HOUGHTON, N.Y. -- The 2021 spring season was monumental for Houghton baseball as the Highlanders finished with its first winning record (20-14) since the program was re-launched in 2012 and earned the No. 2 seed in the Empire 8 tournament. Those results earned Head Coach Brian Reitnour and his assistants the Empire 8 Coaching Staff of the Year award following the season.

Despite losing two of his strongest hitters, the cupboard is not bare. With the team's top three pitchers back and a number of young players ready to step into more prominent roles. Reitnour thinks he has a team that can make more of a splash in the postseason (the Highlanders were upset by No. 3 Utica in the three-game first round series).

Read Coach Reitnour's comments on the upcoming season below and watch the video interview by clicking the image above.

What are your thoughts on what the team accomplished last spring?
Last season was definitely a step forward for us as a program. We overcame all kinds of adversity and displayed tremendous unity and grit, all hallmarks of the type of program we have been attempting to build.

What are some of your team goals and expectations for this season?
Performative, outcomes-based goals and expectations can be dangerous things, primarily because there is so much that is beyond our control.  We emphasize process orientation and controlling the controllables. In that light, our expectations are what they have and always will be—sacrificial attitude ("we before me"), maximum effort in all areas at all times, attention to details, commitment, grace and forgiveness for failure (of self and of others).

We believe that if we focus on our process and execute the brand of baseball that we emphasize that the results will come. But as I've told our teams hundreds of times over the years, you don't split a block of wood by focusing on the top of it.

What are the strengths of the team?
The primary strength of our team is in its unity and that our guys support each other. While we are still very young, we at least have a number guys who earned a year's worth of experience last season. Our pitching staff is deeper and more experienced, and we should be able to put a strong defensive infield on the diamond.

What are areas you need to work on as a team?
While we have a number of players with a year's worth of game experience, we only have two players on our team with two full years of collegiate experience under their belts. We are still learning the nuances of the game, and how to respond to the inevitable ebbs and flows of both in-season obstacles, and the full-year cycle of a baseball student-athlete at Houghton.     

Who are some of the key personnel losses? 
We graduated six players last year, all of whom made significant contributions to our team. David Wessells was a three-year captain who currently holds a majority of our all-time offensive records, and Wayne Rode had the best offensive season in program history. Both of them were incredibly dynamic players who could beat teams in multiple ways. Joe Gross was the glue of our infield and a solid #2 hitter. Both he and Jared Couch were the glue of our leadership, mentoring younger players both on and off the field. Whitney Cook was an excellent defensive outfielder who made us better in a number of ways, and Kevin Zientara exploded offensively at the end of last season, near-single-handed winning at least two games for us in his last at-bat. It is incredibly difficult to replace men like that, who exemplified the Houghton ideal of servant-leadership and poured their lives into our program and the men who compose it.

Who are some of your key returners and what do they bring to the team?
Jason Kauffeldt has developed into the player and leader I believed he would become when we recruited him. He is an excellent leader and has developed the tools to be an outstanding collegiate baseball player. He has a number of offensive and defensive tools that can change the outcome of games.

Dylan Boprey, Sebastian Rodriguez and Ethan Cetton are all in their second season for us and will anchor our infield, while Zach Parr is a proven first baseman who can hit for average and power, as well as provide us with an excellent glove. Chris VanCheri also had an outstanding freshman campaign and has developed physically and mentally over the past year. He is a workhorse who gives us a solid receiver behind the dish and handles our pitching staff very well.

Hunter Kendall, Ryan Newtown and Jeremy Wilcox ate up the bulk of our innings on the mound last year. They have all improved tremendously and will most likely carry the majority of the workload once again. Each of them offers a unique look on the mound, which should prove beneficial to our team, as it is hard to adjust to that type of variety.

Who are some of your newcomers who could play a role this spring?
Phil Schurr will make an immediate impact, both offensively and behind the plate. We are also hoping that freshman pitchers Jackson Medeiros, Benny Van Tine and Brett Rosario will develop and eat up some innings this year, and that transfers Ian Slate and Will Tormey will bolster our lineup and pitching staff, respectively.

What are the things this team needs to do to challenge for an E8 playoff spot?
Simply put: we need to execute. If we limit the number of free bases we allow (walks, errors, mental mistakes), consistently apply pressure to opposing pitchers and defenses, and take advantage of opponents mistakes, we will challenge for an E8 playoff spot. While it is potentially dangerous to place that type of expectation on our team, I believe every returning guy on our team has a sour taste in his mouth from the way our season ended last year and would love a shot at redemption. They have been working hard for the past 10 months to earn that opportunity.

What are the key games on schedule?
Truthfully, as this point in our program's history, every game matters. While the Empire 8 contests hold the most weight, and every game within the conference will be a battle, it seems fitting that we will close out the season with a four-game series with Utica. We won the two-seed against them on the final day of the regular season, and they beat us in the conference semifinals by a run a week later. Every year we battle back and forth with them. It has developed into an excellent rivalry. 

We have also added some more challenging non-conference games to our schedule this year. We'll play several wining programs on our spring trip, and compete against Allegheny College, who has a storied tradition of winning, and Penn State-DuBois, who has won multiple USCAA national championships over the past few years, both of whom we will play on the road. I'm hoping to challenge our team and believe they will step up to the task.