The Ashland baseball team returns eight position players and ten of the top thirteen pitchers from the 2023 season. However, for the Eagles, one player stands out who could make a big jump in the upcoming campaign: Sam Witt.
Witt is entering his junior season and looks to make a significant impact both on and off the field.
“Sam is the ultimate student-athlete, a 4.0 student with a great work ethic as well as a great teammate and obviously a great player,” Eagle Head Coach John Schaly said. “I look forward to seeing Sam grow more into a leadership role this year with this being his second year playing here and how much success he had last year.”
Witt transferred from Owens Community College where he recorded a .489 batting average with 38 runs scored, 16 doubles, a home run, 46 RBIs and four stolen bases through the 2022 campaign.
During his time there, he was a second-team JCAA Division III All-American.
In his first year as an Eagle, he did not skip a beat and made a confident jump to the higher level of competition. During his first season with the team, he was trusted to be the starting first baseman.
Throughout the season, he would record a consistent .311 batting average with 39 runs scored, seven doubles, six home runs, 42 RBIs and six stolen bases and was on the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) Academic All-Conference.
“I thought last year went well for me but there was plenty to improve on,” said Witt. “As a team, we started out hot and then got cold at the end, the goal this year is to make sure that does not happen again.”
Witt was very heartfelt that his coach acknowledged him as one of the players to be highlighted and talked about what his mindset has been this offseason.
“It means a lot to me that coach Schaly highlighted me as one of the top players, but there are a lot of players that deserve to be highlighted, I cannot thank coach enough for what has done for me,” said Witt. “My mindset is just to be consistent every day and play the game hard, and from there to go for the GMAC championship, then to regionals and finally the World Series.”
Witt is one of many returners to watch for the upcoming season starting Friday, Feb. 23 on the road against Concord for a three-game series.
