Under the direction of head coach Kenny Fagan, the Galion baseball team is hoping this season serves as a continuation of the improvement it showed last year in a winning campaign.

Galion went 14-13 last year after turning in an 8-15 record in Fagan’s first season at the helm. In both years, Galion was young, but that inexperience may finally pay off for the Tigers as they return a core of upperclassmen entering its third season together at the varsity level.

“Just getting them a ton of experience and reps and just seeing how fast the varsity game moves has been good for them,” Fagan told The Inquirer. “Some of our struggles were hitting. We didn’t hit well as a team, but we put in a lot of work in the winter, so that should improve.”

Fagan said of the added experience, “It’s super valuable. Just knowing that they’ve seen the league for a few years, they know how pitchers want to approach them. They know how fast guys are moving. It’s just things you can’t teach — how guys are going to react on the bases, how this fly ball is going to tail out of your way. That’s just stuff that all comes with playing; you can’t replicate it in practice.

“And I think the energy of the game is something that’s really important for them to experience. Every pitch means something in high school baseball because it can turn into a circus pretty quickly. So being on the ride throughout a game is something you can’t practice, doesn’t matter how many reps you get in the cage.”

While the hitting will need to improve, Fagan believes starting pitching should be a team strength led by a pair of juniors in Max Albert and Braxton Prosser, who will top the Tigers’ rotation. The duo is also expected to be catalysts for run production.

“They’ve made huge improvements,” Fagan said of Albert and Prosser. “They’ve been team leaders for us. They’re both pretty highly thought of by Prep Baseball Report, and we think the same of them. We’re excited for those two.”

Along with Albert and Prosser, senior catcher Hunter Miniard figures to help lengthen the Galion lineup as perhaps the Tigers’ best run producer. Miniard had a solid junior season that saw him flirt with a .400 batting average for most of the year as a first-year starter behind the plate.

Although that trio should give Galion a solid foundation in the heart at the top of the lineup, Fagan knows the bottom of the order will also need to produce if his team is to take another step forward.

“We think those guys who are hitting fifth through ninth have gotten a lot better,” Fagan said. “We kind of talk all the time that if those guys just hit above a certain mark, we’re going to be really successful. That’s something we’re hoping for.”

One newcomer Fagan is hoping can prove to be an asset for the Tigers is freshman Grady Crim, who Fagan said is “going to play a ton for us,” particularly at first base. “Moving him along and seeing where he’s improving at is going to be a big deal for us, too,” Fagan said.

Despite the struggles through his first two seasons leading the program, Fagan has enjoyed seeing the program grow as the individuals leading it have grown in their own careers.

“It’s been awesome,” he said. “I have an awesome relationship with all of the kids. Those first two years, it’s a lot of new words and terms and the way we have set our expectations. Now, getting to year three, we get to practice and I say we’re going have an offense day, they know exactly what to expect. And they’re kind of coaches out there for us, too, and they know the words and terminology we want to use. It’s been awesome. When you interview for the job, you know it’s coming and gets you excited, but it’s tough when it’s not going well. But to see the flashes of how great these guys can be, it gets you excited all over again.”

As for what Galion hopes to accomplish this season, Fagan said it’s all about his team playing their best ball at the right time.

“We’ve set some team goals between ourselves but it’s really just to get hot coming into May,” he said. “That’s something we experienced a little bit last year. We took a five-game winning streak into the tournament, which was awesome … It’s just competing for that MOAC title at the end of the year and getting hot going into the tournament because anything can happen then.”