year.

According to catcher and senior Tony Giannini, he has been getting the players mentally and physically prepared for the season.

“This is going to be great. It is senior year and this is what you grow up looking forward to,” Giannini said.

The baseball team has not won a Sectional tournament since 2000. However, Giannini said he is confident in the baseball team’s abilities for the upcoming season.

“If we make it out of Sectionals, which I believe we can do, we have the ability to win State and do great things through this program,” he said.

Along with Giannini, pitcher and junior Elliot Shebek said he is ready to turn  around the reputation of the baseball program. Both said they believe the  second-year coaching staff will help the team achieve improvement and win more games.

According to Giannini, last year the team was working to get in the swing of things and this year they have the ball rolling.

“We don’t want to be known as the school doormat anymore. After beating the number-one seed in the Sectional tournament last year we started to show we are not a team to mess around with anymore,” Shebek said.

As a second year coach for Carmel, Dan Roman said he is ready to lead a team to victory.

“Team chemistry is always a key to any successful team. This team will need to learn to play for each other. We are already on our way there,” Roman said via email.

Roman said last year was a comfort year. In the past, he said the team needed to build trust and confidence in each other. He said the team members are clicking together and have potential for a successful season. Roman said in order to overcome obstacles and become a strong team, the team members will need to focus on good pitching, hitting and adequate defense.

“We now have a confident feeling heading into the season in that the players now know me and know what to expect in nearly every situation. In building the program, the seniors really need to buy in. I have a great group of seniors,” Roman said.

Shebek said the team composure will continue to improve. He said with Roman, the team can really turn the program around. Both Shebek and Giannini said they are looking forward to having the team grow as a family and they most look forward to competing against their biggest rivals, Hamilton Southeastern, Westfield and Center Grove.

“As one of the leaders, you just want to get it done. I think we have some really good talent this year and we have a chance to compete,” Giannini said.

Giannini said he is more than eager to begin his senior year and to lead the team to victory. He said the team is strong this year and that, with their talent, it can not only win a Sectional championship for the first time since 2000, but also can win State.

“Baseball has always been a joke at Carmel High School and last year we kicked it into gear. We just keep going higher and higher and we will start to do amazing things this year,” Giannini said.